Bachelor thesis

Winter

City	Country	Continent	Paralympiad	Year	From	To
Örnsköldsvik	Sweden	Europe	I	1976	21 February	28 February
Geilo	Norway	Europe	II	1980	1 February	7 February
Innsbruck	Austria	Europe	III	1984	14 January	20 January
Innsbruck	Austria	Europe	IV	1988	17 January	25 January
Tignes-Albertville	France	Europe	V	1992	25 March	1 April
Lillehammer	Norway	Europe	VI	1994	10 March	19 March
Nagano	Japan	Asia	VII	1998	5 March	14 March
Salt Lake City	United States	Americas	VIII	2002	7 March	16 March
Torino	Italy	Europe	IX	2006	10 March	19 March
Vancouver	Canada	Americas	X	2010	12 March	21 March
Sochi	Russia	Europe	XI	2014	7 March	16 March
PyeongChang	Korea Republic	Asia	XII	2018	9 March	18 March

Table 2b: ( IPC 2003) IPC: International Paralympic Committee

The rehabilitative nature of sport for disable will always be in the background, as athletes who suffer traumatic injury will need rehabilitation before being able to participate in sport. (Girgonov, 2010. pp.191)

Today the Games are the leading event, look at by billions of people all over the world, fascinating global interest and the athletes are the main reason.

3.1.3 IPC structure

International Paralympic Committee (IPC) is an international non-profit organization founded in Bonn, Germany. Not the IPC or the Paralympic Movement are political entities with political aims. The Paralympic Movement is based on the concept of the independence and good leading of sport, which identifies and respects the athlete’s individuality and reaches unity through diversity. Sport is a source for good and is an exclusive and indispensable tool for sustainable expansion, as well as a means to encourage peace, culture and education. Sport embraces a mirror to society, through which the Paralympic Movement’s guarantee to follow policies which endorse that the universal language of sport must be clearly reflected. The values of the Paralympic Movement have a solid message and generate many initiatives approved out by its diverse membership.

The Paralympic Movement uses sports as the dynamic belt for its fundamental values, which are: formative; pacifist; democratic; cultural; and ecological. Sports are consequently the driving belt of the Paralympic Ideology and such an important base must be kept and preserved within its own principles, explicitly the values of sport. They are: Courage, Determination, Inspiration and Equality. Others of the principles present are respect; work; effort; dedication; commitment; integration; companionship; self-control; spirit of sacrifice; discipline; self-betterment; confidence; overcoming adverse results. These standards have stimulated sportsmen and women to accomplish: records; marks; and victory in their sport.

The Paralympic Movement is to be understood as a way of life and a guideline of the association of the body and mind. This philosophy, the Paralympic doctrine, has three Important Principles:

• Non-discrimination;

• The mission for peace;

• The mental and physical improvement of the human race.

The IPC ensure that the viewpoint behind the Games is accurately communicated and agreed by all the stakeholders, and it needs to discover innovative keys to effectively manage the dimensions, cost and complexity related with the staging of the Games. The IPC membership is comprised of independent listed organizations that have spontaneously agreed to be part of the IPC with the intention to support the growth of the Paralympic Movement, its Vision and Mission and to carry its responsibilities as members. The Vision and Mission of the IPC summaries the attention and importance of the IPC as the Movement’s governing body to allow Paralympic athletes to accomplish sporting superiority and motivate and stimulate the world.

Vision and Mission of the IPC is: (IPC Annual report 20011)

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  To guarantee and supervise the organization of successful Paralympic Games.
  
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  To ensure the growth and strength of the Paralympic Movement through the development of National Paralympic committees (NPCs) in all countries and support to the activities of all IPC member organizations.
  
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  To promote and contribute to the development of sport opportunities and competitions, from initiation to elite level, for Paralympic athletes as the foundation of elite Paralympic Sport.
  
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  To develop opportunities for female athletes and athletes with a severe disability in sport at all levels and in all structures.
  
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  To support and encourage educational, cultural, research and scientific activities contributing to the development and promotion of the Paralympic Movement.
  
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  To seek the continuous global promotion and media coverage of the Paralympic Movement, its vision of inspiration and excitement through sport, its ideals and activities.
  
