International Paralympic Committee in the context of "Para ice hockey"

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.

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 2014 Winter Paralympics (Russian: Зимние Паралимпийские игры 2014, romanized: Zimniye Paralimpiyskiye igry 2014), the 11th Paralympic Winter Games, and also more generally known as the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games, were an international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), held in Sochi, Russia, from 7 to 16 March 2014. 45 National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) participated in the Games, which marked the first time Russia ever hosted the Paralympics. The Games featured 72 medal events in five sports, and saw the debut of snowboarding at the Winter Paralympics.

The lead-up to these Paralympics were met with concerns regarding Russia's military intervention in the nearby Crimean peninsula of Ukraine the month before the opening of the games. The head of Ukraine's NPC stated that it would pull its athletes if the situation escalated, while the United Kingdom and United States chose not to send governmental delegations to the Games. The crisis ultimately had no impact on athlete participation, but members of the Ukrainian team did stage symbolic protests of the crisis during the Games (including most notably, all but the country's flagbearer sitting out of the opening ceremony's parade of nations).

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.