Stoke Mandeville Games 1956: The Italians add another star to the flag

The Games this year were held on Friday 27^th and Saturday 28^th July, 1956. Eighteen nations were represented with Italy taking part for the very first time.  Dr Guttmann’s wish, stated the previous year, that a team from Russia might attend was partially met when two Russian neuro-surgeon’s, Professor V.D. Golovanov from Moscow and Professor V.M. Ougriumov from Leningrad attended the scientific congress held in conjunction with the Games¹. When asked if a Russian team might attend a future Games they were unable to say as sport and physical activity for paraplegics did not actually exist in Russia at that time.  A total of 300 competitors took part in the Games. The Games cost £676 to put on and sale of programmes and admission fees raised £201 meaning the Games had a net cost of £475². The admission charge for the general public on the Saturday was one shilling³.  

International Nations Represented

Australia          Austria       Belgium           Canada           Denmark         Finland  France              Germany   Israel                 Italy                Malaysia          Netherlands Norway            Pakistan    South Africa  USA                 Yugoslavia

Perhaps the most impressive participant at the Games, however, was Neville Cohen from South Africa. Neville had previously been a patient at Stoke Mandeville three years previously and had arrived in the UK in late April, having driven overland with a friend all the way from Johannesburg in South Africa. According to his autobiography by the time Neville applied to take part in the Games all of the accommodation was already full and so he pitched his tent underneath the window of Dr Guttmann’s office⁴.

The issue of accommodation had been raised as a major problem at the previous year’s Games with £6,000 needing to be raised immediately to built two further accommodation huts in addition to the two completed for the Games of 1955. One of the needed huts was supplied and equipped as a result of a donation of £4,500 from the Royal Air Force Association⁵. The money had been raised as a result of cinema collections at screenings of the film ‘The Dam-Busters’³. This hut was officially opened by on the Saturday at 3pm by Air Chief Marshall Sir Geoffrey Bromet who uncovered a plaque surmounted by the RAF Association crest, which was affixed to the hut⁶.

British Organisations and Institutions

Chaseley Home, Eastbourne, Sussex

Coal Industry Social Welfare Organisation, Derbyshire

Duchess of Gloucester House, Isleworth, Middlesex

Spinal Injuries Unit, GeneralHospital, Hexham, Northumberland

Lyme Green Settlement, Macclesfield, Cheshire

National Spinal Injuries Unit, Stoke Mandeville

Stoke Mandeville ‘Old Boys’ living at home

Stoke Mandeville ‘Old Girls’ living at home

National Spinal Injuries Unit, Stoke Mandeville (Ladies’ Team)

No. 3 PolishHospital, Penley, Denbighshire

Northumberland and Cumberland Paraplegic Mineworkers’ Club

PinderfieldsHospital, Wakefield

Spinal Injuries Unit, PromenadeHospital, Southport, Lancashire

Spinal Injuries Unit, Lodge Moor, Sheffield

Star and Garter Home, Richmond, Surrey

Miners’ Rehabilitation Centre, Uddington, Lanarksire, Scotland

Spinal Injuries Unit, EdenhallHospital, Musselburgh, Midlothian, Scotland

Thistle Foundation, Edinburgh, Scotland

Ministry of Health Spinal Injuries Unit, Rookwood, Cardiff, Wales

In terms of sports there were no new additional sports, but an archery event for boys aged 12 years and under and a foil fencing competition for ladies were added to the programme.

Sports:            Archery           Dartchery        Javelin             Snooker           Swimming       Table Tennis  Wheelchair Basketball          Wheelchair Fencing

Demonstrations:        Club Swinging

Prize Winners

Archery (121 entries)

Windsor Round

For the first time in any sport a team competed under the banner of ‘British National’ team. This team apparently comprised of the best four paraplegic archers from all of the spinal units⁸, although mention is made of how these archers were selected.

1. British National   

(A. Aldwinkle, R. Jennings, R. Irvine, A. Hill)               2861 pts

2. Stoke Mandeville Old Boys B 

(L. Vick, Cameron, Cathcart, J. Laird)       2483 pts    

Best Individual Score: A.H. Hill (British National) 754 pts

Highest Individual Score by a Stoke Mandeville Old Boy or Old Girl:

R. Jennings 734 pts

Highest Individual Score amongst the Duchess of Gloucester Team:

M. Sheedy  647 pts

Best Gold of the Day:   Roy Jennings (Stoke Mandeville)

Columbia Round

1. France 2 (Bregal, Thiaudiere, Berre, Barbier)       1837pts

2. Stoke Mandeville (Cox, Vann, Wilson, Ludlow)  1956pts

3. France 1 1405pts

4. Belgium

(Peeten (232), Hewegezis (429), Alloo (369), Baggen (342))   1372pts

5. Glasgow 1308pts

6. Stoke Mandeville Old Girls 1262pts

7. Thistle Foundation 1247pts

8. Germany 1145pts

9. Edenhall 1124pts

10=. Hexham 1081pts

10=. Stoke Mandeville Old Girls B 1081pts

12. Newcastle 1037pts

13. Netherlands 1003pts

14. Cardiff 984pts

15. Stoke Mandeville Old Boys 927pts

16. Derbyshire 821pts

17. Southport 743pts

18. Finland 683pts

19. Stoke Mandeville Old Girls A 662pts

 

Highest Individual Score: B. Cox (Stoke Mandeville) 560 pts

Junior Challenge Cup: Raymond Theobault (Stoke Mandeville): 143 pts

Highest Individual Score by an overseas visitor: Bregal (France) 468 pts

Highest Individual Ladies Score:

M. Harriman (Stoke Mandeville ‘Old Girl’) 430 pts

Highest Individual Score amongst the Stoke Mandeville Team:

B. Cox   560 pts

Best Gold of the Day: Sloway (Thistle Foundation)

Basketball (63 participants)

Following on from the previous year’s competition when the Americans in their sleek lightweight wheelchairs had totally outclassed all the other teams, but which had also revealed a major difference in the rules under which the American and British versions of the Game were played, several modifications were made to the competition structure this year. Some slight amendments were made to the rules themselves, a second referee was added for each game and the competition itself was divided into two classes for complete and incomplete lesions in an attempt make competition fairer⁶. Polio victims such as those in the American team would play in the incomplete lesions event. Participants with complete lesions could also play in the incomplete lesion event, but not vice-versa. Although the names of the winning teams are given the scores are not recorded anywhere in the available results.

Incomplete Lesions

1. USA (Mucci, Jiacoppo, Welgar, Mabee, D’Antonio)

2. Lyme Green (Chadwick, Swindlehurst, Hooker, Moran, Newman)

Complete Lesions

1. Lyme Green (Moran, Newman, Swindlehurst, Foster, Platten)

2. France (Riffero, Zucchelli, Beuzit, Michout, Gres)

Dartchery (16 entries)

1. Stoke Mandeville (Harry Hill, Bruce Cox, John Vann, Norman Wilson)

Fencing (17 entries)

Ladies foil was a new event this year and attracted five entries with twelve men taking part in the saber competition.

Team:  Rookwood (D. Winters, G. Cockeram)

Individual Mens Sabre: G. Cockeram (Rookwood)

Individual Ladies Foil: Gertrude Wolf (Stoke Mandeville)

Javelin Throw (48 entries)

Class A (4 teams):       Hexham (D. Thompson, Kamara)

Best Individual Throw: D. Thompson (Hexham) 50ft 9ins

Class B (20 teams):     USA (Acca, Mucci)

Best Individual Throw: Acca (USA) 61ft 11ins

Trophy for the Best Throw of the Day: Acca (USA) 61ft 11ins

Snooker (12 entries)

1. J. Lowe (Lyme Green)

2. L. Boyle (Star & Garter)

Swimming (78 entries)

No individual event results for the swimming events of this year have been located, although Neville Cohen of South Africa claims in his autobiography that he won the breaststroke event, winning South Africa’s first ever gold medal in the process⁴. In addition to the rest of the competitors in this year’s swimming competition a team entered from the Infantile Paralysis Fellowship in High Wycombe who visited the pool weekly as outpatients prior to the Games⁶.

