Athens set for Paralympics

Athens will host its second sporting spectacle in less than a month when the Paralympic Games start on Friday.
Just 19 days after the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games, Greece welcomes the world's top disabled athletes for 11 days of action.

More than 4,000 competitors from 146 countries will take part in the Games.

Great Britain' team of 166 athletes will compete in 15 of the 18 sports on offer as they attempt to match their impressive 131-medal haul from Sydney.

The Paralympics four years ago was one of Britain's most successful Games.

Team GB brought home 41 gold medals, 43 silver and 47 bronze to finish second on the medal table behind host nation Australia.

This year's squad are also aiming high and boast particularly strong squads in athletics, swimming and equestrian.

Legendary track athletes Bob Matthews, Tanni Grey-Thompson and Noel Thatcher all feature in the British team.

Athens will be the seventh Games for blind distance runner Matthews, who has already won eight Paralympic golds.

Welsh wheelchair track Grey Thompson, who won four golds in both 1992 and 2000 and an 800m bronze in Atlanta, heads to her fifth Games entered in four events again - 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m.

Thatcher will carry the flag for Britain at the opening ceremony. The visually-impaired physiotherapist has won golds in the distance events at every Games since 1984.

David Roberts and James Crisp, who claimed won three golds apiece in Sydney, return to head a strong swimming squad, which also features Sascha Kindred , Giles Long and Jody Cundy.

Nicola Tustain in the equestrian event, judo player Simon Jackson and powerlifter Emma Brown are also some of the stars to watch in Athens. PARALYMPIC FACTS
When: 17-28 September
Athletes: 4,000+
Team GB: 166
Sports: Archery, athletics, basketball, boccia, cycling, equestrian, fencing, *football, *goalball, judo, powerlifting, rugby, sailing, shooting, swimming, table tennis, tennis, *volleyball (* No GB athletes)
Flashback to Sydney
History of the Games

Among the sports featured in this year's Games are; archery, athletics, basketball, cycling, equestrian, fencing, football (5-a-side and 7-a-side), judo, sailing, shooting, swimming, table tennis, tennis and volleyball.

Four other sports at the Games - boccia, goalball, powerlifting and wheelchair rugby - have no Olympic Games equivalent.

Team GB will compete in all these events, except for football, goalball and volleyball.

A number of new events also make their debut in Athens: 5-a-side football, women's judo, a quad tennis competition, a hand-cycling road event and sitting volleyball for women.

Greece was the birthplace of the ancient Olympics in 776 BC and hosted the first modern Games in 1896.

The origin of the Paralympic Games was the 1948 International Wheelchair Games, which coincided with the 1948 London Olympic Games, organised by Sir Ludwig Guttman.

The first actual Games per se took place in Rome in 1960 and have taken place every four years since, usually at the same venue as the Olympics.

Athletes compete according to their type of disability and functional ability against other athletes with similar functions.

The disability categories are: amputee, cerebral palsy, 'the others', vision impaired and wheelchair.

Within the disability categories the athletes still need to be divided according to their differing level of impairment.