Paris Paralympics to showcase disability sport in City of Light
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Swiss wheelchair tennis player Nalani Buob during a training session ahead of the 2024 Paris Paralympics.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
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PARIS – The Paris Paralympics begin on Aug 28 with a spectacular opening ceremony in a city still on a high after the highly successful Olympics.
Hoping to build on that, a new generation of Paralympians will join seasoned veterans competing in many of the same venues that hosted Olympic sports.
A total of 18 of the 35 Olympic venues will be used for the Paralympics, which run until Sept 8, including the Grand Palais which scored rave reviews for its hosting of the fencing and taekwondo under an ornate roof.
The La Defense Arena is back as well, hosting the 141 gold-medal events in para-swimming, as is the Stade de France where track and field takes place again.
The Games will open with a ceremony in Place de la Concorde, the square in the centre of Paris where skateboarding and other “urban” sports took place during the Olympics.
Just as for the Olympics ceremony on the River Seine, it takes place away from the main stadium for the first time at a Paralympics.
Theatre director Thomas Jolly, who also oversaw the Olympics opening ceremony, said there was a deep symbolism in putting the Paralympics ceremony in the centre of the French capital – a city whose Metro system, in particular, is completely unadapted to the needs of wheelchair users.
“Putting Paralympic athletes in the heart of the city is already a political marker in the sense that the city is not sufficiently adapted to every handicapped person,” he said.
But organisers said Paris buses are wheelchair-friendly, and they have laid on 1,000 specially adapted taxis as well.
The Paralympics always have a far wider message than simply sport and International Paralympic Committee president Andrew Parsons had said he hopes the 2024 edition will restore the issues facing disabled people to the top of the list of global priorities.
He believes the Games “will have a big impact in how people with disability are perceived around the world”.
“This is one of the key expectations we have around Paris 2024; we believe that we need people with disability to be put back on the global agenda,” the Brazilian said.
He also argued that disability had fallen behind sexual and gender identity in recent years, saying: “We do believe people with disability have been left behind. There is very little debate about persons with disability.”
For now though, the focus will undoubtedly be on the action.
Every Games create new stars, and this edition will be no exception, so look to American above-the-knee amputee sprinter/high jumper Ezra Frech, who, at 19, has already attracted a burst of publicity about his journey to Paris.
More familiar names return too – British amputee sprinter Jonnie Peacock was one of the highest-profile athletes of London 2012 and dusted off his running blade in 2023 to make a comeback in his attempt to win a medal at a fourth consecutive Paralympics.
Away from the track, Iranian sitting volleyball legend Morteza Mehrzadselakjani, who is 2.46m tall, will bid to take gold again.
Paralympic powerhouses China will send a strong squad – the Chinese dominated the medals table at the Covid-delayed Games in Tokyo three years ago, winning 96 golds. Britain were second with 41 golds.
Riding the wave of their Olympic team’s success, host nation France will be aiming for a substantial upgrade on the 11 golds they won in 2021.
The 96 athletes from Russia and Belarus will compete under a neutral banner, but are barred from the opening and closing ceremonies. AFP
