The Winter Paralympics started in 1976 in Ornskoldsvik, Sweden featuring 198 athletes from 16 countries.

The Games featured alpine and Nordic skiing for amputee and visually impaired athletes and a demonstration event in sledge racing.

The 2014 Winter Paralympics run from 7-16 March in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi - the first time that a Paralympic Games has been held in Russia and is expected to feature over 600 athletes from 44 countries.

The Games will include events in five winter sports - alpine skiing (including snowboarding), biathlon, cross-country skiing, ice sledge hockey and wheelchair curling with 72 gold medals on offer.

Alpine skiing

There are five disciplines in alpine skiing - downhill, super-G, giant slalom, slalom and super combined and there are three categories of racer - visually impaired, standing and sitting.

Visually impaired skiers use a guide who skis ahead of the competitor and gives instructions on the course via a headset, standing skiers with upper limb impairments use the same equipment as able-bodied skiers while those with a lower limb amputation can use one or two skis and a stabiliser that rests on the snow to aid balance instead of ski poles, while sit-skiers use a specially adapted mono-ski.

Downhill has a vertical drop distance of between 450 and 800m with competitors required to pass through a series of red gates which are used as checkpoints during the descent.

Super-G is a event between downhill and giant slalom with the course marked with a minimum of 30 alternating blue and red gates.

Giant slalom gates are closer than those in the speed events and the competition is contested over two rounds using the same slope but different courses.

Slalom is competed over two heats on the same slope but different courses. The number of gates varies and the event requires agility and dexterity.

Super combined consists of two runs - a downhill and a slalom with the winner clocking the lowest aggregate time.

Snowboard cross is making its Paralympic debut in Sochi with men's and women's events for athletes with lower limb impairments. Each athlete completes three runs down the course with their finish time of their best two runs determining the final order based on ascending time. There is only one rider on the course at a time. The event takes place on a man-made course constructed from a variety of terrain features like bank turns, various types of jumps and rollers etc.

Did you know?

A total of 191 athletes from 37 countries took part in the alpine skiing events at the Vancouver Winter Paralympics in 2010.

Richard Burt won a silver and three bronzes for GB in visually impaired skiing events at the 1992 and 1994 Games while Matthew Stockford won four bronzes across both Games.

SOURCE: BBC.COM