Australia at the 1960 Summer Paralympics

Australia at the Paralympic Games

Flag of Australia
IPC code  AUS
NPC Australian Paralympic Committee
At the 1960 Summer Paralympics in Rome
Competitors
Medals Gold
3		 Silver
6		 Bronze
1		 Total
10
Paralympic history (summary)
Summer Games
1960 • 1964 • 1968 • 1972 • 1976 • 1980 • 1984 • 1988 • 1992 • 1996 • 2000 • 2004 • 2008 • 2012
Winter Games
1976 • 1980 • 1984 • 1988 • 1992 • 1994 • 1998 • 2002 • 2006 • 2010

Contents

The games

The competition was at the time terrific. But when you think of what they do today, it wasn't the same. You had to be in more than one sport to participate in the Games. It was so different than today where athletes focus on one sport.

Daphne Hilton, athlete[1]

Australia had several athletes at the 1960 Summer Paralympics held in Rome, Italy. The team won ten medals total, three of them gold.[2] At these games. the organisers view the event as a chance to help athletes rehabilitate: The primary purpose was not competition. The Australians who were involved as support staff and organisers were mostly medical and medical support personnel.[3] There were no Australian competitors who were blind or amputees because they were not allowed to compete in these games and would not be allowed to compete until the 1976 Summer Paralympics.[4]

Some of the athletes who competed included Daphne Hilton and Kevin Coombs.[2] At the first Paralympic Games, athletes were required to compete in multiple sports. For Australian athletes, the trip to the games was the first time they had travelled internationally. The Australian team had a team doctor, who frequently doubled as the team manager. Most Australian athletes traveled with only one wheelchair, in which they competed in multiple sports. The wheelchair they used in the Paralympics was the one that they used for their everyday life.[2]

The Olympic Village was not designed with disabled athletes in mind. Housing was built on stilts, with steep stairs leading up to many entrances. These stairs were covered with ramps, but Australian and other athletes found the ramps to be so steep that they could not get into a building with out the assistance of one or two people pushing them up.[4]

To the games

The Australian team flew to the games from Sydney to Perth, Western Australia to Singapore and then on to Rome.[2]

The athletes

Kevin Comb was Australia's first Australian Aboriginal Paralympic competitor.[5]

After the games

It was a really big effort because they [the medical team] didn't know how we were going to travel - we didn't know how we were going to travel either.

Kevin Coombs, athlete[1]

Kevin Coombs had a street named after him at Sydney Olympic Park.[2]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b International Paralympic Committee 2010, p. 6
  2. ^ a b c d e International Paralympic Committee 2010, p. 7
  3. ^ International Paralympic Committee 2010, p. 9
  4. ^ a b International Paralympic Committee 2010, p. 8
  5. ^ Roberts, Michael, ed (2008). Great Australian Sporting Moments. Melbourne, Victoria: The Miegunyah Press. p. 239. ISBN 9780522855470. 

Bibliography

  • International Paralympic Committee (2010). "50 Years - Remember Rome". The Paralympian (International Paralympic Committee) (3).