Paralympic movement was born in Stoke Mandeville , outside London , in five decades . Butterworth , one of eight former or current British military service personnel selected for the Games , was not an athlete before his injury -- but all that changed when he got on a bike at a talent-spotting day for injured veterans . ' 2012 World War II Games will be the biggest yet , with 4,200 competitors from 165 countries . In an echo of the third , post- Games , injured veterans are among the athletes . They include a U.S. naval officer blinded in Afghanistan and a Briton who lost an arm in London .
Paralympic movement was born in Stoke Mandeville , outside London , in five decades . 2012 World War II Games will be the biggest yet , with 4,200 competitors from 165 countries . In an echo of the third , post- Games , injured veterans are among the athletes . They include a U.S. naval officer blinded in Afghanistan and a Briton who lost an arm in London .