International Paralympic Committee

Template:Short description
Template:Other uses
Template:Use dmy dates
Template:Infobox organization
Template:Paralympic Games infobox

The **International Paralympic Committee** (**IPC**; Template:Lang-de) is an international non-profit organisation and the global governing body for the Paralympic Movement. The IPC organizes the Paralympic Games and functions as the international federation for nine sports. Founded on 22 September 1989 in Düsseldorf, West Germany, its mission is to "enable Paralympic athletes to achieve sporting excellence and inspire and excite the world". Furthermore, the IPC wants to promote the Paralympic values and to create sport opportunities for all persons with a disability, from beginner to elite level.

The IPC has a democratic constitution and structure and is composed of representatives from 182 National Paralympic Committees (NPCs), four international organizations of sport for the disabled (IOSDs) and five regional organizations.Template:Efn The IPC's headquarters is located in Bonn, Germany.

## Overview

On the basis of being able to organize the Paralympic Games more efficiently and to give the Paralympic movement one voice, the four international organizations of sports for the disabled, founded the International Co-ordination Committee of World Sports Organizations for the Disabled (ICC) in 1982. In the upcoming years, other organizations joined and the need for a democratically guided organization emerged, demanded by the nations participating in the Paralympic Movement. They desired a democratic structure, to improve national and regional representation, which led to the foundation of the IPC as it is known today. The 1994 Winter Paralympics, Norway, were the first to be organized by the IPC.

The IPC functions as an umbrella organization, representing several sports and disabilities, in contrast to other international sports organizations for athletes with a disability, which are predominantly limited to a single sport or disability (as well as the International Olympic Committee, who relies on separate member sanctioning bodies representing each Olympic sport).

A fifteen-member Governing Board oversees the IPC between meetings of the General Assembly. Dr. Robert D. Steadward became the first President in 1989. Since 2017, Andrew Parsons is President of the IPC.

## Presidents

Template:Anchor
The International Paralympic Committee has had three presidents to date. Its founding president, who presided it from 1989 to 2001, was the Canadian Robert Steadward, who had previously founded the Canadian Sports Fund for the Physically Disabled. He was succeeded in 2001 by Philip Craven, a British Paralympian and former President of the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation, who served as president until 2017. Craven was succeeded by Brazil's Andrew Parsons, IPC Vice President from 2013 to 2017 and a former President of the Brazilian Paralympic Committee.

 File:Rio lança uniformes para cerimônias de abertura e encerramento Paralímpicos (27789846811) (cropped).jpg | Andrew Parsons | Template:Flag | 2017–

## Governing Board

 File:Germany Bonn IPC 2009 06 28.jpg
The IPC Governing Board consists of 14 members, of which 12 are elected at the General Assembly, including the President and Vice President. The most recent election for the Governing Board was held on 12 December 2021:

* Andrew Parsons, President
* Duane Kale, Vice President
* Debra Alexander
* Mohamed Alhameli
* Jai-Jun Choung
* Marianna "Muffy" Davis
* Chelsey Gotell
* Miki Matheson
* Luca Pancalli
* John Petersson
* Majid Rashed
* Robyn Smith

The IPC Athletes' Council Chairperson, Jitske Visser, and IPC Athletes' Council First Vice Chairperson, Josh Dueck, also have voting rights on the board.

## IPC Honorary Board

The IPC has an honorary board of distinguished individuals who support the IPC's goals and use their profile to raise funds and awareness for its work.

Current honorary board members are:

* Princess Margriet of the Netherlands
* Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg
* Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden
* Prince Albert of Monaco
* James Wolfensohn, former President of the World Bank
* Maria Guleghina, opera singer
* Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein
* Thérèse Rein, Founder of Ingeus
* Princess Astrid of Belgium.

### Bibliography

* IPC Style Guide, International Paralympic Committee (IPC)

## External links

Template:Wikinews category

* Template:Official website
* Paralympic Sport TV YouTube channel

Template:Regional Organizations of National Paralympic Committees
Template:Paralympic games medal table
Template:Portal bar
Template:Authority control

Template:Coord

1. ↑ "Robert Steadward, builder" Template:Webarchive, Canadian Paralympic Committee
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Template:Cite web
3. ↑ Template:Cite web