The 2006 Winter Paralympic Games (Italian: Giochi paralimpici invernali del 2006), the ninth Paralympic Winter Games, took place in Turin, Italy from 10 to 19 March 2006. These were the first Winter Paralympic Games to be held in Italy. They were also the first Paralympics to use the new Paralympics logo.
 | |
| Location | Turin, Italy |
|---|---|
| Motto | Passion lives here (Italian: La passione vive qui) |
| Nations | 39 |
| Athletes | 486 |
| Events | 58 in 4 sports |
| Opening | 10 March |
| Closing | 19 March |
| Opened by | |
| Cauldron | Silvia Battaglio Aroldo Ruschioni |
| Stadium | Stadio Olimpico |
Winter Summer
2006 Winter Olympics | |
Italy will host the Winter Paralympics again in 2026, scheduled to be held in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo.
Medal count
editThe top 10 NPCs by number of gold medals are listed below. The host nation (Italy) is highlighted.
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Russia | 13 | 13 | 7 | 33 |
| 2 |  Germany | 8 | 5 | 5 | 18 |
| 3 |  Ukraine | 7 | 9 | 9 | 25 |
| 4 |  France | 7 | 2 | 6 | 15 |
| 5 |  United States | 7 | 2 | 3 | 12 |
| 6 |  Canada | 5 | 3 | 5 | 13 |
| 7 |  Austria | 3 | 4 | 7 | 14 |
| 8 |  Japan | 2 | 5 | 2 | 9 |
| 9 |  Italy* | 2 | 2 | 4 | 8 |
| 10 |  Poland | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Totals (10 entries) | 56 | 45 | 48 | 149 | |
Sports
editThe Games featured 58 medal events in five disciplines of four sports. As with other Paralympic Games, medals are awarded for each classification within each event. The sport of wheelchair curling made its Paralympic debut at these games.[1]
Alpine skiing (24) ()
Ice sledge hockey (1) ()- Nordic skiing
Biathlon (12) ()
Cross-country skiing (20) ()
Wheelchair curling (1) ()
Venues
editFive competition venues were used during the Winter Paralympics. They all hosted competitions during the 2006 Winter Olympics.
The Opening ceremonies were held at Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino and the closing and the awarding ceremonies for the snow events were also held in Turin were held at the Medals Plaza at Piaza Castello.
Alpine skiing events were held at Sestriere. Cross-country skiing and biathlon events were held shared by the Cesana San Sicario complex. All the skiing athletes were accommodated in the Mountain Paralympic Village in Sestriere.
Ice sledge hockey was held in Torino Esposizioni and wheelchair curling was held in Pinerolo Palaghiaccio. These athletes were accommodated in the Main Paralympic Village in Turin.
Calendar
editParticipating National Paralympic Committees (NPC)s
editThirty-nine National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) classified athletes to compete at the 2006 Winter Paralympics. This was an increase of three from the 36 represented at the 2002 Winter Paralympics. The number in parentheses indicates the number of participants from each NPC.
Note that, although Greece was scheduled to compete, no Greek athlete took part in any event; the International Paralympic Committee does not list Greece as having entered any athlete in the Games, and considers that there were thirty-eight NPCs at the Games, rather than thirty-nine.[2][3]
Andorra (2)
Armenia (2)
Australia (10)- Austria (25)
Belarus (6)
Belgium (1)
Bulgaria (3)- Canada (35)
Chile (2)
China (8)
Croatia (1)
Czech Republic (5)
Denmark (6)
Finland (7)- France (19)
- Germany (35)
Great Britain (20)
Hungary (2)
Iran (1)- Italy (39) (Host)
- Japan (40)
Kazakhstan (2)
South Korea (3)
Latvia (1)
Mexico (1)
Mongolia (1)
New Zealand (2)
Norway (29)- Poland (11)
- Russia (29)
Slovakia (17)
Slovenia (1)
South Africa (1)
Spain (9)
Sweden (19)
Switzerland (21)- Ukraine (12)
- United States (56)
A total of 486 athletes participated in the Games, 385 male and 101 female. This is an increase from the 430 athletes participated in 2002. Despite overall increase of delegates and athletes, the following nations who participated in the 2002 Winter Paralympics did not send athletes to Turin.
Mexico was the only country who had sent an athlete to the Winter Paralympics but not the Olympics.
Other information
editThese are the second Paralympic Games to be held in Italy, which hosted the first Summer Paralympics in Rome in 1960.[4]
These are the first Paralympic Games to feature a live webcast of events, hosted by ParalympicSport.TV.
The Games mascot is Aster, a star-shaped snowflake similar in design and was the younger brother to the Olympic mascots Neve and Gliz.
Unable to fund the hosting themselves, the Olympic organizing committee TOROC sold the rights off to a company for an estimated US$40 million[5]
See also
edit
References
edit- ^ "Torino 2006". International Paralympic Committee. 2008. Retrieved 6 August 2008.
- ^ Paralympic Games results and delegations database, International Paralympic Committee
- ^ "Torino 2006", International Paralympic Committee
- ^ "Torino 2006 Paralympic Bid Dossier" (PDF). 12 December 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 December 2005. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
- ^ "10 Olympic Games That Nearly Bankrupted Their Host Countries". 19 January 2014. Retrieved 15 August 2016.
External links
edit- Official website of Torino Paralympics 2006 → Archive copy at the Wayback Machine
- Torino 2006 Paralympic Games (English) → Archive copy at the Wayback Machine
- ParalympicSport.TV
- International Paralympic Committee