Great Britain was one of twenty-eight nations to send athletes to the 1968 Summer Paralympics in Tel Aviv, Israel, held from November 4 to 13, 1968. The team finished second in the medal table and won sixty-nine medals: twenty-nine gold, twenty silver, and twenty bronze. Athletes from the whole United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland, were able to compete for the team. Seventy-five British athletes took part in the Games; fifty-one men and twenty-four women.

Disability classifications

The Paralympics groups athletes' disabilities into one of five disability categories; amputation, the condition may be congenital or sustained through injury or illness; cerebral palsy; wheelchair athletes, there is often overlap between this and other categories; visual impairment, including blindness; Les autres, any physical disability that does not fall strictly under one of the other categories, for example dwarfism or multiple sclerosis. Each Paralympic sport then has its own classifications, dependent on the specific physical demands of competition. Events are given a code, made of numbers and letters, describing the type of event and classification of the athletes competing.

Medalists Medal Name Sport Event Derek Nicholson Archery Men's St. Nicholas round cervical Ruth Brooks Archery Women's St. Nicholas round cervical Valerie Forder Athletics Women's 60m wheelchair B Carol Bryant Athletics Women's 60m wheelchair C Carol Bryant Athletics Women's slalom C Valerie Forder Athletics Women's pentathlon complete Margaret Gibbs Athletics Women's pentathlon incomplete William Easton George Monoghan Lawn bowls Men's pairs Gwen Buck Janet Laughton Lawn bowls Women's pairs Gwen Buck Lawn bowls Women's singles Michael Shelton Snooker Men's open John Britton Swimming Men's 25m freestyle class 2 incomplete David Ellis Swimming Men's 25m backstroke class 2 complete David Ellis Swimming Men's 25m breaststroke class 2 complete W. Thornton Swimming Men's 50m breaststroke class 3 complete Valerie Forder Swimming Women's 50m freestyle class 3 complete Davina Ingrams Swimming Women's 25m backstroke class 1 incomplete Gwen Buck Swimming Women's 25m backstroke class 2 incomplete Valerie Forder Swimming Women's 25m backstroke class 3 complete Karen Hill Swimming Women's 50m backstroke class 3 incomplete Bellamy Swimming Women's 50m backstroke class 5 (cauda equina) Valerie Forder Swimming Women's 50m breaststroke class 3 complete Bellamy Swimming Women's 50m breaststroke class 5 (cauda equina) Margaret Gibbs Swimming Women's 3x25m individual medley open Paul Lyall Table tennis Men's singles B Stephen Bradshaw Tommy Taylor Table tennis Men's doubles A2 Barnard Carol Bryant Table tennis Women's doubles C T. Palmer Weightlifting Men's middleweight Shelagh Finnegan Valerie Forder Sally Haynes Wheelchair fencing Women's foil team Tony Potter John Robertson Dennis Slough Archery Men's albion round team open Tony Potter John Robertson Dennis Slough Archery Men's FITA round team open Russ Scott Athletics Men's javelin throw D Clark Athletics Men's pentathlon incomplete Janet Swann Athletics Women's novices 60m wheelchair dash B Maggie Marr Athletics Women's club throw A Maggie Marr Athletics Women's discus throw A John Britton Lawn bowls Men's singles David Ellis Swimming Men's 25m freestyle class 2 complete W. Thornton Swimming Men's 50m freestyle class 3 complete John Watts Swimming Men's 100m freestyle open A. West Swimming Men's 25m backstroke class 1 complete Brian Dickinson Swimming Men's 50m backstroke class 4 complete John Britton Swimming Men's 25m breaststroke class 2 incomplete Carol Bryant Swimming Women's 100m breaststroke open Paul Lyall George Monoghan Table tennis Men's doubles B Carol Bryant Table tennis Women's singles C Ruth Brooks Levers Table tennis Women's doubles A2 Gwen Buck Susan Masham Table tennis Women's doubles B R. Rowe Weightlifting Men's heavyweight Stephen Bradshaw Archery Men's St. Nicholas round cervical Dick Thompson Athletics Men's 100m wheelchair A Dick Thompson Athletics Men's javelin throw A Tommy Taylor Athletics Men's pentathlon incomplete Carol Bryant Athletics Women's pentathlon incomplete A. West Swimming Men's 25m freestyle class 1 complete John Britton Swimming Men's 25m backstroke class 2 incomplete W. Thornton Swimming Men's 50m backstroke class 3 complete Gerry Kinsella Swimming Men's 50m backstroke class 4 incomplete Bellamy Swimming Women's 50m freestyle class 5 cauda equina Margaret Gibbs Swimming Women's 100m freestyle open S. Jones Swimming Women's 25m backstroke class 2 complete Women's team Swimming Women's 3x50m medley relay open George Monoghan Table tennis Men's singles B Susan Masham Table tennis Women's singles B Shelagh Finnegan Janet Swann Table tennis Women's doubles B Men's team Wheelchair basketball Men's tournament John Clark Brian Dickinson Terry Willett Wheelchair fencing Men's épée team John Clark Joe Slattery Cyril Thomas Wheelchair fencing Men's foil team Sally Haynes Wheelchair fencing Women's foil individual

Medals by sport Medals by sportSportTotalSwimming137828Athletics55414Table tennis34310Lawn bowls3104Archery2215Weightlifting1102Wheelchair Fencing1034Snooker1001Wheelchair Basketball0011Total29202069

Dartchery

The only dartchery event at the Games was the mixed pairs event which took a knockout format. Two British pairs entered the competition: Nicholson and Taylor beat a team from Jamaica in the first round but lost in the second round to the Swiss pair; Robertson and Todd reached the third round where they lost to Italians Francesco Deiana and Raimondo Longhi.

Snooker

One snooker event was contested at the Games, the men's open event. Keaton was eliminated in the first round by Jimmy Gibson of Ireland. Michael Shelton had wins over Goll, of Austria, and Newton from Australia to earn a place in the final against Gibson. Shelton defeated Gibson to take gold and the Irishman won the silver medal.

Swimming

Twenty-nine British swimmers competed at the Games winning twenty-eight medals: thirteen gold, seven silver and eight bronze. Forder won three gold medals in women's 50 m class 3 complete events, finishing first in the backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle. Six other swimmers won multiple medals for Great Britain; Bellamy won two gold medals and a bronze in the women's class 5 (cauda equina); Britton, a gold, silver and bronze in men's class 2 incomplete events; Ellis, two golds and a silver in men's class 2 complete; Gibbs who won gold in the women's 3×25 m individual medley open and bronze in the 100 m freestyle open; Thornton who took a gold, silver and bronze in men's class 3 complete events; and West who won backstroke silver and freestyle bronze for men's class 1 complete events. Ingrams won gold in the women's 25 m backstroke class 1 incomplete in a world record time; White and Rosaleen Gallagher of Ireland won the silver and bronze medals in the event.

Table tennis

Twenty five British players entered table tennis events and won ten medals; three gold, 4 silver and four bronze. In the women's doubles C event Bryant and Barnard won the gold medal after beating pairs from the United States, Jamaica, Belgium and Australia.

See also Great Britain at the 1968 Summer Olympics

Notes

References