Winning Team on points score: Stoke Mandeville

Table Tennis (58 entries)

Singles                                                         Doubles

Class A:    Jacob (Netherlands)         Class A:         No Event

Class B:    De Beer (Netherlands)     Class B:         Smith & Brixley (Rookwood)

Class C:    W. Telsnig (Austria)         Class C:         W. Telsnig & Waldenegg (AUT)

Youngest Competitor of the Day: Stephen Darrington (Stoke Mandeville) in Swimming (aged 7 years)

Guests of Honour

Following on from the setting up of the Paraplegic Sports Endowment Fund in the wake of the 1955 Games it was perhaps apt that the guests of honour at this year’s Games were made up primarily of the Funds Patrons. These included Sir and Lady Templar and Sir and Lady Boyle, who were all Patrons of the Fund; Sir Arthur Porritt, President of the Fund and Lady Porritt and Sir Selwyn-Clarke, one of the Funds Vice Presidents¹. Sir Gerald Templar, the Chief of Imperial General Staff, took the salute at the wheel-past of nations and his wife, Lady Templar, handed out the prizes. Mr Curtis Campaigne, Secretary General of the World Veteran’s Federation gave a speech on behalf of the visiting teams⁷. Sir Arthur Porritt, the principal speaker on the day, apparently discarded the speech he had prepared beforehand declaring it quite inadequate to describe what he had witnessed that afternoon⁶. Sir Arthur’s presence at these Games was to play a major part in spurring Dr Guttmann even further down the path he had set of closer links with the Olympic Games as will be seen in the next chapter.

1. Bucks Herald, 1956, Wheelchair Sportsmen of 19 Nations at Stoke Mandeville, Friday 3^rd August; p. 9.

2. Paraplegic Sports Endowment Fund, 1956, First Annual Report and Abstract of Accounts 1955-1956 (IWAS Archives)

3. Bucks Advertiser and Aylesbury News, 1956, Russians at Paralympics, Friday 27^th July; p.10

4. Cohen, N., 2007, Mind if I Sit? QuadPara Association of South Africa; Pinetown, South Africa.

5. Bucks Herald, 1956, Russians to attend the Stoke “Olympics”, Friday 27^th July; p. 1.

6. Scruton, J., 1956, International Stoke Mandeville Games, in The Cord, Vol. 8(4); p. 7-21.

7. Bucks Advertiser and Aylesbury News, 1956, The ‘Olympics’ of the Chair-bound Sportsmen, Friday 3^rd August; p. 3.

8. Star and Garter Magazine, 1956, The Stoke Mandeville Games, October; p. 18-19.

1955: The Pan Am Jets make their first landing

The Games this year were held on Friday 29^th and Saturday 30^th July, 1955. Eighteen nations were represented with the addition of visiting teams from Denmark, Norway and the USA and individual patients from Malaya (Abdul Wahid Bin Baba) and Turkey (Nas Huseyin). The eleven members of the American team were all employees of Pan American Airways who were sponsored by their employers¹. Dr Guttmann was apparently especially happy to have an American team present and this lead him to hope that the next year he might be able to get a team from Russia to attend. He felt that the presence of these two world sporting super-powers would give true recognition to the Games. A total of 280 competitors took part in the Games².

International Nations Represented

Australia          Austria          Belgium           Canada          Denmark         Finland France               Germany      Israel                Malaysia      Malta                Netherlands Norway             South Africa          Turkey        USA        Yugoslavia

British Organisations and Institutions

The number of British organisations present this year was bolstered by the addition of two organisations representing mineworkers who had been injured in colliery accidents. These were the Northumberland and Cumberland Paraplegic Mineworkers’ Club and the Miners’ Rehabilitation Centre in Uddington, Scotland

Chaseley Home, Eastbourne, Sussex

Duchess of Gloucester House, Isleworth, Middlesex

Spinal Injuries Unit, GeneralHospital, Hexham, Northumberland

Lyme Green Settlement, Macclesfield, Cheshire

National Spinal Injuries Unit, Stoke Mandeville

Stoke Mandeville ‘Old Boys’

Stoke Mandeville ‘Old Girls’

National Spinal Injuries Unit, Stoke Mandeville (Ladies’ Team)

No. 3 PolishHospital, Penley, Denbighshire

Northumberland and Cumberland Paraplegic Mineworkers’ Club

Spinal Injuries Unit, PromenadeHospital, Southport, Lancashire

Star and Garter Home, Richmond, Surrey

Miners’ Rehabilitation Centre, Uddington, Lanarksire, Scotland

Thistle Foundation, Edinburgh, Scotland

Ministry of Health Spinal Injuries Unit, Rookwood, Cardiff, Wales

There were no new sports on the programme in this year, although wheelchair fencing was up-graded to a full-medal sport.

Sports:            Archery           Basketball       Dartchery        Javelin Snooker               Swimming     Table Tennis       Wheelchair Fencing

Demonstrations:        Club Swinging           

Given the huge and rapid growth of the Games over the previous few years and the fact that it was becoming more and more difficult to find space to accommodate participants in the hospital wards as had been done in previous years, the biggest problem the organisers faced in putting on the Games of 1955 was finding space to house the ever increasing number of competitors. This apparently caused Dr Guttmann quite a few headaches and was finally overcome by the construction of two new large huts next to the sports ground³. The huts, which were completed in less than three months, house approximately eighty people and were paid for by the King Edward’s Hospital Fund, the British Legion and the National Playing Fields Association. They were officially opened by Sir George Schuster, Chairman of the Regional Hospital Board⁴.

A new feature added to the programme for this year’s Games was the holding of a scientific meeting on the Friday, which was attended by approximately fifty surgeons and doctors from around the globe. This apparently proved so successful that it was decided to make it an annual event to be held in conjunction with the Games⁵.

Prize Winners

Archery

For the first time since the Games began they were not restricted to the front lawns of the hospital, but took place on a specially constructed and much larger sports ground at the rear of the hospital⁶. For there first time, therefore, the archery competition was divided into two disciplines. There was a Windsor Round for the more experienced archers and the usual Columbia Round for those that had not reached quite such high standards of marksmanship. Nine teams took part in the Windsor Round, which involves shooting 36 arrows over 60 yards, 50 yards and 40 yards. Seventeen teams completed the Columbia Round, which consists of 24 arrows over 50 yards, 40 yards and 30 yards. Both rounds used a five zone scoring system with the inner most zone or circle scoring 9 points and the outer most zone scoring 1 point.

Windsor Round

1. Stoke Mandeville      2466pts      

(A. Aldwinkle (729), H. Hill (660), J. Bell (563), N. Wilson (514))

2. Stoke Old Boys East 2400pts      

(R. Jennings (696), J. Irvine (656), L. Vick (568), L. Rackett (480))

3. Penley 2176pts

4. Stoke Mandeville Old Boys West  2090pts

5. Chaseley 1914pts

6. Duchess of Gloucester House 1846pts

7. Star and Garter 1803pts

8. Stoke Mandeville Old Boys North 1658pts

9. Lyme Green 1551pts

Highest Individual Score:  

A. Aldwinkle (Stoke Mandeville)    729pts

Highest Individual Score of the Stoke Mandeville Team:

A. Aldwinkle    729pts

Highest Individual Score of the Duchess of Gloucester House Team: 

M. Sheedy  505 pts

Highest Individual Score by an Old Boy or Old Girl:  

Roy Jennings    696pts

Best Gold of the Day:  H. Hill (Stoke Mandeville)

Columbia Round

1. Begium        1536pts    

(Van Puymbroeck (471 pts), Mertens (432 pts), Lintermans (331 pts), De Vassal (292pts))

2. Netherlands 1509pts     

 (Ari Prins (382), Van Opdorp (379), Hosenoning (379), Van Rooyen (369))

	Team	50 yards	40 yards	30 yards	Total
1	Belgium	398	495	643	1536
2	Netherlands	390	548	571	1509
3	Stoke Mandeville Ladies	347	486	591	1423
4	France (Fontainebleau)	390	480	579	1358
5	Germany	354	371	549	1234
6	Glasgow	327	400	500	1227
7	Newcastle	196	350	536	1090
8	Stoke Mandeville Old Boys	260	372	443	1075
9	Cardiff	229	308	469	1006
10	Stoke Mandeville Old Girls A				913
11	United Veterans				891
12	France (Paris)				882
13	Stoke Mandeville Old Girls B				875
14	Edinburgh				866
15	Hexham				794
16	Southport				345
17	USA				326

The United Veterans team as made up of Abdul Wahid Bin Baba (Malaya), Nas Huseyin (Turkey), Hamalainen (Finland), P. Brusseaux (Canada).

