The Paralympic Games began with Dr. Ludwig Guttmann, a German-Jewish neurologist who fled the Nazis and received asylum in Great Britain. There, he opened a spinal injuries center at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital. The first Games–called the Stoke Mandeville Games–were organized by Dr. Guttmann in 1948 for servicemen and women injured during World War II.
The Stoke Mandeville Games later became the Paralympic Games, which first took place in Rome, in 1960. The event featured 400 athletes from 23 countries. Since then they have taken place every four years.
The first Refugee Team competed in the Paralympics in Rio in 2016. Many people had a hand in creating the team, but one crucial contributor was Shahrad Nasajpour, a Para athlete in discus from Iran. Mr. Nasajpour fled his country and arrived in the United States in 2015. He managed to expedite his asylum case after explaining to a supervisor that he needed status to compete in the Paralympics. “Be resilient in difficult times,” he advises. “You will hear a lot of No’s on a regular basis, but don’t take that No as an answer.” With Mr. Nasajpour’s words in mind, let’s take a look at some of this year’s Paralympic athletes, each the embodiment of resilience and perseverance.