Stoke Mandeville revealed as permanent home of Paralympic flame

Paralympian Caz Walton at the Paralympic Heritage Flame lighting ceremony at Stoke Mandeville Stadium in 2014

Stoke Mandeville has been announced as the lighting point for all future Paralympic torches.

In the same way the Olympic Flame is kindled at Olympia in Greece, the start of the Paralympic Torch Relay will begin in Buckinghamshire.

The flame will be lit at Stoke Mandeville to recognise its legacy as the birthplace of the Paralympic movement.

It will be used to light flames from the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.

The Dutch wheelchair archery team practising for the 1953 Wheelchair Olympics

It is hoped the decision will increase global awareness of Stoke Mandeville and Sir Ludwig Guttmann, who helped create and develop the Paralympic movement.

In 1944, the British government asked Dr Guttmann to open a spinal injuries centre at Stoke Mandeville Hospital.

Four years later, Guttmann organised the Stoke Mandeville Games, a competition for wheelchair athletes, held on the same day as the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in London.

The games expanded to include international athletes, before eventually becoming known as the Paralympic Games for the 1960 summer Olympics in Rome.

International Paralympic Committee president Andrew Parsons said: "It is fitting that 75 years on from those historic first Stoke Mandeville Games... we are announcing that Stoke Mandeville will play an even greater role in all future editions of the Paralympic Games.

"The Paralympic Movement owes Stoke Mandeville and Sir Ludwig Guttmann a huge debt of gratitude," he added.