Source: BGNES
The opening ceremony of the 2024 Paralympic Games began at the Place de la Concorde in central Paris in the presence of French President Emmanuel Macron.
More than 4,000 athletes with physical, visual and intellectual disabilities will compete for honors in 22 sports over the next 11 days.
The organizers promised a spectacular show for the opening of the Games. It is again outside the confines of a stadium, but unlike the Olympics ceremony, which included a boat parade down the Seine, the Paralympics takes place on land, with athletes parading down the famous Champs-Elysées and Place de la Concorde.
Director Thomas Joly said the event would “showcase the Paralympic athletes and the values they embody” and promised “performances never seen before”.
Organizers have announced that more than 2 million tickets have been sold for the Paris Paralympic Games. They begin on Thursday with the distribution of the first sets of medals in taekwondo, table tennis and track cycling.
International Paralympic Committee president Andrew Parsons said the large crowds expected in Paris would mean a lot to the athletes, many of whom competed in front of empty stands at the Tokyo Games three years ago because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“As our ambition is to be seen and understood as the most transformative sporting event on the planet, this atmosphere is extremely important,” he told the AP ahead of the opening ceremony.
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