Belgian Paralympic Committee
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The Belgian Paralympic Committee (BPC) is the umbrella organization in
Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
of organized sport for people with a
disability Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be Cognitive disability, cognitive, Developmental disability, d ...
. It acts as the Belgian
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 ...
, making it the official Belgian representative to the
European Paralympic Committee The European Paralympic Committee (EPC) is an international non-for-profit organisation which serves a membership of 49 National Paralympic Committees and 9 European branches of disability. Based in Vienna, Austria, the EPC was founded in Novemb ...
(EPC) and the
International Paralympic Committee The International Paralympic Committee (IPC; ) is an international non-profit organisation and the global governing body for the Paralympic Movement. The IPC organizes the Paralympic Games and functions as the international federation for nin ...
(IPC). The Belgian Paralympic Committee has two members, a Flemish league (Parantee-Psylos) and a French-speaking league for disabled sports (Ligue Handisport Francophone (LHF)). In collaboration with the
Belgian Olympic Committee Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...
(BOIC), Belgian athletes participate in world and European championships and every four years in the
Paralympic Games The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disability, disabilities. There are Winter Paralympic Games, Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 ...
, the
Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...
for athletes with a
visual The visual system is the physiological basis of visual perception (the ability to detect and process light). The system detects, transduces and interprets information concerning light within the visible range to construct an image and buil ...
or
motor An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gene ...
disability. Since the first Paralympic Games in 1960, Belgium has been sending a delegation to every Summer Games. The BPC's tasks: * promotion of the sport for people with disabilities * provide support to Parantee and LHF * working for a status for top sports athletes * drawing up selection criteria * coordination of national and international competitions * preparation and organization of participation in international competitions * coordination of the sports calendar * participation in the activities of the international federations


History

Since 1952, professors Pierre Houssa and Albert Tricot of the Center for Traumatology and Readaptation at the Brugmann Hospital in
Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
have been using sport as a means of readaptation with the support of
Victor Boin Victor Boin (28 February 1886 – 31 March 1974) was a Belgian freestyle swimmer, water polo player, and épée fencer who competed at the 1908, 1912 and 1920 Summer Olympics. Olympics Boin was part of the Belgian water polo teams that finish ...
, the then chairman of the BOIC. Pierre Houssa had picked up the idea that year when visiting a British institution in
Stoke Mandeville Stoke Mandeville is a village and civil parish in the Vale of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, England. It is located three miles (5 km) from Aylesbury and 3.4 miles (5.5 km) from the market town of Wendover. Although a separate civil ...
. Two years later, in 1954, some of their patients took part in an international meeting in Stoke Mandeville. A similar meeting was organized in Brussels in 1958. The Belgian Sports Federation for the Disabled (BSVG/FSBH) was founded in 1960, with Victor Boin as its first president, and Pierre Houssa as one of its vice-presidents. In 1977 it was decided to split the BSVG/FSBH into a Dutch-speaking league, the Vlaamse Liga Gehandicaptensport (VLG) and the French-speaking FSBAP-WB. These two associations became members of the BSVG/FSBH. The BSVG/FSBH itself only retains an overarching function for the organization of competitive sport. In 2001, the BSVG/FSBH became the BPC. The FSBAP-WB adopted the name LHF in 2005, and VLG the name Parantee in 2012. In 2017, Parantee merged with another Flemish organisation for impaired, Psylos, to become Parantee-Psylos. Until 2003, the secretariat was housed in the Brugmann hospital, in 2003 a new easily accessible building was opened on the Heysel plain, opposite the BOIC building.


See also

*
Belgium at the Paralympics Belgium made its Paralympic Games début at the inaugural Paralympic Games in Rome in 1960, and has participated in every edition of the Summer Paralympics. It also took part in the inaugural Winter Paralympics in 1976 in Örnsköldsvik, and has ...


References


External links


Website Parantee-Psylos Website LHF
{{DEFAULTSORT:Belgian Paralympic Committee
Parasports Parasports are sports played by people with a disability, including physical and intellectual disabilities. Some parasports are forms of adapted physical activities from existing non-disabled sports, while others have been specifically created f ...
Sports organizations established in 1960
Federation A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...
Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
Sport in Belgium 1960 establishments in Belgium