The Paralympic Games caters to athletes from different disability groups and emphasises the participants' athletic achievements.

It grew out of an initiative after World War 2 when Sir Ludwig Guttmann held a sports meet for war veterans who had sustained spinal cord injuries. Soon, other similar athletes decided that they too wanted to be part of the sporting event and the Paralympic Games was born.

The first Paralympic Games was held in Rome in 1960 with just 400 athletes. Today the number of participants has grown with 332 athletes alone coming from host nation, China.

The 2008 Paralympic Games will open in Beijing on September 6, less than two weeks after the close of the Summer Olympics, also in Beijing.

The Paralympic Games is open to athletes worldwide from six different disability groups, ranging from amputee to those with cerebral palsy, visual impairment and spinal cord injuries.

There is also a category for those who don't fall into the four groups and also a category for those who are intellectually disabled.

The last group of athletes can also take part in another sporting event that caters just for the intellectually disabled, known as the Special Olympics.