On Wednesday, France hosted the Games of the Paralympiad for the first time. Over 11 days in Paris, 4,400 athletes with disabilities, permanent injuries, or impairments are preparing to compete for 549 medals in 22 sports such as track cycling, swimming, table tennis, and taekwondo.
On Thursday, along with these sports, the action starts with adaptive volleyball, wheelchair basketball, rugby, badminton, archery, goalball, and boccia.
Andrew Parsons, president of the IPC, shared with the athletes and spectators that he wanted an “inclusive revolution.”
French President Emmanuel Macron started the games during a ceremony in the balmy Place de la Concorde in the heart of Paris, which for the first time was conducted outside the main stadium.
The 4,400 competitors from 168 delegations strolled into the arena at dusk, with host country France coming in last to applause from 30,000 spectators.
The Paralympic flame was lighted on Saturday in Stoke Mandeville, a village northwest of London generally considered as the birthplace of the Paralympic Games, and was to go across France via a torch relay under the English Channel before lighting the cauldron in the opening ceremony.
Summer, magnificent weather as the Paralympic Games began, in stark contrast to the torrential downpour during the Olympics’ opening ceremony on July 26.
John McFall, a British Paralympic sprinter who has been chosen by the European Space Agency to be the first ‘parastronaut’, carried the Paralympic flag into the square.
Five French differently abled athletes, including 2020 gold medalists Alexis Hanquinquant and Nantenin Keita, lighted the already-iconic cauldron in the Tuileries Gardens.
The Games will take place at 18 of the 35 Olympic sites, including the decorated Grand Palais and the Stade de France.
China dominated the previous Paralympics in Tokyo, winning 96 gold medals, and has sent a big team this time.
Ukraine, a regular medal-winning nation at the Paralympics, has sent 140 athletes to compete in 17 sports, despite the difficulties they face in preparation as a battle against Russian soldiers’ rages at home.
Ezra Frech, a 19-year-old American above-the-knee amputee sprinter and high jumper, is being regarded as a potential new star at these Games.