Sierra Leone made its Paralympic debut at the 1996 Summer Paralympics in Atlanta, United States. The country did not participate in another Summer Paralympic Games until the 2012 London Paralympics. This made the Rio de Janeiro Summer Games Sierra Leone's third appearance at a Summer Paralympiad. The 2016 Summer Paralympics were held from 7–18 September 2016 with a total of 4,328 athletes representing 159 National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) taking part. Sierra Leone sent one athlete to Rio de Janeiro: table tennis player George Wyndham. He received financial assistance from the United Nations Development Programme. Wyndham was accompanied by executive secretary of the Association of Sports for the Disabled (the Sierra Leonean NPC) Alexander Thullah, director of sports Ibrahim Bangura, deputy minister of sports Ishmael Al Sankoh Conteh and coaches Emmanuel Lebbie and Alhassan Kamara. He was chosen as the flag bearer during the parade of nations for the opening ceremony.