As the 2024 Summer Olympics have drawn to a close, the spotlight has shifted onto the Paralympics, set to begin in Paris on August 28. Beneath the excitement of the upcoming events lies a rich Jewish legacy tracing all the way back to its founder, Sir Ludwig Guttmann.
Born in Germany in 1899, Guttmann graduated from the University of Freiburg with a medical degree in 1924. He became a neurosurgeon and was working at a university in Breslau, then a part of Germany, when the Nuremberg Laws were passed. Guttman was fired from the university and had his title taken away, but he continued to practice medicine at the Breslau Jewish Hospital, where he became medical director in 1937.
In 1938, during Kristallnacht, Guttmann ordered his staff to let anyone in who came seeking refuge from the pogrom; 64 people were admitted. The next day, when ordered by the SS to justify letting them in, he fabricated diagnoses for each one, saving 60 of them from being arrested and sent to concentration camps. The fate of the other four is unknown.
One year later, Guttman was given a chance to escape after being sent to Portugal to treat a friend of dictator António de Oliveira Salazar. He was scheduled to return to Germany through England, where he had made arrangements for himself and his family to settle. He brought his wife and two children with him to Portugal, and on March 14, 1939, they arrived in Oxford.
There, Guttmann conducted research as founder and director of the Spinal Injuries Centre at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire, about an hour northwest of London. He decided to incorporate sport into the rehabilitation process for paraplegic patients, an idea he once referred to as “probably one of the best thoughts I have ever had as a medical man.” This led him to organize the first Stoke Mandeville Games, an archery competition for disabled World War II veterans, which began on July 29, 1948, the same day as the London Olympics. Sixteen people competed, including two women. The next year, netball was added. In 1950, there were 60 athletes at the games, and javelin throwing was included. The games became an annual event, first branching out internationally in 1952 when a team of Dutch athletes joined.
The event was held in conjunction with the Olympics for the first time in Rome in 1960, marking what is widely regarded as the first Paralympic Games. Just days after the Olympics concluded, 400 athletes from 23 countries competed in 11 events. The 1968 Paralympics were set to take place in Mexico City, but when the city withdrew its offer due to technical difficulties, Israel stepped in. The event was held in Ramat Gan, and the opening ceremony in Jerusalem drew almost 10,000 spectators. In 1980, the Soviet Union refused to host the Paralympics, which were therefore held in the Netherlands, but otherwise every Paralympics has been held in the same country as the Olympics. Since the 1988 Paralympics in Seoul, where more than 950 world records were set, they have also been held in the same cities and venues.
The Israeli contribution to the Paralympics since has been significant. The country is in 16th place for most Paralympic medals awarded, with 384, and in 15th place for the most golds. Their most notable Paralympian, Zipora Rubin-Rosenbaum, competed in seven Paralympic Games between 1964 and 1992, medaling at all but one. Rubin-Rosenbaum competed in track and field, swimming, table tennis and wheelchair basketball, and she set world records in javelin and shot put. In total, Rubin-Rosenbaum has won 30 summer Paralympic medals, the second-most ever. Her 23 medals in track and field are the most of any Paralympic athlete.
This summer, Israel is sending 28 athletes to France to compete in ten different events, including wheelchair tennis player Adam Berdichevsky, who survived the October 7 attacks at Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak. Berdichevsky will be a flagbearer for Israel at the opening ceremony in Paris. Also competing for Israel will be Nina Gorodetzky, a badminton player who is the subject of a recent documentary, Nina is an Athlete, about her journey to the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo. Israel had a successful Tokyo Games, where they took home nine medals, six of which were gold.
The Jewish presence at the 2024 Paralympics will not be limited to Israel. Team Canada features two Jewish athletes, boccia player Alison Levine and equestrian Jody Schloss. Three Jewish athletes will compete for the United States, most notably track and field star Ezra Frech. Frech first made headlines at the age of nine in 2014, when he appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and was a finalist for Sports Illustrated SportsKid of the Year. He holds the world record in the high jump and won a gold medal at the Paris 2023 Para Athletics World Championships. The other two Americans are table tennis players Ian Seidenfeld and Tahl Leibovitz. Seidenfeld is the reigning Paralympic champion in the men’s table tennis singles event and is the son of Mitchell Seidenfeld, a Paralympic gold medalist in 1992.
When Ludwig Guttmann gathered 16 veterans at a hospital facility in 1948 for an archery competition, he envisioned a transformative future for disabled athletes. His vision has been realized in the achievements of the 4,400 athletes preparing to compete at the 2024 Paralympic Games and the Jewish athletes among them who continue to elevate his legacy. Starting this year, the Paralympic torch will be lit at Stoke Mandeville, in recognition of Guttman’s groundbreaking work and the enduring spirit of inclusion and excellence he championed.
This year’s games can be viewed at https://www.nbcolympics.com/.
Opening Image: Ludwig Guttmann presents a gold medal to Tony South at the 1968 Paralympic Games in Tel Aviv. Credit: Australian Paralympic Committee via Wikimedia/CC BY-SA 3.0)
This is the first time I am becoming aware of Sir Ludwig Guttmann and his tremendous contribution to humanity and a significant cohort of the elite athletes of the world.