Disabled athletes will join together in London for the world's largest international sporting event for disabled sports at the London Paralympics on August 29.
The last time London hosted a Paralympic Games was in 1948 and more than 50 years later the games will be hosted in the main Olympic Park in Stratford and at other venues around London.
The games will have 11 events in the main stadium including: Wheelchair rugby, athletics, swimming, table tennis, goalball, wheelchair fencing, archery, seven-a-side and five-a-side football, track cycling and wheelchair tennis.
At the ExCel Centre, sitting volleyball, powerlifting, judo, wheelchair basketball and boccia will take place.
Equestrian events will take place at Greenwich park and shooting at the Royal Artillery Barracks.
The journey of the Paralympic Flame began on August 22 when disabled and non disabled scouts climbed the UK's four highest peaks-Scafell Pike in England, Snowdon/Yr Wyddfa in Wales, Ben Nevis in Scotland and Slieve Donard in Northern Ireland. Here they lit four national flames using old fashioned methods such as rubbing flint together to create a flame.
The flames were then transferred to each of the nation's capital city. Torch Relay celebrations started on August 24 when Claire Lomas lit the first cauldron in Trafalgar Square. Lomas, who is paralysed from the chest down, walked the London Marathon in a robotic suit that allowed her to walk.
In Northern Ireland, Angela Hendra of Paralympic Table Tennis lit the cauldron in Belfast. In Scotland, Rosie Smith who led two teams to Ben Nevis lit the cauldron on The Mound in Edinburgh and in Cardiff City Hall in Wales, Paralympic gold medal winning cyclist, Simon Richardson lit the cauldron.
The day before the start of the Olympics the flame will be carried 92 miles during the 24 hour relay to the Olympic stadium and the start of the games.
The opening ceremony which has been directed by Stephen Daldry, an award winning film director who made Billy Elliot, is set to open the games on August 29. For the opening ceremony there has been over 3,000 volunteers including rehabilitiating soldiers, professionals and children.
The program is called, "Enlightemenment" and includes acrobatic performances on a rig above the stadium floor.
To keep up with the action, see the schedule below for your favorite events. The games will end on Sunday August 9.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
