Just in case you didnt know, the Paralympic Games also take place this summer in Rio de Janeiro.Most people are either unfamiliar with the Paralympics, or they confuse it with the Special Olympics. This isnt entirely their fault, as theres been limited broadcasting of the Games in past years. But the truth of the matter is, few people have actually watched the Paralympics -- and fewer understand what it is.The Games, which begin Wednesday, feature all the high intensity competition that the Olympics bring and more.So before you flip past the Paralympics as you look for something to watch over the next two weeks, let us educate you on on a few facts that will definitely halt your channel-changing finger.It has all of the Olympic wonderfulnessThe Paralympics do not just sound like Olympics, they are their own Olympics.The Games are held in conjunction with the Olympic Games every four years. For every Summer and Winter Games, there is also a Paralympics held in that country. There was a Sochi 2014 Paralympics, a London 2012 Paralympics, a Vancouver 2010 Paralympics and so on. Every Paralympics is held in the weeks following the Olympic Games.Paralympians compete in the same venues as the Olympians. They also have their own opening and closing ceremonies filled with performances, guest appearances (Queen Elizabeth II made an appearance during the London 2012 Games) and countless extraordinary sights.Most importantly, this years Games will have television coverage that is similar to the Olympic television coverage, a first for the Paralympics. NBC will show 66 hours of the Games, a 60.5-hour increase over the coverage that was given to the London 2012 Paralympics. This is one of the first times American sports fans will be able to tune into lengthy coverage of the Games.This year is also the first year the Paralympics will feature paracanoe and paratriathlon and will be the first time a Latin American or South American city has hosted the Games.Its not the Special OlympicsThe Paralympics and the Special Olympics are not the same. They are two separate competitions with two separate qualification processes. The Special Olympics has voluntary participation. Anyone above the age of 8 years old with an intellectual disability can compete in the Special Olympics, regardless of whether that person also has other mental or physical disabilities.In contrast, the Paralympics is only for people who have one of the 10 eligible impairments that include visual impairment, amputations and cerebral palsy. To prevent competition where the least impaired athlete always wins, athletes are separated into classes based on the limitations of their impairment.Paralympians spend years training and competing in qualifying competitions to make it to the Paralympics.You can binge-watch past Games onlineUp until 2013, when NBC acquired rights to broadcast the Games, one of the only ways to watch the Paralympics in the United States was online. People will be able to watch the Rio Games on the NBC networks, but past Games are still available online.Fans can watch decades of Paralympics coverage all in one place on YouTube.You will be inspiredThis summers Paralympics will feature more than 4,300 athletes competing in 22 sports, making this Games the largest to date.Among the Paralympians is U.S. Army Sgt. and paraswimmer Elizabeth Marks, who recently accepted the Pat Tillman Award for Service at the 2016 ESPY Awards. Marks suffered debilitating hip injuries in Iraq in 2010 that left her with no feeling in her left leg. She will be competing in her first Paralympics this summer.Paratriathlete Allysa Seely, who was featured in the 2016 Body Issue, will compete in the first-ever paratriathalon. Seely had her leg amputated after being diagnosed with Chiari II malformation, basilar invagination and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.Britains Paralympians introduced themselves to the world by posting a music video online. Their three-minute video features various Paralympics showing off their talents and is appropriately titled Were the Superhumans.This is just a portion of the talent and stories of triumph that will be showcased at this years Games. If there is no other reason to watch, the athletes stories are reason enough.Cesar Azpilicueta Jersey .J. Jefferson has been charged with assaulting his girlfriend. Robert Green Jersey . President of baseball operations Larry Beinfest was fired Friday after 12 years with the Marlins. The move came as the team neared the end of its third consecutive last-place season in the NL East. http://www.chelseafcproshop.com/Kids-Kepa-Arrizabalaga-Jersey/ . Louis Rams wide receiver Stedman Bailey last Sunday. The fine is the fourth this season for Goldson. He was fined $30,000 for a hit on the New York Jets Jeff Cumberland in Week 1. Robert Green Chelsea Jersey . 