IPC launches NPC Namibia website

Just six months since winning their first Paralympic gold, a new website has been launched for the National Paralympic Committee of Namibia. 06 Feb 2013

A picture of a woman running with a Namibian flag on her shoulder

Namibia's Johanna Benson won the gold medal during the women's 200m - T37 final at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

ⒸGetty Images

By IPC

“This website will be the most wonderful tool to showcase the talents of our athletes and what our country can offer the sporting world."

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) launched the first official website of the National Paralympic Committee of Namibia (NPCN) on Wednesday (6 February) at www.namparalympics.org.

The new website follows the great success Namibia had at the London 2012 Paralympic Games, where star sprinter Johanna Benson nearly single-handily enhanced the nation’s Paralympic fan base by winning gold in the 200m T37 sprint and silver in the 100m T37 race.

Everything in regards to the growth of the Paralympic Movement in Namibia can be found on the new website, from the elite-level athletes taking part in the Paralympic Games and All-Africa Games to development at the grassroots level.

It contains news, biographies, images and videos, as well as information relating to anti-doping, classification and the Paralympic Games.

The website launch is part of the IPC’s overall digital strategy to develop a greater online presence for its members over the coming years, and this is the fourth of many websites the IPC has produced over the past year.

Craig Spence, IPC Director of Media and Communications, said: “Following Johanna Benson’s gold medal at London 2012, the interest in the Paralympic Movement has grown to new-found levels in Namibia. To capitalise on this we have developed a website for NPC Namibia that gives visitors all they need to know about para-sport in the country.”

The Paralympic Movement in Namibia has already grown immensely since the Organisation for Sport for People with a Physical Disability was launched there in the early 1980’s. The NPCN was offically founded in 2003 and was recognised as a member nation by the IPC in 2007.

Penandino Kandji, Secretary General of the NPCN, said: “Over history, we have become one of Namibia's prominent sporting giants involving people with physical as well as visual impairments.

“This website will be the most wonderful tool to showcase the talents of our athletes and what our country can offer the sporting world. It will also help us motivate and attract future talents to join the Movement in our country, and it could not have been developed at a better time for our organisation.”

Now, the next major challenge for NPCN will be to foster new talent for the Rio 2016 Games, as well as to set up regional events and introduce more sports in their country for athletes with an impairment.