Beijing - "It is as if I have been given a second chance," American swimmer Melissa Stockwell explains. "As a young gymnast I always dreamed of participating at the Olympics."

The 28-year-old, who lost her leg in a bombing in Iraq five years ago, is one of 16 war veterans in the 216-strong American Paralympic team in Beijing.

Stockwell, who holds the Purple Heart decoration, which is awarded to soldiers who have been wounded or killed in action, is looking forward to competing in Beijing to see how far she has come since.

She holds the US record over 400m freestyle. "It would be wonderful to win a medal, but it would merely be the tip of the iceberg. To have made it to Beijing was always my goal."

More so than the Olympics, the Paralympics still live up to the Olympic credo: "The most important part of the Olympics is not to win but to participate."

"Heroes are born at the Olympics, but Paralympic athletes already arrive at the games as heroes," says International Paralympic Committee CEO Xavier Gonzalez, pointing out that the athletes at the paralympics had to overcome great obstacles to compete.

Another Iraq war veteran, Scott Winkler, is hoping to pick up a medal in the shot put, where he has qualified for Monday's final. The 35-year-old who was paralysed when he fell off an armoury vehicle in Iraq said that sport managed to help him out of a depression.

Like Stockwell, Winkler participated in the Veterans Paralympic Performance Program (VP3), which is at the centre of American attempts to recruit war invalids into the Paralympic movement.

Officials are expecting that between 10 and 15 per cent of the American team at the next paralympics in London will comprise disabled war veterans.

Some 30,000 veterans are paralysed, have lost limbs or are blind or deaf - 800 of them served in Iraq.

The Paralympic movement was born out of the idea to help with the rehabilitation of victims of the Second World War and the first competitions were held in 1948.

1960 was the first time that the paralympics were organized in conjunction with the Olympic Games in Rome. 400 athletes participated at those games.

The name Paralympics, which is derived from the Greek word para, which means beside, is meant to show the parallel nature of the event to the Olympic Games.

For Stockwell sporting activity was always a part of her rehabilitation process, although she even struggled to swim just 25m in the beginning. "I knew that there was room for improvement.

"Sport has changed my life," says Stockwell, who still considers herself as doing duty for her country. "You go to Iraq and defend your country in a uniform.

"Here in Beijing I am again serving my country, just in a different uniform," she said.