Eight Paris Games participants start adapted sport at the National Hospital for the Paralytics
The eight athletes who will represent Spain at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris have been trained at the National Paralympic Hospital (HNP), a centre affiliated with the Castilla-La Mancha Health Service, where they were introduced to the adapted sport approach for the first time, therapeutically and then in the competitive field.
Admitted patients, their families and professionals from the National Hospital for Paralympians will be able to closely follow the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games through two large screens that will be installed in the sports pavilion of the HNP Estrella de los Mares.
The public will be particularly attentive to the schedule that the Spanish Paralympic Committee will provide and to the participation of those who at some point in their lives have been treated at a centre specialising in spinal cord injuries and who are today elite athletes, as well as an example of effort and improvement.
The list of athletes includes Luis Miguel García-Marquina, who is competing in handbike cycling; Eva María Moral Pedrero, who will take part in the triathlon; Sonia Ruiz, captain of the Spanish women’s wheelchair basketball team; Francisco J. Sánchez Lara, a member of the men’s basketball team; Loyda Zabala, who will be seeking a medal in weightlifting; Miguel Ángel Toledo and Francisco Javier López, the Spaniards have put their faith in table tennis; and the latest representative of the elite sport, Sara Aller, who will compete in boccia.
A hospital conceived 50 years ago by the father of the Paralympic movement
It was the architect of the Paralympic Games, Dr Sir Ludwig Guttmann, who conceived the National Paralympic Hospital. “It is a lifelong dream come true,” said the renowned neurosurgeon on the day of its opening.
Dr. Guttman’s goal was to increase the life expectancy of these patients and return them to society as useful and respected members. The therapy, implemented as a comprehensive treatment, with sports as one of the cornerstones, allowed to increase hope and quality of life for these people.
This philosophy of treatment is today the driving force behind the development of centres specialising in the treatment of spinal cord injuries, such as the National Hospital for the Paralytic, which turns 50 on October 7.
A total of twelve Spanish sports federations will take part in the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris, which will start on August 28 and end on September 8, and will involve some 4,400 athletes from at least 180 countries. Spain will take part in 16 of the 22 disciplines on the official program.