Stoke Mandeville Stadium is the National Centre for Disability Sport in England. It is sited alongside
Stoke Mandeville Hospital in
Aylesbury
Aylesbury ( ) is the county town of Buckinghamshire, South East England. It is home to the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery, David Tugwell`s house on Watermead and the Waterside Theatre. It is in central Buckinghamshire, midway between High Wy ...
in
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...
. Stoke Mandeville Stadium is owned by
WheelPower, the national organisation for wheelchair sport.
History
The stadium developed out of the Stoke Mandeville Games — the forerunner of the
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 ...
— founded in 1948 by
Ludwig Guttmann. He was a neurosurgeon at the National Spinal Injuries Centre at Stoke Mandeville Hospital who recognised the value of exercise and competition in the rehabilitation of ex-members of the British armed forces. By 1961 Guttmann had founded the
British Sports Association for the Disabled
The English Federation of Disability Sport (EFDS) inow operating as Activity Alliance Activity Alliance brings our members, partners and disabled people together to make active lives possible. Collectively, the charity continues to challenge percep ...
(now named
English Federation of Disability Sport), expanding the concept of organising sport for men, women and children with disabilities and developing Stoke Mandeville Stadium into an international centre of disabled sport. The stadium was officially opened by
Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...
on 2 August 1969.
When Sir Ludwig Guttmann died in 1980 the Stadium was renamed Ludwig Guttmann Sports Centre for the Disabled. In 1993 the Stadium hosted the first international ex-service wheelchair games, organised by the Royal British Legion and opened by King Hussein and Queen Noor of Jordan. In 2001, following a £10 million refurbishment, it was again renamed as "Stoke Mandeville Stadium". The
Paralympic mascot
Each Paralympic Games have a mascot, usually an animal native to the area or occasionally human figures representing the cultural heritage. Nowadays, most of the merchandise aimed at young people focuses on the mascots, rather than the Paralympic ...
Mandeville is so named due to the legacy with the games.
BBC Wenlock and Mandeville
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Facilities
Facilities include a 400-metre outdoor running track, Cazenove Sports Hall, a 25m six-lane swimming pool, tennis courts and an indoor bowls arena. In addition the Stadium has its own "Olympic Village" accommodation for athletes and the Olympic Lodge Hotel and the Wolfson Conference Centre provide guest facilities.
1984 Summer Paralympic Games
Stoke Mandeville Stadium was one of the two venues of the VII Paralympic Games, the last of the Summer Paralympics not held in the same venue as the Summer Olympic Games.
See also
* IWAS World Games
References
Further reading
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External links
Stoke Mandeville Stadium websiteWheelPower website
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Buildings and structures in Buckinghamshire
Sports venues in Buckinghamshire
Sports venues completed in 1969
Paralympic Games
Sports science
1984 Summer Paralympics
Sports academies
Stadium
A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...
Parasports in England
1969 establishments in England