IPC mourns the passing of Paralympic pioneer Hans Lindström

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) is in mourning at the passing of Hans Lindström, who played a pivotal role in the history of the Paralympic Movement.

In addition to helping create the first Paralympic Winter Games in 1976, Hans innovated with the creation of the first rulebook for disability sport and as a Paralympian he championed the rights of Para athletes.

Hans was central to the creation of the IPC in 1989, and as the IPC’s first Technical Officer developed many of the standards that led to the professionalisation of Para sport.

IPC President Andrew Parsons said: “On behalf of the Paralympic Movement we are deeply saddened to learn of Hans’ passing. He was a pioneer, and it is because of the tireless determination of him and his peers that the IPC exists today as an organisation making for an inclusive world through Para sport.

“Hans was deeply committed to the Movement and believed nothing was impossible. He created new standards for Para sport and as a Paralympic athlete he never lost sight of the importance of creating a better, richer experience for athletes. He was a strong advocate for equality between Paralympic and Olympic athletes, and because of him events like the Paralympic Winter Games were created. The Paralympic Movement and Para sport will forever be in his honour.”

Born in 1937, in the 1950s Hans became an elite swimmer in his native Sweden and was a multiple national champion. A traffic accident in 1960 led to a lower leg amputation and he became involved in swimming for persons with disabilities, both as an active swimmer and as an administrator.

In 1970, he was one of the one of the founders of the first international sports committee in disability sports, the International Swimming Trainers Association for the Paralysed.

A fierce Para sport advocate, Hans recalls how he was determined to make sporting activities available to all: "It was 1974 in Stoke Mandeville when, on a dark night, I took to the grass in the middle of the athletics stadium and swore an oath that I would work to make sport for disabled athletes as dignified as I had experienced as a non-disabled elite swimmer in the national team."

As good as his word, Hans played a fundamental role in the development of the international winter Para sports programme. In 1976, Hans, as a member of the Swedish Sports Organisation for the Disabled, helped organise a winter games for athletes who were amputees or vision impaired. These Games, in Ornskoldsvik, Sweden, became the first Paralympic Winter Games.

Hans was a two-time Paralympian, competing in both swimming and shooting in the Toronto 1976 Paralympic Games. In the former he won silver in the Men’s 100m Freestyle C, and bronze in the Men’s 100m Butterfly C. At the Seoul 1988 Paralympic Games he was back in the pool again competing in individual events, and securing silver with Sweden in the 4 x 100m medley relay A-L.

In 1977 he was elected Technical Officer of the International Sports Organization for the Disabled (ISOD). He initiated and led the creation of the first international rulebook for amputees, the visually impaired, and other persons with disabilities.

In 1982, he was instrumental in the formation of the International Co-ordinating Committee World Sports Organizations for Disabled (ICC). A year later he led an ICC delegation that proposed including sports for persons with disabilities in the Olympic programme to International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch. As a result, exhibition events were organized at the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics in giant slalom for leg amputees and two wheelchair events in Los Angeles in the same year.

In 1984, Hans took one of his most significant initiatives in the development of international disability sport. He drafted a proposal and programme for a seminar that took place in Arnhem in 1987. The seminar was a first step in a process that led to the formation of the IPC.

When the IPC was formed in 1989, Hans was elected as the first Technical Officer. Hans played a vital role professionalising Para sport and advancing the Paralympic Movement. Under his leadership he established a new sports technical structure, the IPC sports programme and rules, and was a strong supporter for functional classification.

A former President of the European Paralympic Committee, he stood for the Presidency of the IPC in 2001. Hans received the Paralympic Order, the highest award in the Paralympic Movement, in 2002.