The 2024 Paralympics had been opened in Paris on Thursday (IST) by French President Emmanuel Macron, firing the beginning gun on 11 days of competitors in a metropolis nonetheless driving the wave of the profitable Olympics. Macron declared the Video games open throughout an exuberant and vibrant opening ceremony in a balmy Place de la Concorde in central Paris — the primary time a Paralympic opening ceremony has taken place away from the principle stadium.
The 4,400 athletes from 168 delegations paraded into the world because the solar set with host nation France getting into final to a standing ovation and chanting from 30,000 spectators packed into the stands across the sq..
The advantageous climate was in sharp distinction to the heavy rain which fell all through the Olympics opening ceremony on July 26.
In one of many highlights, French singer Fortunate Love, who’s lacking his left arm beneath the elbow, carried out a shifting rendition of his tune “My Potential” surrounded by each able-bodied and disabled dancers.
Worldwide Paralympic Committee (IPC) president Andrew Parsons then instructed the athletes and spectators he hoped for an “inclusion revolution”, earlier than Macron formally declared the Video games open.
The ceremony will culminate with the lighting of the cauldron within the Tuileries Gardens, which has turn into an enormous attraction since its debut on the Olympics.
A complete of 18 of the 35 Olympic venues will likely be used for the Paralympics, which run till September 8, together with the ornate Grand Palais and the Stade de France.
Ticket gross sales have picked up for the reason that Olympics and organisers say greater than two million of the two.5 million out there have been offered, with a number of venues offered out.
Theatre director Thomas Jolly, who additionally oversaw the Olympics opening ceremony, stated there was a transparent symbolism in holding the Paralympics ceremony within the centre of the French capital — a metropolis whose Metro system, particularly, is totally unadapted to the wants of wheelchair customers.
“Placing Paralympic athletes within the coronary heart of town is already a political marker within the sense that town will not be sufficiently tailored to each handicapped particular person,” Jolly stated this week.
Organisers say wheelchair customers can take Paris buses and so they have laid on 1,000 specifically tailored taxis as effectively.
A nation expects
Driving the wave of its Olympic group’s success, host nation France is aiming for a considerable enchancment on the 11 golds it gained in 2021, which left it 14th within the medals desk.
Paralympic powerhouse China dominated the final Paralympics in Tokyo with 96 golds and has once more despatched a powerful delegation.
Ukraine, historically one of many high medal-winning nations on the Paralympics, has despatched a group of 140 athletes to compete in 17 sports activities regardless of the challenges they face in making ready because the battle towards Russian forces rages at residence.
A complete of 96 athletes from Russia and Belarus will compete underneath a impartial banner however are barred from the opening and shutting ceremonies due to the invasion of Ukraine.
Each Video games produces new stars, and on this version look to American above-the-knee amputee sprinter/excessive jumper Ezra Frech to make the headlines.
Away from the observe, extra established names go in the hunt for glory.
Iranian sitting volleyball legend Morteza Mehrzad, who stands 8ft 1in (2.46m) tall, will try and take gold once more and Beatrice ‘Bebe’ Vio, the Italian fencer who needed to have all 4 limbs amputated when she contracted meningitis on the age of 11, is aiming for the third Paralympic title of her profession.
The Paralympics all the time have a far wider message than merely sport and Parsons instructed AFP earlier this yr he hopes the Paris version will restore the problems dealing with disabled folks to the highest of the record of worldwide priorities.
The Brazilian believes the Video games “may have a huge impact in how folks with incapacity are perceived around the globe”.
“This is among the key expectations we’ve got round Paris 2024; we imagine that we’d like folks with incapacity to be put again on the worldwide agenda,” Parsons stated.
“We do imagine folks with incapacity have been left behind. There’s little or no debate about individuals with incapacity.”
(This story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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