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International Paralympic Committee

Paralympic Games / IPC

by Jan Oskar Engene, 13 June 1998
Flag adopted: 1991
Officially launched: 1994.

When the Olympic Games are over and most of the world's attention has turned elsewhere, the Olympic Host city hosts the world's second-largest sports event: The Paralympic Games.

Description of the flag
History of the Paralympics
History of the IPC flag
Paralympic Handbook on Symbol, Motto, and Flag
Sources

See also:

Other sites:

International Paralympics Committee Website

Description of the flag

The flag of the Paralympic movement is the Paralympic logo on a white flag. This logo consists of three Tae-Geuks placed 1 over 2, in green, red, and blue. The colours green, red and blue were chosen for being the colours used most often in national flags around the world. The Tae-Geuks, a traditional Korean decorative motif, symbolize in the flag the most significant components of the human being: Mind, Body and Spirit.
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History of the Paralympics

On 28 july 1948, the Opening Day of the London Olympic Games, in Stoke Mandeville, England, a sport competition was held for World War II veterans with a spinal cord injury. Four years later an international movement was born, as competitors from Holland joined these games.

The first Olympic style Games for athletes with disabilities were held in Rome in 1960, in the same venues as the Rome Olympics. The games in Tokyo in 1964 appear to have been the first Paralympic game using a special flag, though not the flag the IPC uses today. In 1976 Örnsköldsvik, Sweden was the host of the first Paralympic Winter Games, and both at these Games and the Games in Toronto that same year, other disability groups took part, giving rise to the idea of merging together different disability groups for international sport competitions. Since Seoul 1992 the Paralympic Games always take place at the same venues as the Olympic Games.

In 1982 the different world organisations for sports for the disabled formed the International Coordinating Committee of World Sports Organisations for the Disabled (ICC). However, it was soon felt that the ICC should be replaced by a more democratic organisation, which led in 1989 to the formation of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).
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History of the IPC flag

At the 1988 Summer Paralympic Games in Seoul, South Korea, Tae-Geuks were used in the logo for sports for athletes with a disability for the first time. This logo consisted of five Tae-Geuks which were similar, in colour and configuration, to the Olympic Rings. At the end of these Games the logo was adopted by the International Coordinating Committee of World Sports Organizations for the Disabled (ICC). When the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) was created in 1989, the new committee also adopted the five Tae-Geuks as its symbol.

In 1991 the IPC changed its logo at the request of the IOC, which felt the similarity of their logos was confusing and might hamper marketing. Thus the IPC eventually decided on a symbol of three Tae-Geuks, representing the Paralympic Motto: Mind, Body, and Spirit. However, since the Lillehammer Paralympic Organizing Committee (LPOC) had by then already started a marketing program for the 1994 Paralympic Winter Games based on the old logo, the new logo wasn't officially launched until after Lillehammer 1994.
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Paralympic Handbook on Symbol, Motto, and Flag

The handbook of the International Paralympic Committee has this to say about the symbol and flag:

Section I - Constitution and By Laws

CHAPTER 4 - THE PARALYMPIC MOVEMENT
SYMBOLS, RIGHTS and OBLIGATIONS

...
3. PARALYMPIC SYMBOL
The Paralympic Symbol consists of the three "Tae-Geuks", blue, red, and green, symbolizing the most significant components of the human being: Mind, Body, Spirit. The Pantone colours and configurations are outlined in the graphic guidelines "IPC Standards Manual" which is mandatory to followed for any reproduction of the symbol.
4. PARALYMPIC MOTTO
The Paralympic Motto is "Mind, Body, Spirit", alluding to the most significant components of the human being.
5. PARALYMPIC FLAG
The Paralympic Flag has a white background, with no border. In its centre is located the Paralympic Symbol in its three colours.

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Sources:

1 The handbook of the International Paralympic Committee
2 Jan Oskar Engene, 13 June 1998
3 Website of the International Paralympics Committee
4 Logo.doc - International Paralympics Committee