Q.The International Paralympics Committee was founded in the year
Concept understanding — Historical Event Recall
Historical Event Recall
Think about how you remember a story your grandmother told you. You don't remember every word she said — you remember the gist, the key characters, the sequence of what happened, and maybe one or two vivid details that stuck with you. Now imagine you had to tell that same story to someone else a week later. You'd reconstruct it from memory, not read it off a script.
Historical Event Recall is exactly that process, but applied to the past. It is the ability to accurately retrieve and reconstruct a past event from memory — not as a perfect recording, but as a coherent narrative built from the evidence and details you have absorbed.
The everyday intuition
When you hear about a historical event — say, the signing of a treaty or the outbreak of a war — you don't file it away like a photograph. Your brain stores fragments: the date, the key people, the cause, the outcome, and perhaps a striking image or quote. Later, when you need to recall that event, your mind pieces these fragments together into a story. That act of piecing together is recall.
It is not the same as recognition. Recognition is multiple-choice: you see the event name and you know it sounds familiar. Recall is open-ended: you must produce the event's details from scratch, in the right order, with the right emphasis.
The precise meaning in history
In the study of history, Historical Event Recall means retrieving a specific past occurrence with sufficient accuracy and completeness to explain it meaningfully. This includes:
- The who — the people, groups, or institutions involved
- The what — the nature of the event (a battle, a law, a discovery, a speech)
- The when — the chronological placement (year, period, sequence relative to other events)
- The where — the geographical or political context
- The why — the causes and triggers
- The so-what — the consequences and significance
Recall is not about memorising every date and name like a list. It is about holding the event's structure in your mind so you can explain it naturally, the way you would tell a story you truly understand.
Why it matters
History is not a database you query. It is a narrative you carry. When you recall an event well, you can:
- Connect it to other events (cause and effect)
- Evaluate its importance relative to other developments
- Argue about its interpretation (was it inevitable? was it beneficial?)
- Write or speak about it without flipping back to notes
In exams, recall is what separates a student who can write a coherent paragraph from one who can only tick boxes. A good recall shows you have internalised the event, not just glanced at it.
What makes recall difficult
Several things interfere with accurate recall:
- Interference — similar events blur together (e.g., two different battles in the same war)
- Gaps — you remember the cause but not the date, or the outcome but not the key figure
- Distortion — your brain fills in missing details with plausible but wrong ones
- Order confusion — you remember the pieces but put them in the wrong sequence
The goal of studying history is not to memorise a script. It is to build a mental model of the past that you can reconstruct on demand. That reconstruction is Historical Event Recall.
How to strengthen it
- Tell the story aloud to yourself or a friend. Each retelling strengthens the neural path.
- Anchor events to each other — link a new event to one you already know well.
- Use the five Ws as a checklist after you study an event: can you answer who, what, when, where, why?
- Practice without notes — close the book and write down everything you remember. Then check what you missed.
Recall is a skill, not a gift. It improves with deliberate practice, just like playing an instrument or learning a dance step.
The IPC was formed well after the Stoke Mandeville Games (1948) and the first official Paralympic Games (Rome, 1960) — it was the governing body created to unify the movement those earlier events had already started.
Why the other options are wrong
- (a) 1960: this is the year of the first official Paralympic Games at Rome, not the IPC's founding.
- (b) 1948: this is the year of Dr. Guttmann's first Stoke Mandeville wheelchair competition, decades before the IPC existed.
- (c) 1900: far too early — no disability-sport governing body existed then.
The correct option is (d) 1989.
The IPC was formed on 22 September 1989 at Dusseldorf, Germany, after decades of separate disability-sport organisations finally combined under one umbrella body.
The textbook traces a long build-up to the IPC: the Stoke Mandeville Games (1948) led to the first official Paralympic Games (Rome, 1960); the International Stoke Mandeville Games Federation (ISMGF) and ISOD (1964) later combined with CPISRA (1978) and IBSA (1980) into the International Co-ordinating Committee (ICC, 1982); INAS-FID joined the ICC in 1986. This combination of organisations finally led to the formation of the International Paralympic Committee on 22 September 1989 at Dusseldorf, Germany, as the global governing body of the Paralympic movement.
The correct option is (d) 1989.