4 Villanova with a 96-68 drubbing on Monday. Wragge hit 9-of-14 from behind the arc, matching Kyle Korvers school record for 3-pointers in a game set in 2003, as Creighton (16-3, 6-1 Big East broke a conference record with 21 treys in the rout. Ross Barkley Chelsea Jersey . The lawyers filed a 33-page amended complaint Tuesday in federal court in Manhattan, expanding on the suit originally filed Oct. 3 in New York Supreme Court. Arbitrator Fredric Horowitz last week refused to compel Selig to testify in the grievance, and Rodriguez then walked out of the hearing without testifying.RIO DE JANEIRO -- Nijat Rahimov of Kazakhstan was a surprise gold medalist in weightlifting on Wednesday, but immediately faced questions over doping.Rahimov, who only returned from a doping ban last year, and the rest of Kazakhstans team had almost been excluded from the Rio Olympics entirely after repeated failures in retests of doping samples from the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. The country stands to lose five gold medals from those games.Kazakhstan was allowed to compete because those doping cases were not fully processed in time for the games, the International Weightlifting Federation has said.In a sport in crisis over doping, Rahimovs world record-breaking performance in the 77-kilogram class Wednesday is unlikely to silence the critics, not least bronze medalist Mohamed Mahmoud of Egypt, who said he found Rahimovs dramatic improvement since his ban suspicious.Rahimov was banned for two years in 2013 after failing a test while competing for Azerbaijan, another country with longstanding doping problems. Rahimov was one of 18 Azerbaijanis busted that year. Rahimov was born in Azerbaijan and recently moved to Kazakhstan to compete on its weightlifting team.Chinas Lyu Xiaojun had been the favorite to retain the gold he won in 2012 and began to celebrate prematurely after his final lift, stripping to the waist in front of the crowd. But Rahimov had other plans, audaciously moving up 12 kilograms for his next attempt at the clean and jerk to 214kg, breaking a 15-year-old world record.That gave him a total of 379kg from the two phases of the competition, level with Lyu but enough for Rahimov to take gold because he had weighed in lower.He celebrated by crouching into a pose of prayer before being tackled in a bearhug by his coach, while Lyu gave a wry smile for the cameras.Rahimov repeatedly dodged questions about his doping past after the win, crediting religion and a tough training schedule for his success.When normal people were asleep, we were training. When the snow was deep -- youu know how it is in Kazakhstan -- we went out for training at 11 or 12 (at night), he said.ddddddddddddHe added he had treated Kazakhstans possible ban from Rio Olympic weightlifting as a rumor and was not distracted from training.Bronze went to Egyptian Mohamed Mahmoud on 361. Mahmoud said the talk of drugs could not be avoided in light of Rahimovs win.Maybe after some doping controls, some things will change, Mahmoud said. While improvements like Rahimovs can be the result of good training and nutrition, Mahmoud said, in a very short time it cannot happen like that.Wednesdays doping controversy came as weightlifting already faced a storm of doping scandals.On Tuesday, Taiwanese gold medal contender Lin Tzu-Chi was withdrawn from competition hours before her event for what her team called abnormalities in a drug test, and the Polish weightlifting federations head has resigned after what he said were two more failed tests, one of a lifter who was due to compete in Rio.Earlier Wednesday, Chinas Xiang Yanmei took gold in the womens 69-kilogram class despite having taken a blow to the head when she dropped the bar halfway through the competition.Xiang briefly appeared dazed and admitted to some pain but was fully alert as she closed out Chinas fourth weightlifting gold of the Rio Olympics with 116kg in the snatch and 145 in the clean and jerk for a total of 261.I got hurt a little bit and I feel hurt when I nod my head, she said. I didnt think about it when lifting weights. Xiang said she had not seen a doctor.She added Olympic gold to the world titles she won in 2013 and 2015, and continued a resurgence for Chinas lifters in Rio following a slow start.The silver medal went to Kazakhstans Zhazira Zhapparkul with a 259 total, while Egypts Sara Ahmed won bronze with 255 kilos, becoming the first woman from an Arab country to win an Olympic weightlifting medal. ' ' '