Colourful, joyous opening ceremony kickstarts Paralympic Games Paris 2024

Just weeks aft hosting the Olympics, Paris has inaugurated the 2024 Paralympics with a astir four-hour-long opening ceremonial successful the bosom of the city.

Against the backdrop of a mounting sun, thousands of athletes paraded down the famed Champs-Elysees avenue to Place de la Concorde successful cardinal Paris wherever French President Emmanuel Macron officially declared the Paralympic Games unfastened connected Wednesday night.

Security was tight, with immoderate 15,000 instrumentality enforcement officers connected site, but determination was a airy summertime feeling to the evening arsenic the prima dilatory acceptable connected the French capital.

“Dear athletes, invited to the state of emotion and revolution. Rest assured, tonight, nary Storming of the Bastille, nary guillotine, due to the fact that contiguous the astir beauteous gyration starts – the Paralympic revolution,” Paris 2024 president Tony Estanguet said successful his speech.

“It’s a saccharine gyration that volition alteration each of america deeply.”

The unrecorded amusement started astatine the ft of the obelisk successful Place de la Concorde with Canadian musician, songwriter, and shaper Chilly Gonzales connected the piano.

Artists with disabilities and impairments screamed a countdown and French vocalist Christine and the Queens delivered a popular rendition of Edith Piaf’s Non, Je ne regrette rien.

Dancers execute astatine the Place de la Concorde during the opening ceremonial of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games [Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP]

Loud cheers greet athletes

As the 168-delegation athletes’ parade started successful a festive atmosphere, volunteers cheered and danced.

About 50,000 radical watched the ceremonial successful stands built astir the iconic square, which is the biggest successful Paris and is disposable from afar due to the fact that of its past Egyptian obelisk. Accessibility for athletes successful wheelchairs was facilitated with strips of asphalt laid on the avenue and placed implicit the square.

More than 4,000 athletes with physical, ocular and intelligence impairments volition vie successful 22 sports from Thursday until September 8.

Organisers accidental much than 2 cardinal of the 2.8 cardinal tickets person been sold for the assorted Paralympic events.

Algeria’s delegation marches up of different teams arsenic they get for the opening ceremonial [Aurelien Morissard/AP]

The opening ceremonial was held extracurricular the confines of a stadium, conscionable similar erstwhile the Olympics opened successful the metropolis connected July 26. Fighter planes flew overhead, leaving red, achromatic and bluish vapours successful the colours of the French nationalist flag, earlier the delegations entered the quadrate successful alphabetical order.

Some delegations were immense – much than 250 athletes from Brazil – and immoderate were tiny – little than a fistful from Barbados and conscionable 3 from Myanmar.

The French arrived past and to roars from the crowd, which past sang on to fashionable French songs, including Que je t’aime by precocious rocker Johnny Hallyday.

Palestine’s delegation arrives during the Parade of Nations during the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games opening ceremonial astatine the Place de la Concorde [Bertrand Guay/AFP]

No controversies astatine opening ceremony

Throughout the show, directed by Thomas Jolly who besides led the Olympic opening ceremony, singers, dancers and musicians with and without disabilities performed connected signifier unneurotic seamlessly, projecting a taxable of inclusion and overcoming carnal differences.

Lucky Love, a French vocalist who mislaid his near limb astatine birth, was joined by performers successful wheelchairs. Other acts featured dancers with crutches.

International Paralympic Committee President Andrew Parsons said helium hoped the Paris Paralympics would commencement an “inclusion revolution” beyond the tract of sport.

“The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games volition amusement what persons with disabilities tin execute astatine the highest level erstwhile the barriers to win are removed,” helium said successful a speech.

“The information these opportunities mostly beryllium lone successful athletics successful the twelvemonth 2024 is shocking. It is impervious we tin and indispensable bash much to beforehand disablement inclusion – whether connected the tract of play, successful the classroom, performance hallway oregon successful the boardroom.”

Artists execute during the opening ceremonial [Gonzalo Fuentes/AP]

Although Wednesday night’s amusement started astatine 8pm (18:00 GMT) section time, fans had gathered hours earlier nether a scorching prima to get apical spots on the way. As performers entertained the assemblage connected stage, volunteers danced alongside Paralympians arsenic they waved their nationalist flags and the entity gave disconnected a postcard-perfect orangish glow.

Last month’s Olympics opening ceremonial was held successful pouring rainfall which failed to dampen the enthusiasm of spectators on the Seine river. It went without a information glitch, though it besides triggered contention implicit a tableau that appeared to parody Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper.

As the ceremonial concluded, the Paralympic torch was carried into the country by erstwhile Olympic wheelchair tennis golden medallist Michael Jeremiasz, who was surrounded connected signifier by dozens of torchbearers.

France’s wheelchair tennis subordinate Michael Jeremiasz (second right) holds the Paralympic occurrence adjacent to France’s Olympic flag-bearer Florent Manaudou (left) during the torch relay [Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP]

Five French Paralympians lit the Olympic cauldron, which is designed to look similar a blistery aerial balloon and glowed gold-like successful the night.

The Paralympic emblem was raised precocious into the nighttime entity and its emblem adorned the apical of the Arc de Triomphe astir 3 kilometres (two miles) away.

The ceremonial ended with fireworks and different screen by Christine and the Queens, of Patrick Hernandez’s deed of 1978 Born to beryllium Alive, earlier Serge Gainsbourg’s Je T’aime Moi Non Plus resonated astir Place de la Concorde.

The archetypal medals handed retired connected Thursday volition beryllium successful taekwondo, array tennis, swimming and way cycling. Athletes are grouped by impairment levels to guarantee arsenic level a playing tract arsenic possible.

The closing ceremonial volition beryllium held astatine Stade de France, the nationalist stadium.

France’s Paralympic torchbearers clasp the Paralympic occurrence successful beforehand of the Paralympic cauldron [Franck Fife/AFP]