Direct access to content

The presence of the over 20.000 people who make up the Paralympic Family and who would be staying in Barcelona for 19 days, from 28 August to 15 September, made it necessary to undertake a complex operation which had to be both diverse an precise. The Paralympic Family were coming to take part in an event which required continous travel from one place to another, the provision of suitable living accommodation and sports venuesinformation and communication facilities, collective and personalised services and, in general, all the necessary conditions for the successful organisation of an event of such importance.

In supplying these needs, the organisation had to take into account the special characteristics of many members of the Paralympic Family. It was therefore indispensable that infrastructures, spaces and services should be both multi-purpose and adapted to these characteristics, so as to make conditions adquate to the needs of those attending. All necesary resources were provided: transporthealth careinformation and courtesy services, cateringaccommodationtelephone services and cultural activities.

The Paralympic Village
The Paralympic Family used half of the almost 2.000 flats which formed the Olympic Village. Adapted to the requirements of wheelchair users (a total of 1.253), these dwellings were all on the lower floors of the buildings. Their most notable features concerned the increased width of doorways to allow wheelchairs to enter easily, more easily-managed door handles and, above all, in the bathrooms, where taps with just one handle were installed, as well as a number of bars and handles to aid the athletes’ mobility. The lifts in the buildings were also adapted, being made wider and equipped with information in braille on control panels. These panels were also placed lower down.

An additional service was provided for the blind (614 people) in the form of remote-controlled automatic guides at the corners of some of the buildings, allowing them to orient themselves easily.

(Text taken from the Official Report of the Barcelona ’92 IX Paralympic Games)

Selected resources

Guia dels IXns Jocs Paralímpics de Barcelona'92

Guia dels IXns Jocs Paralímpics de Barcelona’92. Barcelona : COOB’92, Divisió de Paralímpics, 1992.

I Congreso Paralímpico Barcelona'92 = I Congrés Paralímpic Barcelona'92 = I Paralympic Congress Barcelona'92

I Congreso Paralímpico Barcelona’92 : libro de ponencias : Barcelona, 31 de agosto/1,2 y 3 de septiembre de 1992 = I Congrés Paralímpic Barcelona’92 : Barcelona, 31 d’agost/1,2,i 3 de setembre de 1992 = I Paralympic Congress Barcelona’92 : proceedings : Barcelona, August 31/September 1,2,3 1992. Barcelona : Fundación ONCE, DL 1993.

Introduction to the IX Paralympic Games Barcelona'92

Introduction to the IX Paralympic Games Barcelona’92 / the Barcelona’92 Olympic Organising Committee. Paralympics Division (COOB’92). [Barcelona : COOB’92, 1990?]

Paralímpics’92 : llibre oficial dels IXns Jocs Paralímpics Barcelona 1992 = Libro oficial de los IX Juegos Paralímpicos Barcelona 1992 = Barcelona 1992 IV Paralympic Games Official Report

COOB’92 (1993): Paralímpics’92 : llibre oficial dels IXns Jocs Paralímpics Barcelona 1992 = Libro oficial de los IX Juegos Paralímpicos Barcelona 1992 = Barcelona 1992 IV Paralympic Games Official Report. Barcelona : Enciclopèdia Catalana.

In the repository

In the Municipal Contemporary Archive, you can consult the administrative and management documentation generated on this topic by the Organising Committee Barcelona’92, SA (COOB’92), Holding Olímpic SA (HOLSA), Anella Olímpica de Montjuïc SA (AOMSA) (Olympic ring), Vila Olímpica SA (VOSA) (Olympic village) and the Institut Municipal de Promoció Urbanística SA (IMPUSA) (municipal Institute of urban development).

If you need further information on the collection, read the collection guide.

In the library

In the libraries of the study centres of the Barcelona Olympic Foundation (FBO) and the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) you can find the selection of listed documents and other bibliographic materials on the subject.

If you are interested in knowing more about our Olympic collection, you can consult the Union Catalogue of Catalan Universities (UAB collection) or contact us by e-mail (FBO collection).

Sports in pictures

If you are interested in images of the Olympic and Paralympic Games of Barcelona’92, the Image Service of the Olympic Foundation of Barcelona will help you identify the images that satisfy your needs.

The Foundation manages the official image archive of the Barcelona’92 Games. You can contact them by email to request more information about the services provided and the collection of images. In this page, we offer a selection of images on the event.