Top 5 Paralympic Oxfam facts
Posted by
Al Kinley Editorial assistant for Oxfam's digital communications
30th Aug 2012
The games are back! Following on from the sporting success of our Top 10 Olympic Oxfam facts, here are five tidbits of trivia about the Paralympic games:
- The Paralympics and Oxfam both have their origins in England during World War II. Dr Ludwig Guttman, the Paralympics' creator, began using sports as physical therapy for injured soldiers in 1944 - 2 years after Oxfam was created to support people affected by famine in Greece.
- Sport plays a big part in Oxfam's work, whether it's people running and walking to raise money for our work, or our support of Afghanistan's first ever female boxing team.
- The Paralympic swimming pool uses a whopping 10 million litres of water. Think keeping it clean is expensive? Oxfam could take it on - amazingly, helping set up a safe water supply with pumps, tanks, taps, purification systems or pipes for 20 people costs as little as £18 from Oxfam Unwrapped.
- Coldplay will perform at the 2012 Paralympics' closing ceremony. Coldplay are also huge Oxfam supporters, taking our GROW campaign on tour with them this and previous years.
- 4,200 athletes will compete in this year's Paralympics. That's about the same as the number of people who work for Oxfam GB. Oxfam doesn't often win medals for its work (though we give lots out to our Trailwalkers and Trailtrekkers!) but, like all those exceptional athletes, we're doing our bit to change the world
for the better.
Which are your favourite Paralympic sports? Let us know in the comments, and enjoy the games!