Stage Three and Stage Four have in common the fact that the model has in its essence and purpose sport and not disability. According with the ICF – International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, of the World Health Organization (WHO, 2002), “the ICF model is a person-centred and strengths-based model which exemplifies the broader biopsychosocial definition of health, and in relation to people with health conditions, disabilities and functioning difficulties it focuses on functioning and capacity, as opposed to deficits and inability” (Masdeu, Carty and Clardy, 2019).

What sets them apart is the implementation, in the Fourth Phase of the “Transfer of Governance” process, i.e. the transfer of responsibility of the sport to the respective International Sport Federation.

Two important points to note are the changes in the evolution of the organizational structure of sport, with the creation of the IPC at the international level and, at national level, the process of inclusion in regular sport structures begins in Norway and South Africa.

In this way, the creation of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) in 1989 is fulfilled, thus fulfilling one of the resolutions of the 1987 Arnhem Seminar, although the IPC became active in 1992 after the Barcelona Paralympic Games allowing the International Co-coordinating Committee (ICC) to complete its task of coordinating the summer Paralympic Games, following its dissolution.

Regarding the change in the national structure, the implementation of different models to include people with disabilities in regular sport structures has started in several countries. South Africa has privileged inclusion in sport at the school. In Australia the Australian Paralympic Committee has begun the process of inclusion in its sport federations, namely the swimming.

Norway through the Norwegian Olympic Committee (NOC) and Confederation of Sport (NIF) defined inclusion in 1996 and 1999 respectively as the main task of the two entities. The two Entities defined as their ideal and long-term goal the inclusion in all federated structures, based on the clubs. The two Entities defined the period 1996-2000 to achieve integration in at least 10 to 15 Sports Federations to include all types and degrees of disability and a monthly budget allocation of NOK 5.5 million (equivalent at € 553,000.00).

With the creation of the IPC, cooperation with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is being strengthened, following the Samaranch’s recommendation to the ICC and the IOSDs of the IPC to wish to engage in dialogue with only one interlocutor. In October 2000, on the occasion of the Sydney Paralympic Games, the first Cooperation Agreement was signed with the aim of strengthening the relationship between the two organizations and representing a political recognition of future support for sport for athletes with disabilities, as in fact if it came to check.

The last agreement was signed in 2018 between IOC President Thomas Bach and IPC President Andrew Parsons ensuring continued IOC support for another fourteen years, i.e. until 2032. The previous agreements were established in 2012 until Tokyo 2020. In 2003 the 2001 agreement was readjusted to include the commitment of the Summer and Winter Games Organizers to pay the broadcasting and marketing rights.

While recognizing the importance and specificity of all agreements between the IOC and the IPC from 2000 to 2018, it is nevertheless a milestone in the organization of sporting events, notably

the Paralympic Games, the fact that it was agreed that after the Beijing 2008 the principle of “One Bid, One City” and the same Organizing Committee would apply.

Thus, fifty-two years later, Guttmann’s dream of recognizing the Paralympic athletes and their organizations, the convergence of the Olympic and Paralympic Movement and, in particular, with regard to the holding of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in the same year, in the same country, in the same city, use the same sports facilities and Olympic village, and even the Organizing Committee be the same.

This third phase was crucial in terms of restructuring the organizational model as well as recognizing the role and importance of sport for persons with disabilities. This phase is reinforced by the rapid and significant changes in the international arena in the field of sport and disability, including:

• Participation of athletes with disabilities at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games encouraged, followed by the founding of the IPC in 1989 the creation in 1990 of the Commission for Inclusion of Athletes with a Disability (CIADs).
• The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee, established in 1991, represents, among other entities, the Olympic and Paralympic Committee.
• In 1992 at the Barcelona Paralympics the system of eligibility and functional classification came into force, reinforcing the sport model based on sport.
• In 1994, “The Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education” was adopted by the World Conference on Special Needs Education: Access and Quality (which took place in Spain in the city of Salamanca from 7 to 10 June) is approved and strengthen the process of inclusion in the fields of physical education and sport in the inclusive school for all.
• The Disability Sport Model should also be concerned with inclusion systems, methods and techniques, such as Basile’s (1992) proposed concept and social practice controversy when addressing the “Reverse Integration”. (Brasile, F.M.(1992). Inclusion: A Developmental Perspective. A Rejoinder to “Examining the Concept of Reverse Integration”. Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly. 9, 293-304.)
• The concerns and initiatives of the World Health Organization (WHO) in recommending the regular practice of physical activity as well as the adoption of healthy lifestyle, reinforce one of the purposes of sports policy to promote grassroots or sport for all, that should result in an increase in the number of practitioners. For example, the Member States at the May 2002 World Health Assembly mandated that WHO should formulate a Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health. In May 2004 the World Health Assembly adopted the WHO Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health.