The games

Australia had several athletes at the 1960 Summer Paralympics

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...

 held in Rome, Italy. The team won ten medals total, three of them gold. At these games. the organisers view the event as a chance to help athletes rehabilitate: The primary purpose was not competition. The Australians who were involved as support staff and organisers were mostly medical and medical support personnel. There were no Australian competitors who were blind or amputees because they were not allowed to compete in these games and would not be allowed to compete until the 1976 Summer Paralympics

1976 Summer Paralympics

The 1976 Summer Paralympics were the fifth Paralympic Games to be held. They were held in Toronto, in the province of Ontario, Canada from August 3 to 11, 1976...

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Some of the athletes who competed included Daphne Hilton and Kevin Coombs

Kevin Coombs

Kevin Coombs is an Australian paralympian who competed at several Paralympics including the 1960 Summer Paralympics. One of the sports that he competed in was wheelchair basketball. After games at the Paralympics, Coombs and his team went out and had cold beers. Coombs only brought one...

. At the first 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...

, athletes were required to compete in multiple sports. For Australian athletes, the trip to the games was the first time they had travelled internationally. The Australian team had a team doctor, who frequently doubled as the team manager. Most Australian athletes traveled with only one wheelchair, in which they competed in multiple sports. The wheelchair they used in the Paralympics was the one that they used for their everyday life.

The Olympic Village was not designed with disabled athletes in mind. Housing was built on stilts, with steep stairs leading up to many entrances. These stairs were covered with ramps, but Australian and other athletes found the ramps to be so steep that they could not get into a building with out the assistance of one or two people pushing them up.

To the games

The Australian team flew to the games from Sydney to Perth, Western Australia

Perth, Western Australia

Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

 to Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

 and then on to Rome.

After the games

Kevin Coombs had a street named after him at Sydney Olympic Park

Sydney Olympic Park

Sydney Olympic Park is a suburb in western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Sydney Olympic Park is located 16 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Auburn Council....

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