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  To promote the self-governance of each Paralympic sport either as an integral part of the international sport movement for able-bodied athletes, or as an independent sport organization, whilst at all times safeguarding and preserving its own identity.
  
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  To ensure that in sport practiced within the Paralympic Movement the spirit of fair play prevails, violence is banned, the health risk of the athletes is managed and fundamental ethical principles are upheld.
  
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  To contribute to the creation of a drug-free sport environment for all Paralympic athletes in conjunction with the World Anti-Doping agency (WADA).
  
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  To promote Paralympic sports without discrimination for political, religious, economic, disability, gender, sexual orientation or race reasons.
  
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  To ensure the means necessary to support future growth of the Paralympic Movement.
  

The Paralympic Movement is the rigorous, organized, general and enduring action, carried out below the highest authority of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), of all persons and entities who are encouraged by the values of Paralympism. It includes all five continents. It reaches its peak by bringing together of the world’s athletes at the biggest sports festival, the Paralympic Games. Its symbol the official Paralympic logo was presented in 2003 (Picture 1). It is a symbol of movement with three focused Agitos oriented characters (Latin term meaning "to move"). The logo also mean the fact that the athletes in its highest performance level are the stimulation for the world, do not resign and go continuously forward. Agitos (characters from the logo IPC) have three colors that are most represented in national flags: red, blue and green.

The Paralympic brand demonstrates the principles of recognition and appreciation for people with a perceived disability through the lessons and examples of Para athletes and the Paralympic Games. The Paralympic brand is a bridge which links sport with social awareness to challenge stereotypes and ultimately leads to equality.

Official Paralympic symbol.

Picture 1: (IPC, 2003)

Graphic 1: Annual Report 2011, p. 8

The IPC is an international non-profit organization with an extensive membership base, which is made up of: (International Paralympic Committee, 2003)

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  171 National Paralympic Committees (NPCs).
  
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  4 International Organizations of Sport for the Disabled (IOSDs).
  
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  11 International Federations (IFs).
  
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  4 Regional Organizations.
  

The infancy of the world, from whom the athletes of the future are selected, are the heart of the Paralympic Movement. The Paralympic Movement must attempt to spread its responsibility and to rise its impact in young people around the world, using sport as a promoter for their education and development. To guarantee improved participation in physical activity and sport and to encourage healthy life styles, governments should be stimulated the intensify their efforts to work with sports organizations and young people so that sports events have an important place in schools, at all ages and at all levels.

To participate in sport is a human right. Every person must have the chance of practicing sport, without judgment of any type and in the Paralympic spirit, which needs common understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.

One of the IPC’s main aims is to grow the number of people with an impairment play a part in sport at all levels from the basics through to the elite level and the Paralympic Games. Athletes are the heart of the Paralympic Movement and it is the aim to embrace Para-athletes at all levels to appreciate the chance to practice sports.

To accomplish this, the IPC’s Improvement initiatives consist of seven strategic priorities:

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  Administrative Development: create and organize learning and working facilities for National Paralympic Committees and International Federation staff in the areas of governance, management, leadership and sports promotion, including coaching, classification, medical and science.
  
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  Athlete Pathway: create programmes from the ordinary to the elite level increasing athlete involvement and career growth.
  
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  Elite Competitions: Work with suitable groups to organize and encourage local, regional and international sporting events, and contribute to the adequate classification opportunities for athletes.
  
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  Respect Fair Play: Guarantee sports are accomplished in a manner that defends the health of athletes, respect fair play and ethics including obedience with the World Anti-Doping Code and the IPC Classification Code.
  
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  Support International Federations: Guarantee all have solid system and technical abilities to ensure the reliability and regular standards for their sport.
  
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  Minimum Standards: Underline minimum eligibility, organizational principles and same services to all IPC members to reach obedience and commonly acknowledged service levels.
  
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  Develop Strategies: Create a system to keep the effective raise of sports activities for Para-athletes from ordinary to elite level concentrating on those countries, sports and organizations most in need.
  

The goals of Paralympic education are reached by means of the succeeding aims:

- To rise awareness and consciousness of Paralympic Sport.

- To build a better awareness of useful application of inclusion in physical education/activity.

- To advise about the different concepts in para-sports.

- To rise the usage of disability sport for reverse integration.

