17 September 2026 marks 22 years since the opening ceremony of the Athens Summer Paralympic Games. The competition took place several weeks after the Olympic Games and used a substantial part of the same infrastructure. The ceremony was held at the Athens Olympic Stadium.

According to the International Paralympic Committee, about 3,800 athletes from 136 delegations took part. The programme included 19 sports. Athletes competed in athletics, swimming, wheelchair basketball, cycling, judo, tennis, table tennis and other disciplines organised through functional classifications.

China led the gold-medal table, followed by Great Britain and Canada. Medal tables nevertheless give only a partial view of a competition divided into many classes. Attendance in the venues was uneven; the IPC drew lessons on promotion and access. The Games took place before the 2006 UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and helped shift public talk from charity towards performance and rights.

RoAdevăr has also written about the opening of the Seoul Olympic Games, also on 17 September, in another year.

Photo: opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games, Athens 2004, via Wikimedia Commons.

Source consulted: International Paralympic Committee — Athens 2004.