Highest Individual Score:   Van Puymbroeck (Belgium)    471pts

Highest Individual Score by an Overseas Visitor:

Van Puymbroeck (Belgium)   471pts

Highest Individual Ladies Score:

Irene Chilton (Stoke Mandeville)    394pts

Best Gold of the Day:    Pamela Russell (Stoke Mandeville)

Dartchery

1. Stoke Mandeville (H. Hill, J. Bell, A. Aldwinkle, N. Wilson)

Fencing

Perhaps a little unsurprisingly, as it had been Rookwood who had introduced fencing to the Games as a demonstration sport the previous year, it was Rookwood who took both the team and individual prizes in the sabre event 

Team                                                      Individual

1. Rookwood A                                   1. Dudley Winters (Rookwood)

2. Stoke Mandeville                         2. Col. Cameron (Stoke Mandeville)

3. Rookwood B                                  3. Dudley Phillips (Rookwood)

Javelin Throw

Class A: Hexham (D. Thompson (55ft 2ins), E. Kamara (43ft 8ins))      99ft 2ins

Best Throw: D. Thompson (Hexham)                                                                  55ft 2ins

Class B:  USA (A. Mucca (59ft 6ins), P. Acca (55ft 10ins))                       115ft 4ins

Best Throw: De Kruidenier (Netherlands)                                                         62ft 4ins

Netball

A total of thirteen teams entered this year’s netball competition, which given the time available forced the organiser Charlie Atkinson to swap the competition to a straight knock-out basis for the first time⁴. Unfortunately for the Lyme Green team, who had won the tournament for the previous six years, they were drawn against the Pan Am Jets team from the USA in the very first round. Much was made of the lightweight aluminium wheelchairs of the American team, which appeared to give them a huge advantage against the more cumbersome hospital chairs used by most other competitors in terms of both speed and manoeuvrability. However, it was also agreed by most reporters on their games that they were also by far the best team in the tournament⁷. In the next round they beat the team from the Netherlands and in the final they apparently ‘outclassed’ the Duchess of Gloucester House team⁴.

Interestingly, it appears the Americans were unsure whether they would even be allowed to play in the netball tournament as all of their players consisted of polio victims rather than paraplegia¹. These fears were allayed when they found out the some of the opposition players were also polio victims, some whom could also walk. However, this difference in the range of disability did play a big part in the introduction of two classes for the netball tournament the following year. The Americans also noted that their was a big difference in what they knew as wheelchair basketball at home and the game as it was played at Stoke Mandeville at the time and known as netball. They highlighted the following differences between the rules for the two games:

• There appeared to be few rules with the exception of one that allowed a player to hold the ball for no longer than four seconds
• Charging was permitted as was jumping up in the chair
• The basket was two feet lower than in the USA, with a smaller ring and backboard
• The ball was larger, apparently making outside shots impossible and forcing teams to make all lay-ups¹.

1. USA (D’Antonio, Welgar, Nopper, Acca, Mucci)

2. Duchess of Gloucester House (G. Todd, E. Kanakakis, R. Maxwell, Sawko, Grafton)

Snooker

1. D. Brown (Stoke Mandeville Old Boy)

2. J. Greenaway (Chaseley)

Swimming

No individual event results for the swimming events of this year have been located. All that is known is that Austria won the team prize and Peter McCranor the Junior Challenge Cup.

Winning Team on points score: Austria

Junior Challenge Cup: Peter McCranor

Table Tennis

The apparent absence of Syd Taylor from the Star and Garter Home not only meant that ‘the two Syds’ didn’t continue their previous domination of the Class A and B doubles competitions, but also that there were not enough competitors for a Class A doubles competition to take place. Syd Pratt did, however, manage to retain the Class A singles title he had won the previous year. The winner of the Class C singles, Hoadley, was British, but no affiliation is given in any of the results.

Singles                                                           Doubles

Class A:    S. Pratt (Star & Garter)      Class A:     No Event

Class B:    De Beer (Netherlands)        Class B:     Geluk & De Beer (Netherlands)

Class C:    Hoadley                                     Class C:     Welgar & Napper (USA)

Youngest Competitor of the Day: Terry Warren (Stoke Mandeville) in Swimming (aged 8 years)

Guests of Honour

Guests of Honour for the 1955 Games included Dr Roger Bannister, who presented the prizes; Sir George Schuster, Chairman of the Regional Hospital Board; Brigadier J.G. Smyth, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance who took the salute during the wheelpast of nations; Major General C.W. Fladgate, Chairman of the World Veteran’s Federation; Miss Avis Scott, a television personality and Mademoiselle Genevieve de Galard-Terraube⁸. Mlle Galard-Terraube, who was at a nurse in the French Roral Air Force and was at Stoke Mandeville with a team of French disabled servicemen and civilians, was nicknamed ‘the Angel of Dien Bien Phu’ by the media following her actions at the battle of that name in French Indochina².

1. Schweikert, H., 1955, Pan Am Jets Take Part in Paralympics, in Paraplegia News, September 1955; p. 12.

2. Bucks Herald, 1955, Wheelchair Sportsmen of the World Meet at Stoke Mandeville, Friday 5^th August; p. 10.

3. The Cord, 1955, Stoke Mandeville Calling, Vol. 7(4); p. 19-20.

4. The Cord, 1955, International Games Stoke Mandeville, Vol. 7(5); p. 7-16.

5. Scruton, J., 1955, Reflections on the 1955 International Stoke Mandeville Games, Vol. 8(1); p. 21-28.

6. Bucks Advertiser & Aylesbury News, 1955, “Paralympics” In Danger, Friday 29^th July; p. 12.

7. Star and Garter Magazine, 1955, Stoke Mandeville Games 1955, October; p. 13-14.

8. Bucks Advertiser & Aylesbury News, 1955, A Story Of Triumph And Courage That Is Unequalled, Friday 5^th August; p. 11.

 

Stoke Mandeville Games 1954: The First Parade of Nations

The Games of 1954 were held on Friday 30^th and Saturday 31^st July¹. However, media and other written coverage of this year’s Games appears to be quite sparse. In his opening address Dr Guttmann informed those present that a telegram had been sent to the Queen ‘conveying on behalf of all participants their loyal greetings²’ to which the Queen had apparently responded with her thanks and had sent best wishes for the success of the Games.

This year also saw the addition of eight new stars on the Games flag, representing the participation of athletes from eight new countries since the Games became truly international in 1952. Some of these nations were represented by patients based at Stoke Mandeville e.g. Tom Butler, a paralysed farmer from Western Australia³, whilst others were represented by small teams of athletes attending specifically for the Games. What is slightly strange about this is that Tom Butler had competed in the previous year’s Games, but no mention of Australia as a nation had been made, nor had a star been added to the Games flag to represent their participation. It is likely, however, that this was done in an attempt to make the Games more newsworthy and increase interest in them.

International Nations Represented

Australia          Austria        Belgium           Canada             Egypt              Finland         France              Germany     Israel               Pakistan           Portugal           Netherlands   Yugoslavia

British Organisations and Institutions

Chaseley Home, Eastbourne, Sussex

Duchess of Gloucester House, Isleworth, Middlesex

Spinal Injuries Unit, GeneralHospital, Hexham, Northumberland

Lyme Green Settlement, Macclesfield, Cheshire

National Spinal Injuries Unit, Stoke Mandeville

Stoke Mandeville ‘Old Boys’

Stoke Mandeville ‘Old Girls’

National Spinal Injuries Unit, Stoke Mandeville (Ladies’ Team)

No. 3 PolishHospital, Penley, Denbighshire

Spinal Injuries Unit, PromenadeHospital, Southport, Lancashire

Star and Garter Home, Richmond, Surrey

Thistle Foundation, Edinburgh, Scotland

Ministry of Health Spinal Injuries Unit, Rookwood, Cardiff, Wales

Dartchery was promoted to full sport status this year and in addition the sport of wheelchair fencing was demonstrated to those present by a patient from the Rookwood Centre in Wales and his non-disabled instructor, apparently watched by a large and appreciative audience².

Sports:           Archery         Dartchery       Javelin            Netball       Snooker          

                           Swimming      Table Tennis

Demonstrations:        Club Swinging            Wheelchair Fencing

Prize Winners

As with the media and other written coverage of this year’s Games the results of this year are not as full or complete as other years. The results shown here are a compilation from a variety of sources.

