I'm Matt McGraw, and this podcast is one of a series of five programs from the BBC World Service

called Inside the Paralympics, bringing you the stories behind the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

Today, I'll be exploring the controversial issue of cheating. How some Paralympic athletes

have gone to extraordinary lengths to edge their way onto the podium in pursuit of a medal,

even if it means putting their lives at risk.

You're with the BBC, I'm Matt McGraw, and in this edition of Inside the Paralympics,

I'll be looking at the darker side of the games, cheating. It's not just about the use of drugs in sport,

but it's also about athletes who pretend to be more disabled than they really are,

and we'll also examine the macabre practice of boosting the Paralympians who deliberately injure themselves

in order to gain a competitive advantage.

Well, I'm here at Stoke Mandible Stadium, just an hour north of London, where Paralympians from

several different countries are making their final preparations for the games. I can see wheelchair

athletes just whizzing around the track here in front of me right now. This year's games will see

over 4,000 competitors from more than 150 countries, a far cry from its humble beginnings.

Just across the road, I can see Britain's National Spinal Injury Centre,

that was set up here during the Second World War. It was here that the pioneering doctor,

Ludwig Gutman, helped organise the first disabled games in 1948, when just 16 patients took part.

Gutman was one of the first to recognise that competitive sport was a critical element in rehabilitation.

You have people who are paralysed right up to the arms. You see, I'm not only paralysed in the legs,

but also in the hands and the fingers, and yet they are able to compete in various sports.

And sport is one of the most important part of symmetrical treatment.

In 1960, the first Paralympic games took place in Rome with 400 athletes, and over the past 50 years,

...