Australia competed at the 1988 Summer Paralympics in Seoul, South Korea in 16 sports, winning medals in 6 sports. Gold medals were won in three sports – athletics, lawn bowls and swimming. Australia won 95 medals – 23 gold, 34 silver and 38 bronze medals. Australia finished 10th on the gold medal table and 7th on the combined medal table. Australian Confederation of Sports for the Disabled reported another medal ranking after Games with Australia being 2nd ranked in amputee sports, 8th in wheelchair sports, 11th in blind sports and 12th in cerebral palsy sports.

Notable Australian performances included: Rodney Nugent, an arm amputee, won 4 gold medals and 3 bronze medals in athletics Elizabeth Kosmala, a wheelchair shooter, won 3 gold medals and 1 silver medal Dual individual gold medallists included: amputee swimmer Greg Hammond, amputee swimmer Judith Young, vision impaired thrower Russell Short and wheelchair thrower Bruce Wallrodt

Australian athletes broke eight world records.

Background The 1988 Summer Paralympics were the first Paralympic Games to be held under the aegis of the International Co-ordinating Committee (ICC). The ICC was accepted into the Olympic Family, which allowed greater co-operation by National Olympic Committees in regards to the organization of Paralympic Games. The Seoul Olympic Organizing Committee (SLOOC) regarded the Paralympic Games as an extension of the Olympic Games and formulated a support plan which allowed sharing of Seoul Olympic manpower, facilities, equipment, and sharing of key personnel. The SLOOC gave a subsidy of $12,857,143 US dollars. It was not possible to use the Olympic Village so a new Paralympic Village, consisting of 10 apartment blocks, was created, providing catering, recreation, banking, post office facilities, medical centres, religious centres, and a shopping mall. The 1988 Seoul Paralympic Games was also the first time both the Olympics and Paralympics used the same venues, and since then, every Winter and Summer Paralympic Games have been held in the same city as the Olympic Games.

The Seoul Paralympic Organizing Committee (SPOC) designed the first Paralympic Symbol which was used from 1988–1994. The Five 'teardrops' in the 'W' configuration and colours of the Olympic rings represented the five oceans and the five continents. This symbol was eventually changed in 1994, as it was considered to be too close to the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) 5-ring emblem. The 1988 Seoul Paralympic Games is considered as the genesis of the Modern Paralympic Games.

Opening ceremony

During the opening ceremony there were more than 75,000 people within the Olympic Stadium with a then record of 3,057 competitors from 61 nations. The president of South Korea, Roh Tae-Woo, presented the new Paralympic flag to the president of the ICC, Jens Bromann. Paul Croft, competing in his second Paralympic Games, was the flag bearer for Australia during the opening ceremony. Parachutists in the Paralympic colors of blue, black, red, yellow, and green swept down into the Olympic Stadium following a procession of children in wheelchairs. The Olympic Torch was carried in by a one-legged South Korean Paralympic volleyball player and handed to 19-year-old Cho Hyun-hui, a wheelchair-using athlete with cerebral palsy. Cho Hyun-hai was wheeled around the stadium by her 7-year-old daughter before handing the Torch to blind runner Lee Jae-oon, who linked hands with women's handball Olympic gold medalist Kiifi Hyun-mi, who together, were carried up by elevator platform to light the Olympic Flame.

Chief Paralympic Organiser Koh Kwi-nam addressed the athletes by saying "The goal you as athletes should try to reach for in the Games is not to accomplish the Olympic slogan of 'faster, higher and farther' but to show the world your real selves as courageous challengers, glorious conquerors and impartial participants."

Controversies The Seoul Paralympic Games were not without controversies. The Iranian goalball team were disqualified for refusing to play against the Israeli team. It was deemed that the Iranian team had misused the sporting platform for political aims by the ICC who made immediate arrangements to send the team home. Asghar Dadkhan, the Iranian team manager, made a formal statement of apology pledging that all other Iranian athletes would compete with full regard to the regulations and would compete against Israel and any other nation.

A Libyan team arrived at the Seoul Paralympic Games without having gone through the normal entry procedures. The SPOC urged the ICC to accept the Libyan team and a compromise was reach, permitting the Libyans to participate as observers. They could compete in the marathon event, however they would not have any medal entitlement, nor would they be officially recognized at the closing ceremony.

