Greece, the birthplace of the Ancient Olympic Games that hosted the inaugural 1896 Summer Olympics, did not compete in the Summer Paralympics until

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 ...

and in the

Winter Paralympics The Winter Paralympic Games is an international multi-sport event where athletes with physical disabilities compete in snow and ice sports. The event includes athletes with mobility impairments, amputations, blindness, and cerebral palsy. Th ...

until 2002, but since then the Greeks have taken part in every edition of both events. Although the Greek delegation traditionally enters first during the parade of nations at the opening ceremony of the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

, this tradition does not apply to the Paralympics, where Greece enters within alphabetical order. The

National Paralympic Committee A National Paralympic Committee (NPC) is a national constituent of the worldwide Paralympic movement. Subject to the controls of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), NPCs are responsible for organizing their people's participation in the ...

for Greece is the

Hellenic Paralympic Committee The Hellenic Paralympic Committee ( el, Ελληνική Παραολυμπιακή Επιτροπή) is the National Paralympic Committee in Greece for the Paralympic Games movement. It is a non-profit organisation that selects teams, and raise ...

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

competitors have won 104 medals, 20 of which gold, and Greece currently ranks 44th in the all-time Summer Paralympic Games. Greece's participation in the Winter Paralympics has been essentially symbolic; it was represented by a single athlete in 2002 and 2006, and by two competitors in 2010. The nation hosted the

2004 Summer Paralympics ) , nations = 136 , athletes = 3,806 , events = 519 in 19 sports , opening = 17 September , closing = 28 September , opened_by = President Costis Stephanopoulos , cauldron = Georgios Toptsis , stadium = Olympi ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

. The best Paralympic performance of Greece was in the

2008 Summer Games The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

, when the nation finished 20th with 5 gold medals and 24 in total. The top medal-producing sports have been

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

and

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

, while

boccia Boccia ( ) is a precision ball sport, similar to bocce, and related to bowls and pétanque. The name "boccia" is derived from the Latin word for "boss" – '. The sport is contested at local, national and international levels, by athletes ...

powerlifting Powerlifting is a strength sport that consists of three attempts at maximal weight on three lifts: squat, bench press, and deadlift. As in the sport of Olympic weightlifting, it involves the athlete attempting a maximal weight single-lift effo ...

and

wheelchair fencing Wheelchair fencing is a version of fencing for athletes with a disability. Wheelchair fencing is governed by the International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation that is a federation of the International Paralympic Committee, and is one o ...

are the other sports that Greece has also won medals in.

Medal Tables

Medals by Summer Games

Medals by sport

Medalists

Top medalists

The table below lists the top Paralympic medalists for Greece, sorted by gold, silver and then bronze medals.

References