The Whang Youn Dai Achievement Award is named after

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

n Dr. Whang Youn Dai, who contracted

polio Poliomyelitis, commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 70% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe sy ...

at the age of three. She devoted her life to the development of paralympic sport in Korea and around the world. At the 1988 Paralympic Summer Games in

Seoul, Korea Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

, the

International Paralympic Committee The International Paralympic Committee (IPC; german: Internationales Paralympisches Komitee) is an international non-profit organisation and the global governing body for the Paralympic Movement. The IPC organizes the Paralympic Games and func ...

(IPC) recognized her lifelong contributions to the Paralympic Movement and established the Whang Youn Dai Achievement Award (formerly the Whang Youn Dai Overcome Prize). Since then, this award has been presented at every

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 impaired ...

to one male and one female athlete who each "best exemplify the spirit of the Games and inspire and excite the world". According to the IPC, "the award is for someone who is fair, honest and is uncompromising in his or her values and prioritizes the promotion of the Paralympic Movement above personal recognition." Six finalists, three female and three male, are selected from participants at the Paralympic Games. Two winners are then selected as recipients of the prize and receive a gold medal at the closing ceremonies of the Games. South African sprint runner

Oscar Pistorius Oscar Leonard Carl Pistorius (; ; born 22 November 1986) is a South African convicted murderer and former professional sprinter. Both of his feet were amputated when he was 11 months old owing to a congenital defect; he was born missing the ...

was nominated for the award in 2012, but did not win. The IPC decided that from the

2020 Tokyo Paralympics The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, was an international multi-sport parasports event held from 24 August to 5 September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. They were the 16th Summer Paralympic Games as organized by the International Paralympic ...

, it will no longer be awarded in the closing ceremony for the Paralympics. Instead, it was replaced by the I'mPOSSIBLE Award, established by the Agitos Foundation and the International Paralympic Committee and supported by the Nippon Foundation Paralympic Support Centre.

Winners

References

External links

Official Website
Paralympic Games Disabled sports awards Sports trophies and awards {{award-stub