Twenty-seven athletes were incorrectly awarded medals after the first round of competition in the men's and women's wheelchair slalom event. The mistake was discovered when officials realised that the medals should not have been awarded until after a second round of competition.

Team

Australia sent a team of 179 athletes and 47 staff and escorts. The Australian Confederation of Sports for the Disabled Inc took responsibility for team management and fundraising. The team was organised by disability athlete categories – amputee, blind, cerebral palsy, wheelchair (paraplegic and quadriplegic).

Team management The Australian team was organised by disability classifications as the Games team was organised by the Australian Confederation of Sports for the Disabled Inc.

Overall – Rhys Roberts (General Manager), Nigel Rouse (Assistant General Manager), Dr John Bourke (Medical Director), Dominic Wall (Sport Coordinator), David Douglas (Publicity Director) Section Managers- Wally Parsons (Amputee), Gary Prior (Blind), Judy Hill (Cerebral palsy), George Dunstan (Wheelchair) State Management – each Australian state provided team officials: Australian Capital Territory – overall – Dominic Wall; wheelchair officials – M. Trewella, G. Walker New South Wales – Amputee officials – D. Beath, T. Beath, Vic Renalson; blind officials – L. Alder, T. Keneghan, J. Stephenson, S. Jackson; cerebral palsy officials – A. Gregson, Tom Organ, S. Streat; wheelchair officials – Michael Godfrey-Roberts, M. Bevan, C. Jarvis Queensland – amputee officials – Paul Bird, Henry Shorter; blind officials – D. Beavis, J. Buckley; cerebral palsy officials – A. Allan, A. Brindley, Karen Denman; wheelchair officials – S. Hyde South Australia – overall – R. Roberts; amputee officials – P. Aldridge, M. Parsons, W. Parsons; wheelchair officials – Kevin Bawden, George Dunstan, G. Gould, G. Maloney, M. Wardrop Northern Territory – overall – N. Rouse; blind official – B. Killalea Tasmania – wheelchair official – G. Vince Victoria – overall – John Bourke; amputee official – P. Negropontis; blind officials – J. Coole, E. O'Meagher; wheelchair officials – Kathryn Lee, D. Perriman, J. Sayers Western Australia – blind official – G. Prior; cerebral palsy officials – G. Carter, D. Hancy, J. Hill, P. Jose, B. Lake, M. Chan; wheelchair official – Norma Beer

The team captain was Paul Croft, who carried the flag at the opening ceremony, and Mike Nugent was the vice captain.

Fundraising The Australian Confederation of Sports for the Disabled Inc undertook a range of fundraising activities to raise A$2 million of which A$1.w million would be used to send teams to the 1988 Seoul Summer and Innsbruck Winter Games. The remainder of the funds would be used for future Games. The cash amount finally raised was A$1,104,328. There were also considerable "in kind" donations covering accommodation, marketing, travel.

