The 2006 Winter Paralympic Games (Italian: Giochi paralimpici invernali del 2006), the ninth Paralympic Winter Games, took place in Turin, Italy from 10 to 19 March 2006. These were the first Winter Paralympic Games to be held in Italy. They were also the first Paralympics to use the new Paralympics logo.
Italy will host the Winter Paralympics again in 2026, scheduled to be held in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo.
The Games featured 58 medal events in five disciplines of four sports. As with other Paralympic Games, medals are awarded for each classification within each event. The sport of wheelchair curling made its Paralympic debut at these games.[1]
Five competition venues were used during the Winter Paralympics. They all hosted competitions during the 2006 Winter Olympics.
The Opening ceremonies were held at Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino and the closing and the awarding ceremonies for the snow events were also held in Turin were held at the Medals Plaza at Piaza Castello.
Participating National Paralympic Committees (NPC)s
Thirty-nine National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) classified athletes to compete at the 2006 Winter Paralympics. This was an increase of three from the 36 represented at the 2002 Winter Paralympics. The number in parentheses indicates the number of participants from each NPC.
Note that, although Greece was scheduled to compete, no Greek athlete took part in any event; the International Paralympic Committee does not list Greece as having entered any athlete in the Games, and considers that there were thirty-eight NPCs at the Games, rather than thirty-nine.[2][3]
A total of 486 athletes participated in the Games, 385 male and 101 female. This is an increase from the 430 athletes participated in 2002. Despite overall increase of delegates and athletes, the following nations who participated in the 2002 Winter Paralympics did not send athletes to Turin.