Archery

Winning Team

1. Stoke Mandeville Old Boys South   (R. Robinson, J. Irvine, L. Johnson, J. Coward) 1835 pts   

2. Penley  (S. Nowak, P. Czajkowski, W. Ruzke, Rykaczeczwski)

Highest Individual Score:    A. Hill (Duchess of Gloucester House)     524pts

Highest Individual Ladies Score:    Mrs Pamela Russell (Stoke Mandeville)     415pts

Highest Individual Score by an Old Boy or Old Girl:   John Coward     506pts

Highest Individual Score by an Overseas Visitor:  H. Van Puymbroeck (Belgium)  467pts

Highest Individual Score from Stoke Mandeville Team:  Jim Laird     499pts

Highest Individual Score from Duchess of Gloucester House Team:  A. Hill       524pts

Best Gold of the Day:            J. Rochon (Canada)

Dartchery

Winning Team: Duchess of Gloucester House

Javelin Throw

Class A: Hexham (D.B. Thompson & A. Jackson)                 90ft 7ins

Class B: Hexham (D.B. Thompson & J. Crosby)                    94ft 9ins

Netball

For the sixth year in a row the ‘Red Devils’ of the Lyme Green Settlement proved too strong for the opposition in the netball competition. It should also be noted that it was in this year that the netball competition began its transformation into what was to later become wheelchair basketball with the addition of a backboard to the netball posts that allowed for re-bounded shots to score.

1. Lyme Green (J. Shiel, J. Hooker, A. Smith, T. Moran, G. Swindlehurst)

2. Netherlands

Snooker

1. Arthur Poulter (Stoke Mandeville)

2. A. Raftery (Southport)

Swimming

Team Points Score: Thistle Foundation, Edinburgh

Junior Challenge Cup

1. Ann Masson (Stoke Mandeville)

2. Val Forder (Stoke Mandeville)

Ladies Breaststroke:   Jan Laughton (Stoke Mandeville)

Ladies Backstroke:     Joan ‘Bunty’ Noon (Stoke Mandeville)

Ladies Crawl:              D. Cornwall (Stoke Mandeville)

Men Complete Lesions Class B

Breaststroke                                                             Backstroke

1. A. Laughton (Southport)                                1. White (Thistle Foundation)

2. McGee (Chaseley)                                             2. McGee (Chaseley)

Men Complete Lesions Class C

Breaststroke                                                              Backstroke

1. W. Telsnig (Austria)                                          1. W. Telsnig (Austria)

2. McKenzie (Thistle Foundation)                   2. Tom Butler (Australia)

Men Incomplete Lesions Class B

Breaststroke                                                              Backstroke

1. Stamenkovic (Yugoslavia)                             1. Calder (Thistle Foundation)

2. Weizel (Germany)                                              2. Zinterman (Germany)

Crawl

1. Zinterman (Germany)

2. Mera (Egypt)

Table Tennis

Once again the two Syds from the Star and Garter Home, with their bats securely bandaged to their hands proved too strong for the opposition in both the Class A and Class B doubles events. For the first time, however, Syd Pratt rather than Syd Taylor was victorious in the Class A singles event.

Singles                                                                      

Class A: S. Pratt & S. Taylor (Star and Garter)

Class B:   E. Rangger (Austria)                    

Class C:   W. Pollock (D of G House)        

Doubles

Class A:   S. Pratt (Star and Garter)

Class B: S. Pratt & S. Taylor (Star and Garter)

Class C: E. Rangger & W. Telsnig (Austria)

Guests of Honour

Guests of Honour at the 1954 Games were Iain Macleod, Minister of Health, Lord Burghley, British IOC member and President of the International Amateur Athletics Federation and Elliott Newcomb, Secretary General of the World Veteran’s Federation. Also in attendance was the South Korean Minister of Social Affairs, Mr Koo Cha Hun, who was visiting Stoke Mandeville to learn more about the rehabilitation techniques used there^2,4. In keeping with his constant references to and use of Olympic practices Dr Guttmann introduced a ‘Parade of Nations’ this year, which commenced at 5.45pm on the Saturday evening. The participants paraded past a specially constructed saluting base occupied by Iain Macleod and Lord Burghley and completed the parade at prize giving area, where each of the guests gave a speech before Lord Burghley presented the prizes.

The Minister of Pensions reported that the disappearance of the Ministry of Pensions the previous year, to be replaced by the Ministries of Health and National Insurance had raised concerns about what would happen to spinal injuries units such as those at Stoke Mandeville. He assured those present that in no way would the work of such units be interrupted⁵. Mr Elliot Newcomb of the World Veteran’s Federation, whose financial help made the International Stoke Mandeville Games possible⁶, claimed that in the Stoke Mandeville Games had been found ‘something that is common to all nations, something that crosses all national boundaries and can further better international relationships⁴’. Before presenting the prizes Lord Burghley stated that it had been a remarkable day, underlining the enthusiasm and comradeship of those taking part⁴ and that the good name of Stoke Mandeville was spreading like wildfire all over the world².

The day was concluded by a get-together and concert in the gymnasium in the evening at which Major Jan Linzel, from the Netherlands, presented the remaining prizes and medals⁶.

 Sources

1. Bucks Herald, 1954, All Ready for the Stoke Mandeville Games, Friday 30^th July; p. 7.

2. The Cord, 1954, International Games, Stoke Mandeville, Vol. 7(2); p. 7-14.

3. The Cord, 1962, The First Ten Years of the International Stoke Mandeville Games for the Paralysed, Vol. 14(4); p. 30-38.

4. Bucks Advertiser & Aylesbury News, 1954, Stoke Mandeville’s “Paralympics”, Friday 6^th August; p. 8

5. Bucks Herald, 1954, 14 Nations in wheelchair Olympics at Stoke, Friday 6^th August; p. 8.

6. The Cord, 1954, News from the Spinal Centres: Stoke Mandeville Calling, Vol. 7(2); p. 37-40.

 

Madrid 1992 Paralympic Medallists

Following a request through the Ask the Anorak section of my blog please find a list of all the medallists at the Madrid 1992 Paralympic Games for the Intellectually Disabled. Please note there are some small problems with the women’s table tennis results that originate from the official results. I will correct these in due course if I am able to find an alternative reliable source.

Athletics

Men

100 m

1          Colaine, Kenneth (GBR)                       11.33

2          Da Silva, Joel ( BRA)                             11.58

3          Alvarez Rosa, J. Luis (ESP)                 11.62

200 m

1          Colaine, Kenneth (GBR)                       22.90

2          Garcia, Cirilo (DOM)                            23.69

3.         Alvarez Rosa, J. Luis (ESP)                 23.72

400 m

1          Da Silva, Joel (BRA)                              51.48

2          Garcia, Cirilo (DOM)                            52.74

3          Quintana Nyate, J. Luis (ESP)            52.82

800 m

1          Bartfors, Magnus (SWE)                       2.10.11

2          Almonte, Freddy (DOM)                      2.05.26

3          Garcia, Cirilo (DOM)                            2.05.99

1.500m

1          Bar tfors, Magnus (SWE)                      4.19.13

2          Mitchell, Paul (AUS)                             4.19.64

3          Okal, Leonard (KEN)                            4.19.72

3.000 m

1          Okal, Leonard (KEN)                            9.19.94

2          Mariz, Antonio (POR)                          9.20.86

3          Gatua, Jeremiah (KEN)                       9.30.56

High Jump

1          Sanchez, Fabian (URU)                        1.71

2          Bahri, Wissem (TUN)                           1.69

3          Flavel, Anton (AUS)                              1.69

Long Jump

1          lsakksson, Johan (SWE)                       6.06

2          Gravis, Stelian (ROM)                          5.96

3          Tigleanu, Mircea (ROM)                      5.95

Shotput

1          Apablaza S. Martin Guillermo (CHI) 10.68

2          Ribeiro, Haroldo (BRA)                       10.43

3          Dumitru, Viorel (ROM)                       10.23

Discus

1          lsakksson, Johan (SWE)                       29.10

2          Dimitru, Viorel (ROM)                         27.34

3          Flavel, Anton (AUS)                              27.00

Javelin

1          Flavel, Anton (AUS)                               51.52

2          Mori, Ernesto (URU)                            43.14

3          Hyttinen, Arto (FlN)                             41.90

4 x 100 m. Relay

1          Spain                                                        45.58

(Alvarez Rosa, J. Luis; Bocos Liberato, Felix; Vazquez Lopez, Jesus; Quintana Nyate, J. Luis.)