Medalists

| width="78%" align="left" valign="top" | Medal Name Sport Event Athletics Men's 100 m B3 Athletics Men's 200 m C7 Athletics Men's 800 m C8 , Rodney Nugent, Nigel Parsons, Jason Smart Athletics Men's 4 × 100 m relay A2/A4–7 , Rodney Nugent, Andrew O'Sullivan, Nigel Parsons Athletics Men's 4 × 400 m relay A2/A4–7 Athletics Men's Long jump A6/A8–9/L6 Athletics Men's Triple jump A6/A8–9/L6 Athletics Men's Discus throw A2/A9 Athletics Men's Discus throw B3 Athletics Men's Javelin throw B3 Athletics Men's Javelin throw 2 Athletics Men's Shot put 2 Athletics Women's 200 m 5–6 Athletics Women's Shot put B1 , Stan Kosmala Lawn bowls Men's pairs 2–6 Shooting Women's Air rifle 3 positions 2–6 Shooting Women's Air rifle kneeling 2–6 Shooting Women's Air rifle prone 2–6 Swimming Men's 100 m freestyle A8 Swimming Men's 100 m breaststroke A8 Swimming Women's 100 m freestyle C6 Swimming Women's 400 m freestyle A8 Swimming Women's 100 m backstroke A8 Athletics Men's 100 m 1B Athletics Men's 100 m A2/A9 Athletics Men's 100 m A4/A9 Athletics Men's 200 m A4/A9 Athletics Men's 400 m A4/A9 Athletics Men's 400 m C7 Athletics Men's 400 m C8 Athletics Men's Marathon 1C , Michael Desanto, Alan Dufty, Vincenzo Vallelonga Athletics Men's 4 × 100 m relay 1A–1C Athletics Men's High jump A4/A9 Athletics Men's Discus throw 4 Athletics Men's Pentathlon A4/A9 Athletics Women's 400 m 2 Athletics Women's 400 m 5–6 , Deahnne McIntyre, Yvette McLellan, Julie RussellAthletics Women's 4 × 400 m relay 2–6 Athletics Women's Javelin throw A6/A8-9/L6 Athletics Women's Javelin throw C3 Athletics Women's Shot put 3 Athletics Women's Pentathlon 3 , Clifford Swann Lawn bowls Men's pairs LB2 Powerlifting Men's 100 kg Shooting Women's Air rifle standing 2–6 Swimming Men's 50 m freestyle 1A Swimming Men's 100 m freestyle 1A Swimming Men's 25 m backstroke 1A , Jason Diederich, Brendan Burkett, Leslie Beath Swimming Men's 4×50 m freestyle relay A1–A8 Swimming Women's 50 m backstroke C6 Swimming Women's 100 m backstroke C3 Swimming Women's 50 m breaststroke 2 Swimming Women's 50 m breaststroke B3 Swimming Women's 100 m breaststroke A8 Swimming Women's 100 m butterfly L6 Swimming Women's 200 m individual medley L6 , Deborah Holland, Susan Knox, Judith Young Swimming Women's 4 × 100 m freestyle relay A–L Athletics Men's 100 m A6/A8–9/L4 Athletics Men's 200 m A6/A8–9/L4 Athletics Men's High jump A6/A8–9/L6 Athletics Men's 200 m 2 Athletics Men's 200 m C8 Athletics Men's 400 m A4/A9 Athletics Men's 400 m B3 Athletics Men's 1500 m 1C , Michael Desanto, Alan Dufty, Vincenzo VallelongaAthletics Men's 4 × 200 m relay 1A–1C Athletics Men's High jump A6/A8–9/L6 Athletics Men's Long jump A2/A9 Athletics Men's Javelin throw A2/A9 Athletics Men's Shot put B3 Athletics Men's Slalom 1B Athletics Men's Slalom C4–5 Athletics Men's Discus throw 2 Athletics Men's Discus throw 6 Athletics Men's Discus throw A2/A9 Athletics Women's 100 m 5–6 Athletics Women's Discus throw 3 Athletics Women's Javelin throw 3 Lawn bowls Men's singles 2–6 Lawn bowls Men's singles LB3 Powerlifting Men's 100 kg Swimming Men's 100 m freestyle A2 Swimming Men's 100 m butterfly A2 Swimming Men's 100 m freestyle A7 Swimming Men's 400 m freestyle 5 Swimming Men's 50 m breaststroke B3 Swimming Men's 100 m breaststroke B3 Swimming Men's 200 m breaststroke B3 Swimming Women's 50 m freestyle 2 Swimming Women's 50 m backstroke 2 Swimming Women's 25 m butterfly 2 Swimming Women's 100 m backstroke A4 Swimming Women's 100 m breaststroke B3 Swimming Women's 200 m breaststroke B3 Swimming Women's 400 m freestyle A2 Weightlifting Men's 85 kg | width="22%" align="left" valign="top" |

Medals by disciplineDisciplineTotalArchery0000Athletics14192053Boccia0000Cycling0000Wheelchair fencing0000Football seven-a-side0000Lawn bowls1124Powerlifting0112Shooting3104Swimming5121431Table tennis0000Volleyball0000Weightlifting0011Wheelchair basketball0000Total23343895

Events

Archery

Selected team of 3 athletes. MenWomenArthur Fisk, Eric KleinCarolyn Burns Australia did not win any medals.

Men AthleteEventResultRankArthur FiskMen's Double FITA Round open220724Eric KleinMen's Double FITA Round open215028 Women