Switzerland at the 1960 Summer Paralympics

Switzerland at the Paralympic Games
Flag of Switzerland IPC code  SUI NPC Swiss Paralympic Committee
At the 1960 Summer Paralympics in Rome
Competitors	2
Medals Rank: 13	Gold 1	Silver 3	Bronze 0	Total 4
Paralympic history (summary)
Summer Games
1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012
Winter Games
1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014

Switzerland was one of the seventeen nations that competed at the inaugural Summer Paralympic Games in 1960 held in Rome, Italy, from September 19 to 24, 1960. Preparations for the Games began two years prior in 1958 to stage what was at the time called the 9th Annual International Stoke Mandeville Games. The team finished thirteenth in the medal table with a total of four medals, one gold and three silver. The Swiss team consisted of two athletes: Denis Favre, a man who competed in athletics and swimming events, and Simone Knusli, a woman who competed in swimming.

Disability classifications

Athletes at the first Paralympics in 1960 were all afflicted by spinal cord injuries and required the use of a wheelchair. This is in contrast to later Paralympics that include events for participants that fit into any of five different disability categories; amputation, either congenital or sustained through injury or illness; cerebral palsy; wheelchair athletes; visual impairment, including blindness; Les autres, any physical disability that does not fall strictly under one of the other categories, for example dwarfism or multiple sclerosis. Each Paralympic sport then has its own classifications, dependent upon the specific physical demands of competition. Events are given a code, made of numbers and letters, describing the type of event and classification of the athletes competing.

Athletics

Main article: Athletics at the 1960 Summer Paralympics

Denis Favre took part in two field events; the men's javelin C and the men's shot put C. In the javelin Favre threw 21.71 metres to win the silver medal; gold was won by Enzo Santini of host nation Italy, who threw 22.90 metres, and the bronze medal went to Hepple of Great Britain. Favre also won the silver medal in the shot put; his distance of 8.05 metres split the American pair of Ron Stein and Welger who took gold and bronze medals with distances of 10.13 metres and 7.77 metres respectively.

Swimming

Main article: Swimming at the 1960 Summer Paralympics

Both of the Swiss athletes took part in a swimming event at the Games. Each won a medal as their events contained only three competitors. Denis Favre won the gold medal in the men's 50 metres crawl complete class 5, beating his nearest rival Sznitowski of Argentina by 0.2 seconds. In the women's 25 metres breaststroke complete class 2 Simone Knusli won the silver medal after finishing 2.1 seconds behind the winner of the event, Great Britain's Susan Masham.

See also

• Switzerland at the 1960 Summer Olympics