Australia competed at the 1968 Summer Paralympics in Tel Aviv, Israel.International Paralympic Committee: Paralympic Results The Games significantly expanded in 1968 when compared to previous years, as did the Australian team and the events included in the Games. Mexico City were originally to host the 1968 Paralympics, however, they were moved to Tel Aviv in Israel.
Although there was disappointment expressed at not being able to have to Paralympics in the 'Olympic' city of that year, the Tel Aviv organising committee worked hard to provide a positive experience for the athletes and their support staff.Brittain, Ian. From Stoke-Mandeville to Stratford: A History of the Summer Paralympic Games. Illinois: Common Ground, 2012.Bailey, Steven. Athlete First: A History of the Paralympic Movement. West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons, 2008 The Australian team however had to be content with dubious living conditions for the duration of the competition, being housed in an underground car park.Coombs, Kevin. A Fortunate Accident: A Boy from Balranald. Melbourne: Aboriginal Affairs Victoria, 2005 Despite the poor accommodation the athletes performed well, with world records falling and numerous Australian competitors taking home a swag of gold medals (see 'Medalists' table below). Australia's haul of 38 medals earned them fourth spot on the 'unofficial' placing.Brittain, Ian. From Stoke-Mandeville to Stratford: A History of the Summer Paralympic Games. Illinois: Common Ground, 2012
Background
The Paralympic Games Sir Ludwig Guttman was a German and Jewish neurologist who worked with the disabled in the national spinal injuries center called the Stoke Mandeville Hospital in England. Sport for the disabled was involved in the rehabilitation of spinal cord injury patients as it was believed to provide a physiological and psychological therapy. Guttman organised a competition with Archery and Javelin called the Stoke Mandeville Games that began on 28 July in 1948, the same day as the opening of the 1948 Olympic Games in London, with the hope it would one day become the Olympic Games for the disabled. This competition became international in 1952 when athletes from Holland participated and continued to grow. Sir Ludwig Guttman visited the Melville Rehabilitation Centre and invited Australian athletes to compete in the Stoke Mandeville Games in 1957. The 1960 Stoke Mandeville Games in Rome have been officially recognised by the International Olympic Committee as the first Summer Paralympic Games and Guttman went down in history as the man who connected rehabilitation to competitive sport and created the Paralympic Games.
1968 Tel Aviv Paralympic Games The 1968 Paralympic Games were held in Tel Aviv from 4 to 13 November, in and around the ILAN Sports Centre. The four other locations that were used were the Hayarkon Souts Club, Ramat Gan Stadium and the Ramat Gan Bowling Club. The logo of the 1968 Games represents three interlocking wheelchair wheels that were used by the Stoke Mandeville Games at the time and represent the ideals of the Games which are friendship, unity and sportsmanship. ISMG 1968 stands for International Stoke Mandeville Games 1968, which was the name of the Games before they were labelled the Paralympics. The length of the 1968 Paralympics was longer than that of the Paralympics prior in both Rome in 1960 and Tokyo in 1964.
The Paralympic games expanded in 1968 compared to previous years as the participating nations increased by seven to include Canada, Ethiopia, India, Jamaica, Korea, New Zealand and Spain in their first Paralympics in Tel Aviv. The Games saw an increase in sports with the addition of Lawn Bowls and an increase in the number of events from 144 to 188 with changes in classifications and Women's Basketball and the Men's 100m Sprint were added. The 1968 Paralympics saw a large increase in participation in that there were 378 in Tokyo and 750 athletes in Tel Aviv. The only type of disability included in Tel Aviv was spinal cord injuries, other disabilities were not added until 1976. At this time, the wheelchairs used by the Australian athletes were multipurpose and few had changes to them from the generic everyday wheelchair that increased stability or maneuverability to specialise them for sport. There were also restrictions in that athletes could not use straps to secure them to the wheelchair and rules were provided for cushion and wheelchair height to create and even playing field among the athletes. While the 1968 Paralympics in Tel Aviv were not as developed and professional as they are in the present day, Australian paraplegic athletes involved have largely discussed the high competitiveness of making the Australian team and the Tel Aviv Games themselves.
Disabled Sport in Australia Paraplegic sport in Australia was, like the United Kingdom, an aspect of rehabilitation from spinal injury for many patients, but the growing international status of sport for the disabled helped in the creation of initiatives in Australia. Interstate competitions began in Australia in 1959 and sporting organisations for disabled athletes were prevalent and still growing in each state. These organisations as well as Sir George Bedbrook, a surgeon and director of the spinal unit of the Royal Perth Hospital, and others played a vital role in the rise of organised, competitive disabled sport and the Paralympic movement in Australia.