2          Great Britain                                          46.45

(Meechan, Peter;  Colin, James; Barry, James; Colaine, Kenneth)

3          Sweden                                                    47.17

(lllman, Roger; Eriksson, Torberjn; Isakksson, Johan; Bartfors, Magnus)

4 x 400 m. Relay

1          Spain                                                         3.40.25

(Garcia, Javier; Montenegro, Sergio; Vazquez, Jesus; Santaella, Santiago)

2          Dominican Reupblic                             3.41.78

(Alcala, Alejandro; Sanchez, Inocencio; Almonte, Freddy; Garcia, Cirilo)

3          Japan                                                       3.43.56

(Takeda, Tosikatsu; Ohki, Katsyuda; Momii, ldetaka; lshikawa, Toshiyuki)

Women

100 m

1          Nunez, Ingri (DOM)                              13.36

2          Michili, Lorena (URU)                          13.45

3          Newell, Linda (GBR)                             13.68

200m

1          Nunez, Ingri (DOM)                              27.13

2          Melesko, Tracey (CAN)                        27.57

3          Mi lichi, Lorena (URU)                        27.93

400 m

1          Mi lichi, Lorena (URU)                         1.01.15

2          Nunez, Ingri (DOM)                             1.01.36

3          Melesko, Tracey (CAN)                        1.01.60

800 m

1          Fuertes, Nuria (ESP)                             2.39.98

2          Alcaide, Antonia (ESP)                         2.40.45

3          Apuscasitei, Lenuta (ROM)                 2.41.88

1.500 m

1          Minayo, Rose (KEN)                              5.35.03

2          Alcaide, Antonia (POR)                        5.35.93

3          Concalves, lsabel (POR)                       5.39.08

High Jump

1          Milichi, Lorena (URU)                         1.40

2          Andreanis, Lourdes (URU)                 1.38

3          Alburquerque, Ana (POR)                   1.32

Long Jump

1          Ciobanu, Valeria (ROM)                       4.50

2          Ramos Pereira, Ester (BRA)                4.45

3          Nugent, Raquel (AUS)                          4.33

Shot put

1          Szatmari, Piroska (ROM)                     9.08

2          Ehlers, Madelyn (AUS)                         8.61

3          Sanchez, Edra (ECU)                            7.87

Discus

1          Szatmari, Piroska (ROM)                     24.98

2          Ehlers, Madelyn (AUS)                        21.32

3          Maeso, M . Elena (ESP)                       20.86

Javelin

1          Ramos, Ana M. (URU)                          28.52

2          Chelagat, Emili (KEN)                          24.28

3          Freeman, Kaye (AUS)                           24.16

4 x100 m. Relay

1          Uruguay                                                   54.98

(Andreanis, Lourdes; Bautista, Yully; Duarte, Monica; Milichi, Lorena)

2          Romania                                                  56.44

(Voicu, Georgeta; Ghita, Carmen; Ciobanu, Valeria; Lingurar, Floare-Amelia)

3          Brasil                                                        57.88

(Limad a Cruz,L uciAngelaS;o uza,B eresia; RamosE, stherD; a Costa,E r inude)

4 x 400 m. Relay

1          Spain                                                         4.36.66

(Perez, Adoracion; Florencio, Cristina; Gonzalez, Yolanda; Parada, M. Mar)

2          Portugal                                                   4.44.55

(Maganinho, Carmo; Alburquerque, Ana; Catrocho, Manuela; Santos, Prazeres)

3          Poland                                                     4.50.12

(Fukowsa, Anna; Stachulska, Joana; Kozanka, Reanata; Wojtkowska, Iwona)

Swimming

Men

50 m. freestyle

1          Dill, Matthew (CAN)                             27.68

2          Huber, Damian (ARG)                         27.86

3          Norlin, Roland(SWE)                           28.82

100 m. freestyle

1          Walker, Joseph (AUS)                          1.01.05

2          Hardenbol, Rene (AUS)                       1.03.54

3          Dill, Matthew (CAN)                             1.04.17

200m. freestyle

1          Walker, Joseph (AUS)                          2.13.66

2          Huber, Damian (ARG)                         2.19.04

3          Hofer, Joshua (AUS)                             2.22.44

400 m. freestyle

1          Walker, Joseph (AUS)                          4.45.08

2          Huber, Damian (ARG)                         4.56.78

3          Hofer, Joshua (AUS)                            5.11.72

50 m. breaststroke

1          Nilsson, Peter (SWE)                            37.15

2          Hagstrom, Patrik (SWE)                     37.30

3          Norlin, Roland (SWE)                          38.73

100m . breaststroke

1=        Hagstrom, Patrik (SWE)                      1.21.04

1=        Qing, Zhang (CHN)                               1.21.04

3          Hardenbol,Rene (AUS)                        1.23.87

200 m. breaststroke

1          Hagstrom, Patrik (SWE)                      2.59.87

2          Hardenbol, Rene (AUS)                       3.02.76

3          Nilsson, Peter (SWE)                           3.14.23

50 m. backstroke

1          Norlin, Roland (SWE)                           35.06

2          Hofer, Joshua (AUS)                             35.76

3          Dill, Matthew (CAN)                             35.95

100m . backstroke

1=        Qing, Z hang (CHN)                              1.16.13

1=        Hofer, Joshua (AUS)                            1.16.13

3          Rindberg, Lars Erik (SWE)                 1.18.06

200m. backstroke

1          Hardenbol, Rene (AUS)                       2.39.81

2          Hofer, Joshua (AUS)                            2.42.11

3          Rindberg, Lars Erik (SWE)                 2.48.37

50 m. butterfly

1.         Walker, Joseph (AUS)                          30.24

2          Hofer, Joshua (AUS)                            31.53

3          Huber, Damian (ARG)                         32.88

100m . butterfly

1          Walker, Joseph (AUS)                          1.05.59

2          Hofer, Joshua (AUS)                            1.12.65

3          Huber, Damian (ARG)                         1.12.68

200 m Individual Medley

1          Huber, Damian (ARG)                          2.41.31

2          Rindberg, Lars Erik (SWE)                 2.47.54

3          Horlin, Roland (SWE)                          2.48.23

4 x 50 m. freestyle

1          Australia                                                  1.57.33

(Hofer, Joshua; Hardenbol, Rene; Walker, Joseph; Cooper, Jason)

2          Sweden                                                    1.58.67

(Nilsson, Peter; Hagstrom,Patrik; Rindberg, Lars Erik; Norlin, Roland)

3          Great Britain                                          2.00.76

(Forbes, Andrew; Allen, Murray; Crawford, Lee; Dingwall, Murray)

4 x 100 m. freestyle

1          Australia                                                  4.25.14

(Handenbol, Rene; Cooper, Jason; Hofer, Joshua; Walker, Joseph)

2          Sweden                                                    4.40.32

(Johansson, Patrik; Eriksson,  Sten; Nilsson, Peter; Norlin, Roland)

3          Uruguay                                                  4.56.84

(Barranque, Roberto; Dupasos Nunez, William; MacEachen Gomez,Robert; Perdomo Meilach, Jorge)

4 x 50 m Medley Relay

1          Australia                                                  2.14.89

(Hardenbol, Rene; Walker, Joseph; Hofer, Joshua; Coooer. Jason)

2          Sweden                                                    2.15.58

(Rindberg, Lars Erik; Erikkson, Sten; Hagstrom, Patrik; Norlin, Roland)

3          Great Britain                                          2.28.78

(Burns, Stephen; Crawford, Lee; Dingwall, Murray; Allen, Murray)

4 x 100 m. Medley Relay

1          Australia                                                 5.04.75

(Hardenbol, Rene; Walker, Joseph; Hofer, Joshua; Cooper, Jason)

2          Sweden                                                    5.21.96

(Rindberg, Lars Erik; Erikkson, Sten; Hagstrom, Patrik; Norlin, Roland)

3          Great Britain                                          5.43.22

(Burns, Stephen; Crawford, Lee; Dingwall Murray; Allen, Murray)