- CBSE 2026Set 75/SRP1Q/41 markMCQQ.Which of the following competition was organised by Guttmann at the 1948 London Olympics for disabled persons ? (A) Running competition (B) Swimming competition (C) Wheelchair competition (D) Bicycle competition
›Reveal solutionSolution
Sir Ludwig Guttmann organised the first wheelchair competition for disabled war veterans at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, coinciding with the 1948 London Olympics — the birth of the Paralympic movement.
This question tests knowledge of Paralympic history, specifically the pioneering work that laid the foundation for disability sports as we know them today.
The 1948 London Olympics marked a watershed moment not just for able-bodied athletes returning after World War II, but for disabled athletes as well. Sir Ludwig Guttmann, a German-born neurologist working at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in England, had been treating World War II veterans with spinal cord injuries. He recognized that sport could be a powerful tool for rehabilitation — both physically and psychologically.
On the opening day of the 1948 London Olympics (July 29), Guttmann organized the first Stoke Mandeville Games at the hospital. This was not part of the official Olympics, but deliberately timed to coincide with it, signaling that disabled athletes deserved the same recognition and competitive spirit.
The event featured 16 injured servicemen and women competing in archery — but crucially, they competed from wheelchairs. This was revolutionary: rather than trying to make disabled people fit into able-bodied sports, Guttmann adapted competition to their abilities, with the wheelchair as an integral part of the athletic equipment.
The term "wheelchair competition" in option (C) captures this essence. While the specific sport was archery, the defining characteristic was that it was a competition for wheelchair users — the first organized athletic event of its kind. This event grew year by year, eventually becoming the Paralympic Games (first held in Rome, 1960).
NoteThe Stoke Mandeville Games are considered the precursor to the modern Paralympics. Guttmann's vision was that these games would one day achieve parity with the Olympics — a vision largely realized today.
Watch outDon't confuse this with the official Paralympic Games. The 1948 event was small, hospital-based, and not yet called "Paralympic" — but it was the seed from which the movement grew.
✓Final answerThe correct option is (C) Wheelchair competition.
- CBSE 2024Set 75/RQPS/41 markMCQQ.International Paralympic Committee was formed in _____. (A) 1985 (B) 2003 (C) 1989 (D) 2001
›Reveal solutionSolution
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) was established in 1989 as the global governing body for the Paralympic Movement. The answer is (C) 1989.
The International Paralympic Committee serves as the umbrella organization coordinating all Paralympic sports and the Paralympic Games. Understanding when it was formed helps place the modern Paralympic movement in historical context.
Before 1989, Paralympic sports were organized by various international organizations for different disability groups. The need for a unified body became clear as the Paralympic Games grew in scale and complexity. The IPC was created to bring coherence to the movement, establish common standards, and provide centralized governance.
The key milestone came on 22 September 1989 in Düsseldorf, Germany, when representatives from various international disability sports organizations came together to form the IPC. This was shortly after the 1988 Seoul Paralympic Games, which had demonstrated both the potential and the organizational challenges of the Paralympic movement.
The IPC's formation marked a turning point. It took over the responsibility of organizing the Paralympic Games from the International Coordinating Committee (ICC) and the International Fund Sport Disabled (IFSD), which had previously shared these duties. The first Summer Paralympics under IPC governance were held in Barcelona in 1992, and the first Winter Paralympics under IPC governance were in Lillehammer in 1994.
NoteThe IPC is headquartered in Bonn, Germany, and is recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It governs Paralympic sports for athletes with physical, visual, and intellectual impairments.
Looking at the options:
- 1985 is too early; the movement was still fragmented then
- 1989 is the correct founding year
- 2001 and 2003 are well after the IPC had already organized multiple Paralympic Games
✓Final answerThe correct option is (C) 1989.
- CBSE 2023Set 75/EF1GH/41 markMCQQ.First Deaflympic Games was organized in the year _____.(a) 1896(b) 1960(c) 1924(d) 1951
›Reveal solutionSolution
The first Deaflympic Games were held in 1924 in Paris.
The Deaflympics (originally the International Silent Games) trace back to 1924, when they were first organised in Paris for deaf athletes — making them, notably, older than the Paralympic Games (which began in 1960) and second only to the Olympic Games itself among international multi-sport events for athletes with disabilities. The Games are unique among disability sport in that they use visual rather than verbal cues (flags, lights, hand signals) to start races and communicate with athletes, reflecting the specific needs of deaf and hard-of-hearing competitors.
✓Final answer(c) 1924.
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