Host City A key component of the Paralympic Games is that it is always aimed to closely follow the Olympics and to be hosted by the same nation as the Olympic Games. However, there have been some exceptions to this due to various reasons and the 1968 Paralympic Games is one such exception. The competition was set to be held in Mexico City as the Olympic Games were that year and everything seemed to be progressing well until an American team led by Ben Lipton was to travel to Mexico City to assess the altitude impact on the disabled athletes as there were some concerns. Upon arranging their travel, the president of the rehabilitation center in Mexico sent a letter stating that due to financial constraints and accessibility issues with the facilities, Mexico city would not be able to host the Paralympic Games in 1968. This rejection of the Olympic host city was a blow to the agenda of Guttman as well as those involved in promoting sport internationally for the disabled but applications to be the host city were put forward by Buenos Aires, New York, and Tel Aviv. Guttman selected Tel Aviv, Israel as the host city and the President of the Israeli Stoke Mandeville Committee Arieh Fink, stated that the Israeli Government was most enthusiastic about being selected, given that it coincided with the twentieth anniversary of the State of Israel, as well as the twentieth anniversary of the Stoke Mandeville Games. Israel is a country with a long tradition of wheelchair sports due to their large number of spinal injuries from war, they had the resources to host a Paralympic Games and were, at the time, a powerful country of the International Olympic Committee.
Cost and Funding The cost to compete in the 1968 Paralympics in Tel Aviv was a challenge that all athletes faced in the Australian team, however, Israel paid for 50% of all teams travel costs which undoubtedly helped Australians to fund their trip. Some funding was also received from the Australian government to support these athletes. The athletes were responsible to raise the money required for the Games, their uniforms, equipment, travel, training and administration fees themselves and this was achieved through full-time work and a large amount of fundraising. Athletes fundraised through demonstration Games, donations, parties, street stalls, competitions, raffles, balls and anything they could do to raise funds to compete. When interviewed regarding the 1968 Paralympic Games, Australian athletes state that it was a necessity to work full-time to be able to afford to compete, but employment was not easy for all the athletes. Full-time work and fundraising meant that Australian athletes were not able to focus on and dedicate the same time to their training as much as some other countries athletes were able to.
Accommodation and Travel A highly prevalent concern of Australian athletes at the 1968 Paralympic Games was the accommodation and facilities that were provided in Israel. While the women athletes and other nations like America were in the rooms at the Kfar Maccabiah or Ramat-Aviv hotels, the male athletes on the Australia team were provided makeshift rooms in the carpark area beneath the high-rise building. The grounds were covered in plastic, athletes were provided camp stretchers with straw mattresses, that were replaced by the Australian team and staff with mattresses. There was one shower for all the men that was said to not have proper plumbing and very quickly overflowed and slightly flooded the area they were living in and one toilet. It is believed mosquitos were also present in the area in which the Australian team were living. The food provided was described by some of the Australian athletes as insufficient and unappetising, however, this may reflect cultural and cuisine differences and not the quality or nutritional content of the food. Multiple athletes on the Australian team, however not all athletes at the Games, have stated that these factors created some unpleasantness and reduced enjoyment of their experience at the 1968 Paralympic Games. The travel to and from the Games is not widely documented and as the image shows, the athletes were carried onto the planes in Australia heading to Israel and reports from the Daphne Hilton in the NLA interviews (NLA) state that a forklift was used to transport the passengers off the plane in Israel. During the Games, athletes travelled by bus to the venues and were almost always accompanied by Israeli female army officers.
Opening ceremony
The opening ceremony for the 1968 Paralympic Games took place on 4 November 1968, in the University of Jerusalem Stadium. Approximately twenty thousand spectators were present at the ceremony, which included an introduction and lap of honour, known as the 'wheel past' of competing athletes, a military band performance, and folk dancing accompanied by a girls choir. Deputy Prime Minister of Israel Yigal Allon delivered the welcome message, as the President was recovering from illness at the time, and the founder and president of the Paralympic Games, Sir Ludwig Guttmann gave the opening speech. Giving the oath on behalf of the athletes was Israeli's Zvi Ben-Zvi, one of the pioneering Israeli Paralympians during the 1954 Stoke Mandeville Games, having becoming a paraplegic serving in the Arab-Israeli War.
Team
The Australian team doubled in size from 16 in 1964 to 32 in 1968, it consisted of 32 members in total, 23 men and 9 women (results, Australia at paralympics, remembering and reflecting). :
Women – Pam Smith, Di Workman, Cherrie Ireland (née Loydstrom), Elaine Schreiber, Marion O'Brien, Daphne Hilton (née Ceeney), Elizabeth Edmondson, Lorraine Dodd, Sally Lamb Men – Kevin Coombs, Kevin Cunningham, Bill Mather-Brown, Bruno Moretti, Frank Ponta, Gary Hooper, Vic Renalson, Kevin Munro, Roy Fowler, Kevin Bawden, Brian Chambers, Robert McIntyre, John Beattie, Peter Burt, Alan McLucas, Tony South, Alan Conn, Felix Blums, Jeff Simmonds, Don Watts, John Newton, John Martin, Noel Simmons
The athletes were supported by a large, dedicated support staff, a mixture of experienced practitioners and fresh faces (results, NLA:)