Women

50 m. freestyle

1          Briscan, Olimpia (ROM)                       32.52

2          Huld, Sigrun (lSL)                                 33.31

3          Martinez, Andrea (URU)                     34.51

100 m. freestyle

1          Briscan, Olimpia (ROM)                      1.10.57

2          Huld, Sigrun (lSL)                                 1.14.33

3          Erlingsdottir, Bara (lSL)                      1.17.72

200m . freestyle

1          Huld, Sigrun (lSL)                                  2.44.14

2          Masson, Patti (CAN)                             2.49.53

3          Johansson, Katarina (SWE)                2.53.22

400 m. freestyle

1          Huld, Sigrun (lSL)                                  5.54.89

2          Johansson, Katarina (SWE)                6.07.97

3          Wallen, Asa (SWE)                                6.58.65

50 m. breaststroke

1          Huld, Sigrun (lSL)                                  43.02

2          Johansson, Katarina (SWE)                43.21

3          Erlingsdottir, Bara (lSL)                      45.32

100 m. breaststroke

1          Huld, Sigrun (lSL)                                  1.29.69

2          Johansson, Katarina (SWE)                1.32.10

3          Olafsdottir, Gudrun (lSL)                    1.42.37

200 m. breaststroke

1          Johansson, Katarina (SWE)                3.18.81

2          Olafsdottir, Gudrun (lSL)                    3.36.75

3          Middendorp, Brigitte (NED)               3.59.48

50 m. backstroke

1          Briscan, Olimpia (ROM)                      37.04

2          Olafsdottir, Gudrun (lSL)                    42.54

3          Pena, Ana Bonilla (URU)                     42.87

100m . backstroke

1          Koval,  Olga (CEl)                                   1.20.66

2          Briscan, Olimpia (ROM)                       1.21.63

3          Olafsdottir, Gudrun (lSL)                     1.32.31

200m . backstroke

1          Olafsdottir, Gudrun (lSL)                    3.15.75

2          Siguroardottir, Katrin (lSL)                3.27.79

3          Blanco, Begona (ESP)                          3.39.08

50 m. butterfly

1          Koval, Olga (CEl)                                  36.46

2          Erlingsdottir, Bara (lSL)                    41.17

3          Johansson, Katarina (SWE)              41.26

100m . butterfly

1          Koval, Olga (CEl)                                  1.22.85

2          Johansson, Katarina (SWE)              1.34.17

3          Erlingsdottir, Bara (lSL)                     1.36.29

200 m Individual Medley

1          Huld, Sigrun (lSL)                                3.00.43

2          Johansson, Katarina (SWE)              3.08.28

3          Erlingsdottir, Bara (lSL)                     3.20.77

4 x 50 m. freestyle

1          lceland                                                    2.27.96

(Erlingsdottir, Bara; Olafsdottir, Gudrun; Siguroardottir, Katrin; Huld, Sigrun)

2          Uruguay                                                2.29.64

(Padilla M. Esther; Pena, Ana Bonilla; Acuna, Nibia; Martinez, Andrea)

3          Australia                                               2.31.01

(Schulze, Sarah-Jane; Van Eyssen, Justine; Smith, Stacey; Bromhead, Bridgit)

4 x. 100 m. freestyle

1          lceland                                                  5.34.06

(Erlingsdottir, Bara; Olafsdottir, Gudrun; Siguroardottir, Katrin; Huld, Sigrun)

2          Australia                                               5.44.66

(Bromhead, Bridgit; Van Eyssen, Justine; Smith, Stacey; Schulze, Sarah-Jane)

3          Uruguay                                                5.54.19

(Padilla M., Esther; Pena, Ana Bonilla; Acuna, Nibia; Martinez, Andrea)

4 x 50 m Medley Relay

1          lceland                                                  2.47.22

(Siguroardottir, Katrin; Erlingsdottir, Bara; Olafsdottir, Gudrun; Huld, Sigrun)

2          Great Britain                                          3.03.75

(Day, Susan; McFarland, Libby; Affleck,  Pamela; Simpson, Margaret)

3          Australia                                               3.04.57

(Van Eyssen, Justine; Bromhead, Bridgit; Smith, Stacey; Schulze, Sarah-Jane)

4 x 100 m Medley Relay

1          lceland                                                  6.14.13

(Siguroardottir, Katrin; Erlingsdottir, Bara; Olafsdottir , Gudrun; Huld, Sigrun)

2          Great Britain                                       6.55.95

(Day, Susan; Geddis, Gail; McFarland, Libby; Simpson, Margaret)

3          Spain                                                    7.02.50

(Blanco, Begona; Caja, Carmen; De la Torre, Julia; Garcia, Consolacion)

Basketball

Men

1          Spain

(Tejero, Victor Miguel; Tejero, Cesar; Martinez Carmona, Juan Pedro; Melero, Federico; Torres, Ramon; Fuertes, Pablo; Carcas, Agustin; Ruiz, Marcelino; Sanchez Sanchez, Jose; Rodriguez, David)

2          Dominican Republic

Pichardo, Felsin; Alexander, Michel; Medina, Jose; Balbuena, Juan Carlos; Mejia, Alfredo; Brito, Edward; Gonzalez, Ottoniel; Toledo, Jorge; Lora, Wester; Garcia Edison)

3          Puerto Rico

(Gualdarrama, Diego; Negron, Edgardo; Deloris, Angel; Martinez, Rolando; Ramirez, David; Figueroa, Alexis; Torres, Jose; Alvarez, lvan; Rivera, Jesus)

Women

1          Australia

(Atcheson, Tanya; Archer, Lorraine; Hinds, Fiona; Kenna, Bettina; Delaney, Gladys; Burns, Donna; Humphries, Christini; Gallacher, Melissa J.; Kelly, Annette; Toogood, Alice)

2          Greece

(Kalla, Venetsiana; Galanaki, Tonia; Apostolopoulou Maria; Tsade, Sofia; Efi, Nika; Mousiadou, lrene; Tsika, Anna; Tsika, Voula; Chatzhsava, Athanasia; Manosopoulou. Eleonora)

3          France

(Mosson, Lynda; Dajon, Nathalie; Liseuer, Natacha; Frago, Eliane; Hautot, Solange; Linouier. Chantal; Hautot, lsabelle; Lemaitre, Virginie; Thierry, Sandrine; Ouin, Laetiti)

Football (Men)

1.         Romania

(Florea, Marius; Calin, Vasile; Enache, Nicolae; Voicu, Eugen; Papiu, Marius; Bordea, Cristian; Marin, Andrei; Mares, Vasile; Mares, lon)

2          Poland

(Gorski, Adam; Kabat, Janusz; Gzarnak, Piotr; Gzarnak, Grzegorz; Tomasz, Marian; Czochal, Waldemar; Siramowski, Marciej; Nowakowski, Krzysztof)

3          Great Britain

(Abbott, Peter; Anderson, Gavin; Kertin, Paul; Halliday, Graham; Haston, David; Manattini, Charlie; Mclaren, Scott; Mclelland, Brian; Nelson, Donny; Yaxley, Richard)

Table Tennis

Men

Individual

1          Zlat, George (ROM)

2          Thomas, H. (GBR)

3          Petrache, Rader (ROM)

Doubles

1          Zlat/ Petrache (ROM)

2          Sever/  Tira (ROM)

3          Azofra/  Riera (ESP)

Team

1.         Romania (Petrache, Rader; Zlat, George; Sever, Stefan; Tira, Cristian)

2.         Korea (Myong, Kim; In-Suk, Yun)

3          C.E.l. (Lukcha; Fustow)

Women

Individual

1          Luo, Zhan (CHN)

2          Lu, Guifen (CHN)

3          ?  (ROM) (Results give name of British player, but give country as Romania and give medal to Romania!)

Doubles

1          Luo/  Lu (CHN)

2          Tutu/ ?? (ROM)

3.         Baltatu/ ?? (ROM)

Team

1          China (Luo-Zhan; Lu-Guifen)

2          C.E.I. (Krachina; Kosak)

3          Romania (Tutu, Florina; Terente, Matriona; Baltatu, Adelina; Terente, Monica)

Stoke Mandeville Games 1953: Swimming makes its first splash

The Games of this year were held over the evening of Friday 7^th and the whole of Saturday 8^th August. A specially designed flag for the Games was flown for the very first time¹. This first version of the flag had six white stars – one for each of the nations represented at the Games. In future years, every time a new nation was represented another star would be added to the flag. The flag was displayed above a sign that displayed the message the Games were meant to get across to the rest of society. In his message contained in the programme for the Games Dr Guttmann reinforced the Olympic link once more stating ‘Like the Olympic Games, which were started by a small group of people who believed in sport as a great medium for furthering true sportsmanship and understanding amongst human beings, our Stoke Mandeville Games will, we believe, unite paralysed men and women of different nations to take their rightful place in the field of sport²’.

