Key Points
- The 2024 Paris Paralympic Games have officially started after an opening ceremony in a major public square.
- Athletes from 168 delegations paraded into the arena.
- International Paralympic Committee president Andrew Parsons told spectators he hoped for an “inclusion revolution”.
Athletes from 168 delegations paraded into the arena as the sun set, with host nation France entering last to a standing ovation from 30,000 spectators packed into the stands around the historical square.
In one of the highlights of the ceremony, French singer Lucky Love, who was born with one arm, performed a moving rendition of his song My Ability surrounded by both dancers with disability and without.
French singer Lucky Love performed a rendition of his song My Ability surrounded by dancers. Source: AAP / Abdullah Firas/ABACA/PA
Artists with disabilities and impairments screamed a countdown and French singer Christine and the Queens delivered a pop rendition of Edith Piaf’s Je ne regrette rien.
Christine and the Queens performing at the Paralympic Games opening ceremony. Source: AAP / Belga/Virginie Lefour/Sipa USA
“Dear athletes, welcome to the country of love and revolution. Rest assured, tonight, no Storming of the Bastille, no guillotine, because tonight the most beautiful revolution starts — the Paralympic revolution,” Paris 2024 president Tony Estanguet said in his speech.
International Paralympic Committee president Andrew Parsons told the athletes and spectators he hoped for an “inclusion revolution”, before Macron officially declared the Games open.
Fireworks explode beside the Luxor Obelisk during the Paris 2024 Paralympics opening ceremony. Source: Getty / Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP
The Paralympic flag was carried into the square by John McFall, a British Paralympic sprinter who has been selected by the European Space Agency to become the first ‘parastronaut’.
French Olympian Florent Manaudou brought the flame into the arena, as the four-day torch relay reached its culmination with five French Paralympians, including 2020 gold medallists Alexis Hanquinquant and Nantenin Keïta, eventually lighting the already-iconic cauldron in the Tuileries Garden.
Paralympians light the cauldron during the 2024 Paris opening ceremony. Source: AAP / Christophe Ena/AP
A total of 18 of the 35 Olympic venues will also be used for the Paralympics, which run until 8 September, including the ornate Grand Palais and the Stade de France.
Ticket sales have sped up since the Olympics, and organisers say more than two million of the 2.5 million available have been sold, with several venues sold out.
French tennis player Michaël Jérémiasz carries the Paralympic flame during the torch relay. Source: Getty / Michael Reaves
Riding the wave of its Olympic team’s success, host nation France is aiming for a substantial improvement on the 11 golds it won in the 2021 Paralympic Games, which left it 14th in the medals table.
Ukraine, traditionally one of the top medal-winning nations at the Paralympics, has sent a team of 140 athletes to compete in 17 sports despite the challenges they face in preparing as the war against Russian forces rages at home.
With additional reporting by Reuters