SMART ALEX: Recognising para-athletics as IPC World Championships begin in Doha

More than 1,000 para-athletes from 100 countries will compete for world titles in Doha, as well as a qualifying spot for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

The event in Qatar will be the largest of its kind in the Middle East, furthering the importance and recognition placed on para-athletes' achievements.

“It is our aim to use the IPC Athletics World Championships to raise awareness about para-sport and disability and to inspire people everywhere to see that anything is possible,” said the chief executive officer of the organising committee and executive director of the Qatar Paralympic Committee Ameer Al-Mulla.

“Sport is a very powerful tool in empowering and engaging people with a disability of all ages and abilities.”

In Rio next summer, para-athletes will compete across 22 sports while a year later the World Championships come to London.

It was London 2012 that brought the Paralympic Games back to our shores, seeing Sarah Storey and David Weir celebrated in the same coverage as Olympic gold medal winners Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis.

But some of GB’s most successful earlier para-athletes did not enjoy such exposure and the likes of Mike Kenny, who competing without funding, felt they were not recognised – despite 16 gold medals.

So where did it all begin?

In 1904 there were athletes with disabilities competing in the Olympic Games, notably German American George Eyser, who had an artificial leg.

However it wasn’t until 1976 that athletes with different disabilities could compete at a Summer Paralympic Games.

Sport for persons with physical disabilities developed from rehabilitation programs after World War Two, and the move to competitive sport was pioneered by Doctor Ludwig Guttman at Stoke Mandeville Hospital.

In 1948, the Stoke Mandeville Games were held for war veteran wheelchair athletes, to coincide with the Summer Olympics in London, and it was these that would evolve into the modern Paralympic Games.

By 1960 in Rome, the Paralympic Games were open to all wheelchair athletes and in 1976 expanded to include all para-athletes, with 1,600 taking part.

Seoul 1988, Kenny’s fourth and final Games appearance, was the first Paralympics to be held directly after the Olympics, in the same city and using the same facilities.

Since then GB has enjoyed and recognised great success, Weir, Storey and Tanni Grey-Thompson to name but a few, while para-sport continues to become more accessible for competitors and followers alike.

But, who beat a field including Oscar Pistorius to the T44 100m crown in 2012?

Last week's trivia asked which managers have won top-flight titles with different English clubs?

They are Kenny Dalglish (Blackburn & Liverpool), Brian Clough (Derby & Forest), Herbert Chapman (Huddersfield & Arsenal) and Tom Watson (Sunderland & Liverpool).