Paris Paralympics officially start with Champs-Elysees opening ceremony

Parade of athletes to walk down famous city route to Place de la Concorde to start 11-day Games

The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games started on Wednesday with an impressive and historic outdoor Opening Ceremony, before a week and a half of sporting competitions.

It is the first time France has hosted the Summer Paralympics, after Tignes and Albertville hosted the 1992 Winter Paralympics, and French President Emmanuel Macron declared the games open during the ceremony.

Performers with disabilities and without danced and sang on an outdoor Place de la Concorde stage in central Paris to formally start the parade of athletes.

Leading the 13-strong UAE contingent were its two flagbearers, cyclist Ahmed Al Badwawi and shot-putter Maryam Al Zeyoudi.

Like the Olympics Opening Ceremony weeks ago, the show is taking place outside a stadium – a first for the Paralympics.

"Dear athletes, welcome to the country of love and revolution. Rest assured, tonight, no Storming of the Bastille, no guillotine, because tonight the most beautiful revolution starts – the Paralympic revolution," Paris 2024 president Tony Estanguet said in his speech.

"It's a sweet revolution that will change all of us deeply."

Athletes paraded down the famous Champs-Elysees to the ceremony at the Place de la Concorde. Local news reports said thousands gathered early to take top spots to view the parade.

Dancers and performers on stage during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games at the Place de la Concorde. PA

France said it made the event accessible by rolling out strips of asphalt along the Champs-Elysees, and placing the same over the entire Concorde square.

The first disabled astronaut, the UK's John McFall, carried the Paralympic flag at the opening ceremony to represent the entire Games.

This year also features the largest-ever Refugee Paralympic Team, with members who were originally from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Columbia, Iran and Syria.

Filippo Grandi, commissioner for the UN refugee agency, said it was "fantastic to witness right now the entrance of the Paralympic Refugee Team at the opening ceremony ... what an extraordinary example of strength, achievement and inclusion by eight formidable athletes.

"Proud to support them." he said his post on X.

The 17th Paralympic Games will feature 4,400 athletes among 168 delegations with physical, visual and intellectual disabilities taking part in competitions for 22 different sports in the next 11 days.

Organisers told news organisations that more than two million of the allotted 2.8 million tickets have been sold, and that 18 of the 35 Olympic venues will be used for the Paralympics.

The Paralympics first officially began in Italy in 1960, taking after the Stoke Mandeville Games that involved injured servicemen and women for athletes who used wheelchairs.

They now take place in conjunction with the same cities as the Summer and Winter Olympic Games, traditionally one week afterwards.

But this year, the Paralympics are running from August 28 to September 8.

Organisers also said that spectators who use wheelchairs can use Paris buses to travel to competition venues, as well as 1,000 accessible taxis.

French jets perform flyover in Paris to mark opening of Paralympic Games

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