- To facilitate the change of perception and attitude towards persons with a disability.

- To encourage scholarly research activities and studies about Paralympic education.

Today’s worldwide society is one of speedy communication. Developments in communications technology have ushered in a new digital era, which has transformed information-sharing and distribution and which continues to renovate our society into a worldwide network.

The Digital Revolution has transformed the way we interact with others, generating an atmosphere that is more addressable, interactive and connected. The consequences are that media will be changed in the future. Media will be more:

1. Addressable. Messages will be more targeted and gritty, down to the household or individual level.

2. Portable across stages, time, device and place. Products will need to earn assignation and create a real value exchange.

3. Searchable. Products, actions, messages, whether positive or negative, will be everywhere. There will be nowhere to hide.

4. Social. Our instinctive human actions will be supported by technology that will create better communication networks and more cooperation.

5. Collaborative. Think of merchandises like Guitar Hero, Xbox Live and Facebook. These products permit you to join with and dare friends or strangers from all over the world in a specific game.

6. Transactional. Media space, such as billboards, will become ledge space.

7. Media will be in all places.

Direct profits of the “digital revolution:

1. Being capable with no trouble to reach big, world-wide viewers, and create consciousness of event through search instruments on the internet.

2. Being competent to time and object explicit messages for diverse stakeholders and consequently remove some of the “noise” they get, which means message, has a better opportunity of being customary and understood.

3. being capable to link/join the international sports community through the website, our conference, our networking initiatives and our ongoing Sport-Accord offerings.

The Digital Revolution is a chance for sport. Sport is well fit to new media, as it offers daily content of very big awareness and suggests the opportunity to simply test new technologies. Additionally, as the newer generations of digital natives hold up technology at a faster step, the Paralympic Movement, and the IFs in particular, will be capable to influence these generations, endure relevant to them and keep them interested in sport (as audiences and athletes), if the Revolution is completely embraced.

The Digital Revolution is not about profits (only). As a result of all the above, the search for direct income should not be an IF’s (sole) motivation in increasing/assuming new technologies. The alterations should be geared principally to helping accomplish strategic goals and guaranteeing a long-lasting competitive improvement for the organization itself, its members and the sport.

Sport Science, precise discipline that studies the human movement with the purpose of developing the sporting performance, found its application in disability sport. Sport Science incorporates research in areas such as physiology, psychology, biomechanics, performance analysis, nutrition and sports technology.

In 1993, the IPC established a Sport Science Committee as an indication of its commitment to the advancement of knowledge of Paralympic Sport. Since then, research has become a prominent feature on the agenda for the IPC.

The IPC is committed to furthering research in the areas of interest of the Paralympic Movement. This includes, but is not limited to research in Paralympic Sport, Disability Sport Classification, Sport Counseling, Assistive Technology, Athletic Identity Marketing and Branding, Development and Public Awareness.

The Paralympic Movement for athletes with impairments has changed dramatically over the last decade and with this, the importance of and interest in sport science has increased.

The IPC Sports Science Committee actively seeks interaction with the scientific community by formulating research questions relevant to the Paralympic Movement, and activates strategies to come to solutions. Providing opportunities for research at the Paralympic Games is one of these strategies. Research applications are received by the IPC no later than one year prior to the event, reviewed by the Sports Science Committee, the affected sport and the venue/competition management at the Games locations.

The IPC received an unprecedented number of research applications of investigators from various countries wanting to conduct studies of different nature at the occasion of the London 2012 Paralympic Games. The approved projects have been categorized in two groups:

1. Studies that will be conducted on-site during the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

2. Studies that will be supported by the IPC by inviting London 2012 Paralympic Games athletes to participate in questionnaire type studies on various themes launched on the IPC web site.

3.3 IPC Finance. (International Paralympic Committee, 2008-2011)

The IPC’s responsibility is to identify and develop diversified funding streams leveraging its brand and capabilities (Table 3). Having sufficient funding to carry out the core activities will allow the IPC to focus its creative energies on its core strategic objectives.

The IPC has continuously collaborated with organizations that have common interests to help achieve its objectives. It has created synergy within the Paralympic Family, strengthened its ties with the IPC Honorary Board and further developed its relationship with the IOC.

Statement of Financial Position