Namibia
Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...
made its
Paralympic Games
The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaire ...
début at the
1992 Summer Paralympics
)( es, Deporte Sin Límites)
, nations = 82 (BCN)75 (MAD)
, athletes = 3,020 (BCN)1,600 (MAD)
, opened_by = Queen Sofía
, opening = 3 September (BCN)15 September (MAD)
, closing = 14 September (BCN)22 September (MAD)
, even ...
in
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
. These were the first Summer Paralympics to be held since the country's
accession to independence from South Africa in 1990, and thus the first Games in which Namibia was able to take part. For its inaugural participation, the country sent just two athletes, both women, who both competed in discus, javelin and shot put. They did not win any medals.
Namibia was then absent from the Paralympics until 2004, when it entered a single representative in men's powerlifting. It returned in 2008, with a single competitor,
Reginald Benade, in men's discus and shot put. Benade won Namibia's first Paralympic medal: a bronze in the discus.
[Namibia at the Paralympics](_blank)
International Paralympic Committee
Namibia achieved its first Paralympic gold medal in the 2012 London Summer Paralympics.
Johanna Benson
Johanna Benson (born 17 February 1990) is a Paralympian athlete from Walvis Bay, Namibia. She competes in T37 long jump and sprint events and at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London she won the women's 200 metres race in her classification. He ...
, at the time Namibia's only female athlete, won the 200 meter race in her division.
Namibia competed in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympics, earning two silver and two gold medals in athletics categories.
Namibia has never taken part in the Winter Paralympics.
Namibia at the Paralympics
International Paralympic Committee
Medallists
See also
* Namibia at the Olympics
References
{{Paralympic-nation-stub