Andrew Parsons, President of the International Paralympic Committee, during the press conference for the D-1 year of the Games, in Paris, August 28, 2023. MICHEL EULER / AP
President of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), Andrew Parsons traveled to Paris at the end of August for a few days on the occasion of the D-1 year of the 2024 Paralympic Games (from August 28 to September 8). Accessibility, opening ceremony, participation of the Russians… the Brazilian leader returned for The world on the major issues facing the Paralympic movement less than 365 days before the opening ceremony, place de la Concorde.
During the Paralympic day, in October 2022, you were quite critical of Paris 2024 on the accessibility aspect. A year later, has your opinion changed?
Paris faces many challenges, in particular that of making transport networks more accessible to people with disabilities. But we also understand what it means, here in France, in terms of cost and legislation.
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It is sometimes possible to do things in some cities, not in others. In Tokyo, it was more about changing perspective than making the city accessible, it already was. The City of Paris has made a big effort by investing 125 million euros in making the land transport network accessible. So yes, we are happier than last year, we are seeing the legacy of the Paralympic Games come to fruition.
Do you think this edition will be a milestone in the history of the Paralympic Games?
I have no doubt. The organizing committee and the City of Paris have the ambition to make revolutionary Games, with the same logo for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, opening ceremonies outside the stadium…
Even if you were skeptical about this common logo and this ceremony in the city…
But that’s what we expect from an organizing committee, that they challenge us and offer us new things. Honestly, if someone had said ten years ago that they were holding the opening ceremony outside a stadium, they would have been told: “Stop, you’re kidding. » But years from now we will remember that the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Games was the first in Paralympic history held outside a stadium.
Read also about the Paris 2024 Games: Place de la Concorde and the Champs-Elysées, scene of the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games
Yes it’s true, we were skeptical at the beginning of the ambition displayed by the organizers. And then they explained their concept to us, the plans, and we understood that it was a fantastic idea.
Can Paris 2024 do better than London 2012, considered the example of a successful Paralympic Games?
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2023-08-29 18:17:22
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