Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
made its
Paralympic Games début at the
1972 Summer Paralympics
The 1972 Summer Paralympics (german: Paralympische Sommerspiele 1972), the fourth edition of the Paralympic Games, were held in Heidelberg, West Germany, from 2 to 11 August 1972. The games ended 15 days before the 1972 Summer Olympics held in Mu ...
(two years before the
Carnation Revolution), where it was represented solely by a men's team in
wheelchair basketball
Wheelchair basketball is basketball played by people with varying physical disabilities that disqualify them from playing a non-disabled sport. These include spina bifida, birth defects, cerebral palsy, paralysis due to accident, amputations (of ...
. They were eliminated at the preliminary stage of the competition, with one victory (over Switzerland) and three defeats. Portugal was then absent from the Paralympic Games until the
1984 Summer Games, where its athletes won the country's first fourteen medals, including three gold in
track and field
Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...
and one in
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 ...
. Portugal has competed at every subsequent edition of the
Summer Paralympics, but -almost uniquely among
Western Europe
Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context.
The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...
an countries- has never taken part in the
Winter Games
''Winter Games'' is a sports video game developed by Epyx (and released in Europe by U.S. Gold), based on sports featured in the Winter Olympic Games.
A snow-and-ice themed follow-up to the highly successful '' Summer Games'', ''Winter Games'' ...
.
Portuguese athletes have won a total of 92 Paralympic medals, of which 25 gold, 30 silver and 37 bronze. As of 2010, Portugal ranks thirty-sixth on the
all-time Paralympic Games medal table
An all-time medal table for all Paralympic Games from 1960 to 2020. The International Paralympic Committee does not publish all-time tables, and publishes unofficial tables only per single Games. This table was thus compiled by adding up single en ...
. The country's best performance came in 2000, when it won 15 medals (of which 6 gold) and ranked 26th.
Portugal at the Paralympics
International Paralympic Committee
Medal tallies
Summer Paralympics
Medals by Summer sport
Row in gold background is a sport in which they are leading in i.e. won most world championship titles.
Medalists
See also
* Portugal at the Olympics
References
{{National sports teams of Portugal