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After a successful Olympic Games for Team GB in Paris, the summer of sport continues with the 2024 Paralympic Games.

More than 4,400 athletes will compete at the 17th Summer Paralympic Games across 22 sports.

But while they'll compete at the same venues at the Olympics, the Paralympics is a completely separate event, with its own history, logo and technical language.

���˿��� Bitesize answers some of the burning questions about the Games.

What are the Paralympics?

In 1944 in the later stages of World War Two, Dr Ludwig Guttman opened a specialist spinal injuries unit for veterans at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire.

Initially, his patients used sport for rehabilitation purposes, but this soon developed into more competitive contests. On the opening day of the 1948 Olympic Games in London, Dr Guttman organised a competition for wheelchair athletes known as the Stoke Mandeville Games.

In 1960, the first edition of the Stoke Mandeville Games to take place overseas was held in Rome, one week after the Olympics. This event was retrospectively renamed as the first Paralympic Games – using the Greek preposition ‘para’, which means beside or alongside.

The Summer Paralympics have been held every four years ever since and as of the 1988 Games in Seoul, South Korea, all Paralympic Games have been held in the same cities as the Olympics, using the same facilities.

What are the differences between the Games?

The Olympics and Paralympics may seem very similar, but they are in fact run by completely separate bodies.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is in charge of the Olympics while the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) organises the Paralympics.

The five coloured rings of the Olympics are one of sport’s most iconic symbols, but don’t expect to see them at the Paralympic Games. The logo for the event features three ‘agitos’ – swooping crescents in red, blue and green that represent the motto for the Games, ‘spirit in motion’.

There is also no Team GB at the Paralympics. The British team has a bespoke identity for the Games and is known as ParalympicsGB.

ParalympicsGB are the second most successful team in Summer Games history, behind only the United States, and won 124 medals in Tokyo 2020.

What do all the classification letters mean?

In the Paralympic Games, athletes compete against others with similar impairments and they are grouped together – each group is identified with letters and numbers. This is known as classification.

In general, the letters used within each discipline represent the type of activity or how it is carried out. For example, in athletics, F means it is a field event, while T sports take place on the track. In cycling, the letters refer to the type of bike used – H for handbike, T for tricycle, C for a standard bike and B for visually impaired athletes on a tandem. In swimming, the letters refer to the type of stroke – SB represents breaststroke while S covers other actions.

Other sports will use letters to illustrate whether an athlete will compete while standing or in a seated position. Numbers are typically used to show an athlete’s level or type of impairment. Generally, the lower the number, the higher the level of impairment within that grouping. There are, however, some sports that use completely different systems to classify their athletes.

Are there any events that are exclusive to the Paralympics?

Two sports take place in the Paralympics that have no equivalent in the Olympics.

Boccia is a sport with similarities to bowls, boules and petanque. Played by athletes who have neurological impairments that affect their motor function, players have to throw or roll a ball towards a white target ball, known as a jack.

Each player, pair or team has six balls per round – known as an end – with the nearest to the jack scoring one point. Any additional balls closer to the jack than your opponent’s nearest ball earn extra points. Individual or pairs matches take place over four ends, while team events have six ends.

The other Paralympic-only sport is goalball, played by athletes with visual impairments using a ball with bells inside. All players must also wear blackout eyeshades to ensure a level playing field as participants may have varying degrees of their visual impairment.

Goalball matches feature two teams - each team has three people, on a court 18m long and 9m wide, with a 1.3m high goal taking up the full width of the court. The aim is to score by rolling the ball towards the opposition’s goal, while the other team attempts to block it. After a ball is thrown, the defending players have 10 seconds to throw it back once one of them has touched it.

Games are 24 minutes in length, played over two halves. The winner is the team who has scored the most goals – when matches are level, golden goal extra time is played over two three-minute halves, with the first to score winning. If it’s still level, extra throws are used – goalball’s equivalent of a penalty shoot out.

Anyone attending a goalball match must remain silent during play so that the athletes can hear the bells inside the ball. They are, of course, free to cheer when there’s a goal!

This article was originally published in August 2021 and updated in August 2024