PARIS (AP) — Just weeks after hosting the Olympics, Paris began the final chapter of its sporting summer on Wednesday with opening ceremony Paralympic Games.
French President Emmanuel Macron officially declared the Games open in a ceremony outside a stadium, much like the Olympics opened in the city on July 26.
Against the backdrop of the setting sun, thousands of athletes paraded down the famous Champs-Elysées avenue to the Place de la Concorde in central Paris.
Nearly 50,000 people attended the ceremony in stands set up around this emblematic square, the largest in Paris, visible from afar thanks to its Egyptian obelisk. Accessibility for wheelchair athletes was facilitated by strips of asphalt laid along the avenue and placed above the square.
More than 4,000 athletes with physical, visual and intellectual disabilities will participate in 22 sports from Thursday to September 8.
As Macron and International Paralympic Committee President Andrew Parsons looked on, fighter jets flew overhead, leaving behind red, white and blue plumes in the colours of the French national flag, before delegations entered the square in alphabetical order.
Some delegations were huge – more than 250 athletes from Brazil – and others were tiny – less than a handful from Barbados and just three from Myanmar.
Although Wednesday night’s show began at 8 p.m. local time, fans had gathered hours earlier in the blazing sun to secure the best seats along the route. As performers entertained the crowd on stage, volunteers danced alongside Paralympians as they waved their national flags, and the sky glowed a postcard-perfect orange.
The Ukrainian delegation was warmly cheered and part of the crowd stood up to applaud them.
The French delegation arrived last, to cheers from the crowd, who then sang popular French songs, including “Que Je T’aime” by the late rocker Johnny Hallyday.
Lucky Love, a French singer who lost his left arm at birth, was joined on stage by artists in wheelchairs. Then, to the sound of the national anthem, the Obelisk lit up in the colours of the French flag.
Organizers had promised another spectacular show to open the Games. Once again, it took place outside a stadium, but unlike the Games soaked by the rain While the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games took place on July 26 with a parade of boats on the Seine, the Paralympic ceremony took place exclusively on land.
Organizers say more than 2 million of 2.8 million Tickets have been sold for the various Paralympic events.
Tony Estanguet, the president of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, called the Paralympians “immense champions with whom we have the honour of being tonight.”
THE First medals awarded on Thursday The events will be held in taekwondo, table tennis, swimming and track cycling. Athletes are grouped by disability level to ensure equal opportunities. Only two sports, goalball and boccia, do not have an Olympic equivalent.
Parsons said the large crowds expected in Paris will mean a lot to the athletes, many of whom competed in front of empty stands at the Tokyo Paralympics three years ago because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Parsons hopes the Paralympics will serve as a “powerful force for good” amid current global tensions.
The closing ceremony will take place at the Stade de France, the national stadium.
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AP Paralympic Games: https://apnews.com/hub/paralympic-games
