Widow of Paralympic Games founder sees his legacy live on

The widow of the Italian doctor who organized the world's first Paralympic Games believes his memory lives on through the athletes.

In the 1950s Antonio Maglio was revolutionary for his use of sport in the rehabilitation of his paraplegic patients and he dedicated his life to ensure they lived with dignity and equality.

His second wife, Maria Stella Calà, remains his biggest advocate and keeps her husband's study exactly as it was, 36 years after he died.

However, the 84-year-old says it's not the only place where his legacy lives on.

"I am very, very emotional because when I see the athletes take to the field, I see the figure of Antonio Maglio that watches and flies over them," she told CGTN. 

After losing his son at just six years of age to meningitis, Maria Stella says that his patients became like his children.

"He was a visionary who saw beyond because at that time people were doomed to die because they were in a cast. Instead, he managed to find the right cure, through his mind and his love for these young people."

Maglio focused on sport for physical and psychological rehabilitation and social reintegration.

In 1959, he announced alongside his friend, neurologist Sir Ludwig Guttman, that he would stage England's Stoke Mandeville Games for the disabled in Italy.

"I want to thank in a special way Dr Guttman who has agreed that the Stoke Mandeville Games next year shall be held in Rome after the Olympic Games on the same sportsground as the 17th Olympiad," Guttman announced.

It wasn't until 1984 that the event was retrospectively named as the inaugural Paralympic games, four years before Maglio died.

At the event in 1960, 400 disabled athletes gathered in Rome from 32 countries to compete across eight sports. In comparison, this year in Paris, 4,500 athletes will participate from 150 countries and the number of sporting events has almost tripled.

Italy sent its biggest ever contingent of athletes to the Paris Paralympics and they're hoping to build on their record success in Tokyo.

But according to Maria Stella, they're already victorious.

"Maglio's mission was always normality, the possibility to live with the same rights and duties as everyone else," she told CGTN. "The Paralympics for him was a victory."

Subscribe to Storyboard: A weekly newsletter bringing you the best of CGTN every Friday