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46 years on since Rome staged the first summer edition in 1960, the Paralympic Games returned to Italy as Turin played hosts to the 2006 Winter Paralympics. The event took place between 10 to 19 March, immediately following up the Olympics that the Northern Italian city hosted weeks prior. Notably, these were the first Para Games at which the Paralympics' then-new and current symbol, the three Agitos, was used in the Games emblem.
In the build-up to the Turin Olympics, the games' organizing committee TOROC faced financial challenges with funds falling $95 million short and threatened with bankruptcy. Although there's some discussions that the Winter Paralympics should be moved to another location due to this matter, Turin sold TOROC to a private-public company for about $40 million. Still, the income wasn't enough, and so, the Italians launched a lottery game to quickly raise additional funds.
The Para Games in Turin have attracted 486 athletes from 39 participating countries, competing in 58 medal disciplines across 4 sports.
The Turin Paralympics also marked the beginning of a new level of broadcasting coverage for Paralympic sport, as all events at the Games were seen worldwide via a live webcast, through a 24/7 internet TV channel known as ParalympicSport.TV. It was launched and went fully operational on 20 February 2006.
