The opening ceremony of the Paris Paralympic Video games has been held within the heart of the French capital, firing the beginning gun for 11 days of intense competitors.
Just like the Olympic opening ceremony on the Seine in July, the Paralympics will probably be held away from the primary stadium for the primary time.
In contrast with the impression of heavy rain on July 26, the climate was delicate and nice. The Olympic Video games opened on Wednesday night time on the Place de la Concorde, with French President Emmanuel Macron attending the opening ceremony.
When the sporting occasions start on Thursday, a brand new era of Paralympians will compete alongside seasoned veterans at lots of the identical venues that host Olympic occasions.
A complete of 18 of the 35 Olympic venues will probably be used for the Paralympics, which run till September 8, together with the Grand Palace, acclaimed for internet hosting fencing and taekwondo occasions underneath its ornate roof.
The Stade de La Défense will as soon as once more host swimming occasions and athletics will happen on the purple monitor of the Stade de France.
Sluggish ticket gross sales have picked up because the Olympics, with greater than 2 million tickets out of two.5 million offered and a number of venues offered out.
Organizers mentioned wheelchair customers can take Paris buses and so they have additionally organized for 1,000 specifically modified taxis.
The message of the Paralympics is way broader than simply sport, and Worldwide Paralympic Committee president Andrew Parsons mentioned he hoped the Paris Paralympics would put points going through individuals with disabilities again on the prime of world priorities.
Parsons believes these competitions “could have a big impression on how disabled individuals are seen world wide”.
“That is one in every of our important aspirations for the 2024 Paris Olympics; we consider we have to put incapacity points again on the worldwide agenda.
“We do consider that disabled individuals have been left behind. There’s little or no debate about disabled individuals.