International Nations Represented (Number of Competitors)

Canada (7)       Finland (3)      France (2)        Israel (3)         Netherlands (10)

Dr Guttmann apparently invited eight nations to take part in these Games. Of the eight only Austria, Belgium and the United States failed to attend³. Of those that did attend many were assisted financially by the World Veteran’s Foundation.

British Organisations and Institutions

This year saw the participation of the first spinal injuries unit based outside of England – the Rookwood Centre in Cardiff, Wales, which had opened its doors in late 1952.

Chaseley Home, Eastbourne, Sussex

Duchess of Gloucester House, Isleworth, Middlesex

Spinal Injuries Unit, GeneralHospital, Hexham, Northumberland

Lyme Green Settlement, Macclesfield, Cheshire

National Spinal Injuries Unit, Stoke Mandeville

Stoke Mandeville ‘Old Boys’ living at home

Stoke Mandeville ‘Old Boys’ living at Kytes Settlement, Watford

Stoke Mandeville ‘Old Girls’ living at home

National Spinal Injuries Unit, Stoke Mandeville (Ladies’ Team)

No. 3 PolishHospital, Penley, Denbighshire

Spinal Injuries Unit, PromenadeHospital, Southport, Lancashire

Star and Garter Home, Richmond, Surrey

Ministry of Health Spinal Injuries Unit, Rookwood, Cardiff

Known Individual International Patients

In addition to the teams visiting from overseas there were a small number of known individual international patients resident at various units and centres who participated in the Games. However, reports on this are a little confusing. Paraplegia News, an American publication, states ‘a South African and two Australians were also in the Paralympics⁴’, but a local newspaper really confuses things when it states (in the same article) ‘a South African and two Australians were also in the Paralympics’ and then further down ‘although Australia and South Africa were not represented by an official team one of his (Dr Guttmann’s) patients was there who was also an Australian and there were two others who were South Africans⁵’.

Tom Butler (Australia)

Emanual Kanakakis (Greece)

Un-named individual(s) (South Africa) (Neville Cohen?)

Sports:      Archery      Javelin      Netball      Snooker      Swimming      Table Tennis

The official opening of the new swimming pool at the hospital by Mrs Dorothy Jean Walley, Chairperson of the Royal Bucks and Associated Hospitals Management Committee, on the Saturday allowed for the addition of yet another new sport to the competitive programme – swimming. The pool had been constructed by the Ministries of Pensions and Works, to a design of Dr Guttmann. It measured 42 feet in length, was four and a half feet deep and held fifty thousand gallons of water that were changed every ninety minutes⁶.

Demonstrations:        Club Swinging            Dartchery

Another sport, that was demonstrated on the Friday evening², was archery-darts or dartchery as its name was shortened to⁷. This game began at the Chaseley home in Eastbourne, where a team of wheelchair archers would take on teams of non-disabled darts players from pubs and clubs in the area. The non-disabled darts players would play their normal game throwing at the normal board. The wheelchair archers would use a bow and arrow shooting at a board exactly three times the normal size at a distance of thirty feet. Out of seven matches played in October and November 1952 the Chaseley team won five and only lost one match. The only difficulty they had was finding a venue with enough space⁸.

Prize Winners

Archery

For the first time since the Games began five years earlier Stoke Mandeville managed to win the team prize. Also for the very first time an archer from Stoke Mandeville got the highest individual score with John Coward getting 524 points.

1. Stoke Mandeville    1945pts         

(L. Vick, J. Coward, R. Robinson, R. Fawcett)

2. Penley                          1811pts         

(S. Nowak, W. Ruszke, P. Czajkowski, Rochanczyk)

Best ‘Old Boys’ Team Score

1. ‘Old Boys’ North    1518pts         (W. Green, R. Todd, J. Irvine, S. Brett)

Highest Individual Score:       John Coward (Stoke Mandeville)     524pts

Highest Individual Score by an Old Boy or Girl:

J. Irvine (‘Old Boys’ North) 467pts

Highest Individual Score by an Overseas Visitor:

G. van Opdorp (Netherlands) 346pts

Highest Individual Ladies Score: Audrey Bailey 415pts

Highest Individual Stoke Mandeville Score:  John Coward    524pts

Highest Individual Duchess of Gloucester House Score: R. Martin     520pts

Best Gold of the Day:                        W.A. Poulter

Dartchery

Despite being only a demonstration sport in this year the winners of the demonstration event held on the Friday evening are recorded as being from the Duchess of Gloucester House.

1. P. Meoraa & M. Sheedy (Duchess of Gloucester House)

Javelin Throw

Class A:           S. Nowak & W. Ruszke (Penley)                                   78ft 6in

Class B:           D. Mitchell & M. Knight (Stoke Mandeville)            89ft 8in

Netball

For the third year in a row the ‘Red Devils’ from the Lyme Green Settlement met the Duchess of Gloucester House team in the final and for the fifth year in a row Lyme Green returned home with the netball trophy.

1. Lyme Green

(G. Swindlehurst, J. Hooker, G. Newman, F. Smith, J. Chadwick)

2. Duchess of Gloucester House

(G. Todd, J. Thompson, R. Maxwell, M. Farmer, L. Marriott)

Snooker

1. A.J. Rafferty (Southport)

2. P. Czajkowski (Penley)

Swimming (42 ft)

After the official opening of the pool by Mrs Walley four paraplegics gave the spectators a demonstration of the ease with which paraplegics could swim. They were Jeanne Kohlhoof, a former nurse in India; ‘Jock Brown’, a Scottish coalminer; Joan ‘Bunty’ Noon, injured in an air crash whilst in the WRAF and Tom Mitchell, injured in a tree-felling accident⁹.

Backstroke

1. Tom Butler (Australia)        14 seconds

2. R. Murrell (Lyme Green)    16 seconds

Crawl

1. N.H. Nesbet (‘Old  Boy’)    9 seconds

2. I. Elmes (‘Old Boy’)             10 seconds

Breaststroke

1. Ben Napoli (Israel)               13 seconds

2. R. Murrell (Lyme Green)    13.5 seconds

Table Tennis

Although not quite as successful as the previous year, Syd Pratt and Syd Taylor still managed to win two of the doubles classes. However, Syd Taylor’s performance in the singles did go one better than the previous year. Not only did he retain his class A title, but also managed to win the class B title playing against less disabled players.

Singles                                               

Class A:  S. Taylor (Star & Garter)  

Class B:  S. Taylor (Star & Garter)  

Class C:  M. Fontaine (France)        

Doubles

Class A: S. Pratt & S. Taylor (Star & Garter)

Class B: S. Pratt & S. Taylor (Star & Garter)

Class C: J. Hooker & G. Swindlehurst (Lyme Green) 

Guests of Honour

The guests of honour this year were Mr Derick Heathcoat-Amory, the Minister of Pensions, Miss Pat Hornsby-Smith, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Health and Brigadier ‘Jackie’ Smythe, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Pensions. At the prize giving ceremony Dr Guttmann read a message from the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill wishing all the competitors present a pleasant day⁶. This was followed by a speech from the Minster of Pensions in which he stated that ‘there was nothing the Ministry had been associated with that they were prouder of than the development of Stoke Mandeville³’.

Immediately prior to the playing of the national anthem at the close of the Games the Central Band of the RAF played, for the very first time, ‘the Stoke Mandeville March’ composed by Mr Pierre Haas, a paraplegic from Boulogne, in honour of all the paraplegics at Stoke Mandeville³.

 Sources

1. Bucks Advertiser & Aylesbury News, 1953, All The World There In Wheel-Chairs, Friday 7^th August; p. 1.

2. Programme for the Sixth Annual and Second International Inter-Spinal Unit Sports Festival “Stoke Mandeville Games” dated August 8^th, 1953. (IWAS Archives)

3. Bucks Advertiser & Aylesbury News, 1953, “Paralympics” of 1953 – Just What The Doctor Ordered! Friday 26^th June; p. 10.

