Argentina at the Paralympics
Encyclopedia
Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

participated in the inaugural Paralympic Games in 1960
1960 Summer Paralympics
The 1960 Summer Paralympics, originally known as the 9th Annual International Stoke Mandeville Games, were the first international Paralympic Games, following on from the Stoke Mandeville Games of 1948 and 1952. They were organised under the aegis of the International Stoke Mandeville Games...

 in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

, with a delegation consisting in five swimmers, and has taken part in every edition of the Summer Paralympics since then. The country made its Winter Paralympics début in 2010
2010 Winter Paralympics
The 2010 Winter Paralympics, officially the X Paralympic Winter Games, or the 10th Winter Paralympics, were held in Vancouver and Whistler, British Columbia, Canada from March 12 to 21, 2010. The Opening Ceremony took place in BC Place Stadium in Vancouver and the Closing Ceremony in Whistler...

, with a two-man delegation in alpine skiing.

Argentinians have won a total of 146 medals at the Paralympic Games
Paralympic Games
The Paralympic Games are a major international multi-sport event where athletes with a physical disability compete; this includes athletes with mobility disabilities, amputations, blindness, and Cerebral Palsy. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which are held immediately following their...

, of which 30 gold, 59 silver and 57 bronze. All of these medals were won at the Summer Games. This places Argentina 30th on the all-time Paralympic Games medal table
All-time Paralympic Games medal table
An all-time medal table for all Paralympic Games from 1960 to 2008 Summer Paralympic Games and 1976 to 2010 Winter Paralympic Games is tabulated below....

.

Argentinians won two gold medals in swimming in 1960. In 1964, four of their six gold medals also came through swimming, the other two being obtained in athletics (women's shot put) and weightlifting. In 1968, in a reversal of this trend, Argentinians won ten gold medals, of which nine in athletics and only one in swimming (H. Aresca in the men's 25m freestyle). These nine athletics medals were all won in javelin, shot put, club throw or discus events, and eight of them were won by women. In 1972, the Argentinian delegation was much less successful, with just one gold medal in athletics (in the men's javelin), and one in women's wheelchair basketball
Wheelchair basketball
Wheelchair basketball is basketball played by people in wheelchairs and is considered one of the major disabled sports practiced. The International Wheelchair Basketball Federation is the governing body for this sport. It is recognized by the International Paralympic Committee as the sole...

. In 1976, Cristina Benedetti won Argentina's only athletics gold, in the slalom, while Gustavo Galindez took two gold medals in swimming. In 1980, it was once again swimming which brought Argentina all four of its gold medals. There were no Argentinian gold medallists in 1984 or 1988, when the country sent only small delegations, to compete in track and field
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...

. In 1992 the country's only Paralympic champion was Horacio Bascioni, in the men's javelin. In 1996, Suarez Nestor won the men's 100m sprint in the T46 category, while swimmer Betiana Basualdo won the women's 100m freestyle in the S2 category, thus providing their country with two gold medals. These are Argentina's most recent Paralympic gold medals; since 1996, Argentinians have won only silver and bronze.
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