In today’s society there are a wide range of international competition opportunities for people with a disability. Since 1990, the number of countries and the number of athletes participating in international disability sport competition has risen markedly. Yet, how have these increases presented in developing countries?

The number of athletes and the number of countries are figures generally quoted to indicate the size of an event. Recording and maintaining participation data for international games is a complex process and the data can change over time as new information becomes available. Participation data is often misquoted and it is common for participation data to be presented without any acknowledgement of its source. Even the top three Olympic historians can’t agree on how many athletes competed at each Olympic Games.

This research explores the participation of developing countries in international disability sport competition. It is the first study of its kind and is intended to guide and direct development assistance and to provide a platform for further qualitative research.

The study analyses the participation of developing countries in the four summer and four winter Deaflympics, Paralympic Games and Special Olympics World Games from 1991 to 2006 to determine which developing countries participated, which did not participate and the ratio of male to female participation.

In total, 153 developing countries and territories are included in this analysis. Whilst it is acknowledged that there is a great deal of debate surrounding an adequate definition of a developing country, this paper has adopted the classification from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which is based on official recipients of aid and is determined by the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee. Countries are classified into these four categories based on Gross National Index; least developed, other low income, lower-middle income and upper-middle income.

Since each disability sport movement has different regional organisation, the five regions of the International Olympic Committee provide the best system to analyse the data by region. The IOC regions of Africa, America (which takes in North, South and Central America), Asia, Europe and Oceania have been utilised. A developing country has been classed as participating if they entered at least one athlete in the official sport competition during the period of analysis. As far as possible, this study includes athletes only and does not include coaches, team or technical officials or any other groups.

The participation data was collected during research visits conducted in February and March 2007 to the international governing bodies of each movement:

Although each system was different, electronic sources proved the most accurate primary sources for Deaflympic, Paralympic Games and Special Olympics World Games participation data. Data for the 3 Special Olympics World Games prior to 1997 was unavailable since their Games Management System was only introduced in 1997.

Overall, developing country participation increased over time from 1991 to 2006. However, 23% of developing countries did not participate in any games during the period of analysis. Female participation is still less than half the total male participation.

Oceania was identified as the region with the least participation followed by Africa and Asia. Winter games participation from developing countries is very low, whilst the participation of women in winter sport is even lower and declining with time.

Participating Countries
Oceania is the region with the least participation across the board and no participation in winter games or in Special Olympics World Games. In Africa, of the total 55 developing countries, 42 have participated in summer games and 7 in winter games. The figures for Asia are quite similar to America with fewer countries participating in winter games. The Asian region has seen the most rapid growth in the Paralympic Games. Of the 12 European developing countries, each has participated in summer games and ¾ have also participated in winter games.

An interesting example is China, a middle-income country that has seen dramatic increases in participation in recent years. In Paralympic Games from Sydney 2000 to Athens 2004, the number of athletes for China more than doubled from 87 to 199 athletes. Astoundingly in Special Olympics, the numbers for China increased from 30 athletes in Dublin 2003 to 1212 athletes in Shanghai in 2007.

Non-participating Countries
Thirty five developing countries have not participated in any games. Of these, almost half are least developed countries and one-third are also heavily indebted poor countries. Given the economic climate of these countries, international disability sport may be an even lower priority that in other developing countries.

Ratio of Male to Female Participation
Of the three movements, women are best represented in Special Olympics World Games. Female participation in Paralympic summer sport increased steadily. The source data was surprisingly comprehensive in detailing the gender of each athlete. However, ratio was not the best indicator of increases in female participation since each ratio is linked to the male participation from each country. For example, a ratio would remain the same if the number of male and female athletes increased to similar degrees.

Since 1990, thirty one new countries have been created which has had a direct influence on the increase in the number of countries participating in international disability sport. It is difficult to interpret trends in the participation data given that no data was available for the Special Olympics World Games in 1991, 1993 and 1995, though there appears to be a relationship between economic level and participation numbers.

The geographic location of the games may have impacted on the total number of athletes and the total number of developing countries participating due to the high cost of travelling to the games. This is highlighted in the reduced developing country participation from Europe in the Melbourne 2005 Summer Deaflympics and also from the region of America in the Dublin 2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games.

Each movement’s participation data is strongly linked to its historical evolution. For example, Special Olympics participation has been heavily influenced by the strong United State origins, given that the development of Special Olympics occurred in all US States before their international growth. Prevalence of disability may also be a factor and is further complicated by the difficulties in defining and measuring disability around the world.

Participation in winter games reflects the obvious issues of climate and geography in relation to winter sport. Ninety percent of the total participation in winter sport is from Special Olympics. These higher numbers may have been influenced by the introduction of floor hockey as an indoor sport to enable a larger number of countries to participate in winter games.

Specific initiatives from governing bodies may also have had significant impact on the increase in participation. The number of sports and events offered at each games also influence the participation data and for Paralympic Games, this is further compounded by the opportunities for athletes from different classifications to compete.

It is important to note that this data does not indicate countries that were members of international governing bodies but did not participate. Moreover, these numbers only indicate the number of athletes that participated in these specific games and further assumptions cannot be made regarding local and national participation, disability sports infrastructure or medal performance.

The disability sport movements can learn from successful initiatives of the IOC, such as the Olympic Solidarity programme. By providing financial assistance to athletes and administrators from developing countries from as early as 1962, Olympic Solidarity has made the greatest impact on developing country participation in the Olympic Games. Significant funding in association with further research and development can go a long way to increasing the participation of developing countries in disability sport at local, national and international levels.

This research reveals new data on the participation of developing countries in international disability sport competition. The World Health Organisation estimates that about 650 million People live with disabilities of various types, and the number is increasing. 80% of these live in low-income countries and most are poor and have limited or no access to basic services, including rehabilitation facilities.

Action must be taken now to provide assistance to developing countries and improve competition opportunities for the future. This research is just the first attempt at quantifying developing country participation and only the beginning of the story. The Games will go on but how many athletes from developing countries will be reached in the future?

The full text of this research is available on the International Platform for Sport and Development www.sportanddev.org. The participation data of all countries, developed and developing, collected during this research is also available on CD-ROM which includes the two games held in 2007. Please contact Jackie Lauff at jlauff@zedat.fu-berlin.de to order a copy.