In 1952 the first international competition for athletes in wheelchairs was organized between the British and the Netherlands. A total of 130 athletes with spinal cord injuries competed in six sports. To honor the social and human value derived from the wheelchair sport movement, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recognized Guttmann's work in 1956 and awarded the Stoke Mandeville Games the Sir Thomas Fearnley Cup for meritorious achievement in service to the Olympic movement.