Paris Paralympics 2024 Open!
By Prof Dr Ian Blackshaw
The 2024 Paralympics have opened in Paris in a spectacular ceremony, again for the first time, like the Paris Olympics, outside a stadium in La Place de la Concorde, after a parade of the Paralympians down Les Champs-Elysees.
Today is the first of 11 days of events involving 4,400 competitors from a record 158 delegations in 22 Paralympic sports.
549 golds medals will be awarded to the competitors, and the President of the International Paralympics Committee, Andrew Parsons, remarked:
“The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games will show persons with disabilities what they can achieve at the highest level.”
And added:
“That is why 225 years on from when Place de la Concorde was central to the French Revolution, I hope that Paris 2024 starts a Paralympic revolution – the inclusion revolution.”
After the cauldron in the Jardin des Tuileries was lit with the Paralympic flame, the opening ceremony ended with a spectacular fireworks display.
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