Ireland at the 1968 Summer Paralympics
Encyclopedia
Ireland was one of twenty-eight nations to send a delegation to compete at the 1968 Summer Paralympics
in Tel Aviv
, Israel
from November 4 to 13, 1968. The team finished nineteenth in the medal table
and won a total of nine medals; four silver and five bronze. Seven Irish athletes competed at the Games, five men and two women.
Rosaleen Gallagher won a medal in four different sports; archery
, athletics, swimming
and table tennis
.
, 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.
event was contested at the Games, the men's open event. Jimmy Gibson entered for Ireland. After wins over Keaton of Great Britain
and Aroldo Ruschioni of Italy, Gibson faced Britain's Michael Shelton
in the final. Shelton defeated Gibson to take gold and the Irishman won the silver medal.
and backstroke but did not advance to either final. Ireland's two swimmers in the women's 25 m backstroke class 1 incomplete each won a medal; White won the silver and Rosaleen Gallagher the bronze behind Ingrams of Great Britain who won in a world record time.
singles events and pairs in both the women's A2 doubles and men's C doubles. Jimmy Gibson added a bronze medal in the men's C singles to the silver he won in snooker
. In the women's A2 singles Ireland won two medals, silver for White and bronze for Rosaleen Gallagher. White and Gallagher were Ireland's entry in the women's A2 doubles. Four pairs entered the event; the Irish pair lost their first match, against Great Britain, by a score of 2–1 but still won a bronze medal.
1968 Summer Paralympics
The 1968 Summer Paralympics were the third Paralympic Games to be held. Organised under the guidance of the International Stoke Mandeville Games Federation , they were known as the 17th International Stoke Mandeville Games at the time...
in Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
from November 4 to 13, 1968. The team finished nineteenth in the medal table
1968 Summer Paralympics medal table
The 1968 Summer Paralympics was an international multi-sport event held in Tel Aviv, Israel, from November 4 to 13, 1968, in which athletes with physical disabilities competed against one another...
and won a total of nine medals; four silver and five bronze. Seven Irish athletes competed at the Games, five men and two women.
Rosaleen Gallagher won a medal in four different sports; archery
Archery
Archery is the art, practice, or skill of propelling arrows with the use of a bow, from Latin arcus. Archery has historically been used for hunting and combat; in modern times, however, its main use is that of a recreational activity...
, athletics, swimming
Swimming (sport)
Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
and table tennis
Table tennis
Table tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net...
.
Disability classifications
The Paralympics groups athletes' disabilities into one of five disability categories; amputationAmputation
Amputation is the removal of a body extremity by trauma, prolonged constriction, or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as malignancy or gangrene. In some cases, it is carried out on individuals as a preventative surgery for...
, the condition may be congenital or sustained through injury or illness; cerebral palsy
Cerebral palsy
Cerebral palsy is an umbrella term encompassing a group of non-progressive, non-contagious motor conditions that cause physical disability in human development, chiefly in the various areas of body movement....
; wheelchair
Wheelchair
A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, designed to be a replacement for walking. The device comes in variations where it is propelled by motors or by the seated occupant turning the rear wheels by hand. Often there are handles behind the seat for someone else to do the pushing...
athletes, there is often overlap between this and other categories; visual impairment
Visual impairment
Visual impairment is vision loss to such a degree as to qualify as an additional support need through a significant limitation of visual capability resulting from either disease, trauma, or congenital or degenerative conditions that cannot be corrected by conventional means, such as refractive...
, including blindness
Blindness
Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...
; Les autres, any physical disability that does not fall strictly under one of the other categories, for example dwarfism
Dwarfism
Dwarfism is short stature resulting from a medical condition. It is sometimes defined as an adult height of less than 4 feet 10 inches , although this definition is problematic because short stature in itself is not a disorder....
or multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory disease in which the fatty myelin sheaths around the axons of the brain and spinal cord are damaged, leading to demyelination and scarring as well as a broad spectrum of signs and symptoms...
. 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.
Archery
One Irish archer competed at the Games. Rosaleen Gallagher took part in the St. Nicholas round cervical for women. One of only two athletes in the event she won a silver medal after being beaten by Ruth Brooks of Great Britain.Dartchery
The only dartchery event at the Games was the mixed pairs event which took a knockout format. The Irish pair of Kerrigan and Hughes was beaten by Spaniards Llorens and Lorente in the first round.Snooker
One snookerSnooker
Snooker is a cue sport that is played on a green baize-covered table with pockets in each of the four corners and in the middle of each of the long side cushions. A regular table is . It is played using a cue and snooker balls: one white , 15 worth one point each, and six balls of different :...
event was contested at the Games, the men's open event. Jimmy Gibson entered for Ireland. After wins over Keaton of Great Britain
Great Britain at the 1968 Summer Paralympics
Great Britain was one of twenty-eight nations to send athletes to the 1968 Summer Paralympics in Tel Aviv, Israel 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...
and Aroldo Ruschioni of Italy, Gibson faced Britain's Michael Shelton
Michael Shelton
Michael Shelton is a British sportsman who competed at the Summer Paralympic Games five times between 1960 and 1976. He won six Paralympic medals, four gold, a silver and a bronze.-References:...
in the final. Shelton defeated Gibson to take gold and the Irishman won the silver medal.
Swimming
Three swimmers competed for Ireland in Tel Aviv. Kerrigan took part in the men's class 2 complete breaststrokeBreaststroke
The breaststroke is a swimming style in which the swimmer is on his or her chest and the torso does not rotate. It is the most popular recreational style due to its stability and the ability to keep the head out of the water a large portion of the time. In most swimming classes, beginners learn...
and backstroke but did not advance to either final. Ireland's two swimmers in the women's 25 m backstroke class 1 incomplete each won a medal; White won the silver and Rosaleen Gallagher the bronze behind Ingrams of Great Britain who won in a world record time.
Table tennis
Five players entered table tennisTable tennis
Table tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net...
singles events and pairs in both the women's A2 doubles and men's C doubles. Jimmy Gibson added a bronze medal in the men's C singles to the silver he won in snooker
Snooker at the 1968 Summer Paralympics
- Medal summary :...
. In the women's A2 singles Ireland won two medals, silver for White and bronze for Rosaleen Gallagher. White and Gallagher were Ireland's entry in the women's A2 doubles. Four pairs entered the event; the Irish pair lost their first match, against Great Britain, by a score of 2–1 but still won a bronze medal.