The famous venue is the place where German neurologist Sir Ludwig Guttmann sowed the seeds for the Paralympics in 1948 when he organised sporting competition for injured patients rehabilitating from World War Two at the local Stoke Mandeville Hospital.

It has since become one of the world's leading sports facilities for disabled athletes and it was therefore selected as a training base by a large number of teams ahead of the Paralympics.

Out of the 41 medal winners, members of the ParalympicsGB team won 26, while overseas teams won 15.

The overseas teams included Azerbaijan, Finland, Iceland, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

"It's been a groundbreaking year for sport and we're thrilled to have been able to offer teams the opportunity to train here at Stoke Mandeville," said the stadium's business development manager, Ian Seabrook.

"We're so proud to be the birthplace of the Paralympics and we're even more proud to have been in the presence of great sports people that went on to win medals for their country."

Stoke Mandeville Stadium was the venue where the London 2012 Paralympic Flame was lit

The teams that trained at Stoke Mandeville have also praised the facilities, including the Chef de Mission of the Finland Paralympic team Kimmo Mustonen.

"In total, our athletes that trained at Stoke Mandeville Stadium finished with two gold medals, one bronze and three fourth finishes which is a fantastic sign for Rio 2016," said Mustonen.

"We'd like to give big thanks for Stoke Mandeville Stadium – the staff provided us with the best facilities, lodging, transport and food during our training camps, which helped us tremendously when preparing for London 2012.

"I'm sure that we will be visiting Stoke Mandeville Stadium again in the future, not just because of international competitions, but also for training camp purposes as we felt like they had a huge impact on the team's performance."

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