Reason why the Paralympic flame always starts in England instead of Greece

The Paralympic flame always starts it route to the Games in England rather than Greece, but why?

Ahead of every Olympic and Paralympic Games, a range of athletes and celebrities come together to take part in the Olympic flame relay.

Earlier this year the Olympic flame made its way from the Greek town of Olympia to Paris in time for the start of the 2024 Games, with the likes of Thierry Henry, Arsene Wenger and Snoop Dogg getting involved as torchbearers.

However, when the flame relay for the 2024 Paralympics begins later this month, the start will be in England, not Greece.

On August 24, the Paralympic flame will be lit in Stoke Mandeville and will be carried to Paris for the start of the Paralympic Games on August 28.

The flame is lit in Stoke Mandeville - a town between Oxford and London - ahead of every single Paralympics as that's where the Games originated.

The idea for a sporting competition that catered to a range of disabilities came from German-British doctor Ludwig Guttmann, a neurologist at the Stoke Mandeville military hospital.

In 1948, Guttmann created a sporting competition to help the recovery of soldiers and war victims at the hospital in the years following World War Two.

Patients with varying levels of disability and conditions participated in a range of sports and games, and the event is considered the origins of the Paralympics.

The 'Stoke Mandeville Games' gradually expanded and invited international athletes. In 1960 the competition was held in Rome for the first time - a week following the Olympic Games - and the Paralympic Games were born.

In order to pay tribute to Sir Ludwig Guttmann and the origins of the Paralympics, the Paralympic flame always begins its journey to the host nation from Stoke Mandeville.