4. Paraplegia News, 1953, Stoke Mandeville Paralympics, November; p. 5.

5. Bucks Advertiser & Aylesbury News, 1953, The Spirit of Stoke Mandeville, Friday 14^th August; p.10.

6. Bucks Herald, 1953, Paraplegic Games “Starred” Wheelchair Sportsmen, Friday 14^th August; p. 7.

7. The Cord, 1953, News of the Spinal World: Sports Preview, Vol. 6(1); p. 9.

8. The Cord, 1952, Archery Darts, Vol. 5(4); p. 29-31.

9. Bucks Advertiser & Aylesbury News, 1953, Swimming – Latest Paralympic Game,   Friday 14^th August; p.13.

 

 

1952: The Stoke Mandeville Games go truly international

Finally, five years after they began Dr Guttmann’s dearest wish for the Games came true when a team of four athletes, a physiotherapist and a nursing sister arrived at Stoke Mandeville from the Doorn Military Rehabilitation Centre, Aardenburg in the Netherlands and the Games became truly international. This was greatly aided by the assistance of the World Veterans’ Federation (WVF) who arranged and paid for the visit through their rehabilitation programme.  Mr Kurt Jannson, director of the WVF rehabilitation programme announced at the Games that the WVF intended to make it possible for more teams from other countries to attend the Games the following year, which would help ‘make the idea of Olympic Games for the disabled a “practical reality¹”’ However, unlike previous years there was only a very small increase in the overall number of competitors from 121 the previous year to 130 this year². The Games took place on Saturday 26^th July 1952. In keeping with his vision Dr Guttmann, in his opening speech, was quick to point out that the Olympic Games were in progress in Helsinki and that he hoped that ‘one day the paraplegic games would be as international and as widely known in its own sphere as the Olympics³’.

International Nations Represented: The Netherlands

British Organisations and Institutions

Chaseley Home, Eastbourne, Sussex

Duchess of Gloucester House, Isleworth, Middlesex

Spinal Injuries Unit, GeneralHospital, Hexham, Northumberland

Lyme Green Settlement, Macclesfield, Cheshire

National Spinal Injuries Unit, Stoke Mandeville

Stoke Mandeville ‘Old Boys’ living at home

Stoke Mandeville ‘Old Boys’ living at Kytes Settlement, Watford

Stoke Mandeville ‘Old Girls’ living at home

National Spinal Injuries Unit, Stoke Mandeville (Ladies’ Team)

No. 3 PolishHospital, Penley, Denbighshire

Spinal Injuries Unit, PromenadeHospital, Southport, Lancashire

Star and Garter Home, Richmond, Surrey

With regard to sports table tennis was upgraded from demonstration sport the previous year to a full medal sport this year. Once again there was a club swinging demonstration.

Sports:            Archery           Javelin           Netball      Snooker           Table Tennis

Demonstration:          Club Swinging

Prize Winners

Archery (Columbia Round^4,5)

With the addition of Les Johnson, who had moved to Chaseley from Stoke Mandeville, to the skill of Bill Pye, twice individual champion in the previous three years, Chaseley proved far too strong even for the team champions of the previous two years Penley. In fact standards had risen to such an extent that the Star and Garter team, that had never finished outside the top two since the event began, could only finish fifth with 1511 points³.

1. Chaseley                                          1791pts

(W. Pye, L. Johnson, F. Hillier, C. Lindsell)

2. Penley                                             1699pts

(S. Nowak, W. Ruszke, P. Czajkowski, W. Rykaczewski)

Clearly wishing to make the team from the Netherlands feel welcome and to mark the participation of the first truly international participants there was a prize for the best score by an overseas team and individual, even though the Dutch were the only team entered.

Highest Overseas Team

Netherlands                                         1008pts

(Arie Prins, Gerard van Opdorp, Marius Hoogendoorn, Fritz van Ommen)

Highest Overseas Individual: Gerard M. van Opdorp (Netherlands)         349pts

Although Bill Pye may finally have helped his Chaseley team get their hands upon the team trophy for the first time he was not so lucky with the individual award, which this year went to Stanislaus Nowak from Penley.

Highest Individual Score:       Stanislaus Nowak (Penley)                      498pts

Highest Stoke Mandeville Individual:            R. Fawcett                         470pts

Winning Ladies Team

1. Stoke Mandeville                            1147pts

(Robin Imray, Rose Heath, P. Harris, Irene Chilton)

Highest Individual Ladies Score:  Robin Imray (Stoke Mandeville)        355pts

Best Gold of the Day:

Men:                E. Oakey  (Star & Garter)

Women:          I. Chilton (Stoke Mandeville)

Javelin Throw

In order to allow fairer competition the javelin throwing was split into two groups in this year. Class A was for cervical lesions, who have a higher level of disability and class B was for thoracic lesions, which are lower down the sine and so these athletes have a greater level of strength and control in their trunk allowing them to throw the javelin further. As well as helping Chaseley to take the archery team title for the first time, Les Johnson also helped Chaseley to the Class B team title in the javelin, throwing a new individual record distance in the process.

Class A (Cervical/High Lesion)

1. Stanislaus Nowak (46ft 2in) & Witold Ruszke (30ft 8in) (Penley)         76 ft 10in

Class B (Thoracic/Low Lesions)

1. L. Johnson (58ft 2.5in*) & C. Lindsell (40ft 7in) (Chaseley)                  98ft 9.5in

* New Individual Record Distance

Netball

For the fourth straight year the ‘Red Devils’ of Lyme Green Settlement proved far too strong for the opposition, beating the team from the Duchess of Gloucester House eight – zero in the final. Around six hundred spectators packed the hospital grounds for the Games⁶ and as the photograph below clearly shows a large proportion of them watched the netball final.

Lyme Green Settlement                       8

(S. Laing, J. Hooker, A. Smith, G. Swindlehurst, G. Newman)

Duchess of Gloucester House              0

(E. Kanakakis, M. Sheedy, W. Sawko, G. Todd, H. Mansfield)

Snooker

1. J. Greenaway (Chaseley)

2. J. Harbron (Duchess of Gloucester House)

Table Tennis

As with the javelin competition the table tennis competition was also divided into classes in order to allow for fairer competition. However, in this case there were three classes. They were class A for cervical cord lesions (most disabled), class B for high thoracic cord lesions and class C for lower cord lesions (least disabled). In what Dr Guttmann described as ‘the most remarkable thing I have ever seen’ Syd Taylor and Syd Pratt from the Star and Garter Home won all three classes of the table tennis doubles competition. This is despite the fact that both of them suffered from broken necks, paralysed legs and paralysed fingers and hands. The table tennis bat had to be fixed to their hands with bandages¹.

Singles

Class A (Cervical Lesion):                  Syd Taylor (Star & Garter)

Class B (High Lesion) :                       P. Ballard (Stoke Mandeville)

Class C (Low Lesion):                        V. Pollock (DOG House)

Doubles:

Class A (Cervical Lesion):                  Syd Taylor & Syd Pratt (Star & Garter)

Class B (High Lesion) :                       Syd Taylor & Syd Pratt (Star & Garter)

Class C (Low Lesion):                        Syd Taylor & Syd Pratt (Star & Garter)

Other Prizes

Prize for Youngest Competitor of the Day: Derek Pearce (Stoke Mandeville)15yrs

Guests of Honour

Guests of honour at this year’s Games were Sir George Schuster, Chairman of the Oxford Regional Hospitals Board, who presented the prizes and Mr Derick Heathcoat-Amory, Minister of Pensions, who gave a speech at the closing ceremony. In his speech the Minister stated that ‘doctors may prescribe medicine and treatment, but it is the undefeatable spirit of the patients themselves, which really helps to produce results⁶. He also paid tribute to the team from the Netherlands and welcomed the idea of teams coming from abroad to compete¹.

1. Bucks Advertiser & Aylesbury News, 1952, And Now The Wheel-Chair Olympics, Friday 1^st August; p. 12.

2. Guttmann, L., 1952, On the Way to an International Sports Movement for the Paralysed, in The Cord, Vol. 5(3); p. 7-23.

3. Star and Garter Magazine, 1952, Stoke Mandeville Games, October; p. 19-21.

4. Programme of The Fifth Annual and First International Inter-Spinal Unit Sports Festival (“Stoke Mandeville Games”) dated 26^th July, 1952 (IWAS Archives)

5. The Columbia round consists of 24 arrows shot at 50, 40 and 30 yards making a total of 72 arrows. Harriman, M., 1967, Bring me my bow, Victor Gollancz Ltd; London, p.165.

6. Bucks Herald, 1952, Paraplegics hold Sports Festival, Friday 1^st August; p. 7.