International Paralympic Committee in the context of "2014 Winter Paralympics"

A sports governing body is a sports organization that has a regulatory or sanctioning function.

Sports governing bodies come in various forms and have a variety of regulatory functions, including disciplinary procedure for rule infractions and deciding on rulechanges in the sport that they govern. Governing bodies have different scopes. They may cover a range of sport at an internationally acceptable level, such as the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee, or only a single sport at a national level, such as the Rugby Football League. National bodies will largely have to be affiliated with international bodies for the same sport. The first international federations were formed at the end of the 19th century.

Sledge hockey, also known as Sled hockey in American English, and Para ice hockey in international competition, is an adaptation of ice hockey for players who have a physical disability. The sport was invented in the early 1960s at a rehabilitation centre in Stockholm, Sweden, and played under similar rules to standard ice hockey. Players are seated on sleds and use special hockey sticks with metal "teeth" on the tips of their handles to navigate the ice. Playing venues use an ice hockey rink.

Sledge hockey has been a part of the Winter Paralympics programme since 1994. Via its division World Para Ice Hockey, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) acts as the international sanctioning body for the sport. It has been played in the Winter Paralympics since 1994, and has been one of the most popular events. Since 2016, the IPC has promoted the sport under the name "Para ice hockey" for linguistic reasons, as part of an effort to streamline its sanctioning of the sport outside of the Paralympics.

The 1994 Winter Paralympics (Norwegian: Paralympiske vinterleker 1994; Nynorsk: Paralympiske vinterleikane 1994), the sixth Paralympic Winter Games, were held in Lillehammer, Norway, from 10 to 19 March 1994.The Lillehammer Paralympics were the second time that the Games were held in Norway, after the 1980 Winter Paralympics in Geilo. 471 athletes from 31 countries participated, with Norway claiming the most gold medals ahead of Germany. This was the first Paralympics which the International Paralympic Committee had 100% involvement and responsibility and the first Games with their own logo.

These Games marked the second time the Paralympic Winter Games were held in the same city and venues as the Winter Olympics but despite this, they did not have the same Organizing Committee.However, the two Committees operated jointly in several sectors, something that served as a basis for the collaboration that was carried out for the 1998 Winter Paralympics and 2000 Summer Paralympic Games.Events were held in Alpine skiing, ice sledge speed racing, biathlon and cross-country skiing; the games also introduced ice sledge hockey.The Paralympic Games also shared 5 venues that were used during the Winter Olympics.The only differences were the addition of Kristins Hall as ice sledge hockey venue.This hall which was used as a training site for ice hockey teams during the Olympic Games and the use of the Håkons Hall to the ceremonial venue.

The Winter Paralympic Games is an international multi-sport event where athletes with physical disabilities compete in snow and ice sports. The event includes athletes with mobility impairments, amputations, blindness, and cerebral palsy. The Winter Paralympic Games are held every four years directly following the Winter Olympic Games and (since 1992) hosted in the same city. The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) oversees the Games. Medals are awarded in each event: with gold for first place, silver for second, and bronze for third, following the tradition that the Olympic Games began in 1904.

The Winter Paralympics began in 1976 in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden. Those Games were the first Paralympics that featured athletes other than those in wheelchairs. The Games have expanded and grown, including the Summer Paralympic Games, to become part of the largest international sporting event after the Olympics. Given their expansion, the need for a very specific classification system has arisen. This system has also given rise to controversy and opened the door for various forms of cheating, which has tainted the integrity of the Games.

The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Summer Paralympic Games as organised by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).

These Games were the first Summer Paralympics to be hosted by London and the first to be hosted solely by Great Britain. The English village of Stoke Mandeville had previously co-hosted the 1984 Games with Long Island, New York, after the original host—the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign—withdrew due to financial difficulties. In 1948, the village hosted the Stoke Mandeville Games—the first organised sporting event for athletes with disabilities, and a precursor to the modern Paralympic Games—to coincide with the opening of the 1948 Olympics in London. In 1935, London hosted the 1935 Summer Deaflympics.

The 1964 Summer Paralympics (Japanese: 1964年夏季パラリンピック, Hepburn: 1964-Nen Kaki Pararinpikku), originally known as the 13th International Stoke Mandeville Games, were the second Paralympic Games to be held. They were held in Tokyo, Japan, and were the last Summer Paralympics to take place in the same city as the Summer Olympics until the 1988 Summer Paralympics. The Summer Paralympics, so far the only Paralympics held in Tokyo to take place with Spectators, as the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo held without spectators due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 1964 Games, although still formally an edition of the International Stoke Mandeville Games, were the first to use the term "Paralympic" in association with the event; the term "Paralympic Games" was approved by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) first in 1984, while the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) was formed in 1989.