Paris 2024 Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony: A Historic Celebration Along the Champs-Elysees

The opening ceremony for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games began in beautiful weather as about 4,400 athletes marched along the Champs-Elysees to the Place de la Concorde.

For the first time in the French capital, the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games will take place outside of a stadium, as it did during the Olympic Games.

The main celebration will take place in Place de la Concorde on a beautiful summer evening in the heart of the city, following a march down the Champs-Elysees from the Arc de Triomphe.

Organisers predict that 65,000 people will attend, with viewers able to watch the march for free before the paid open-air event at Place de la Concorde.

The Patrouille de France airborne show team discharged blue, white, and red smoke from the Tricolore in clear skies before the athletes arrived.

The first of 11 days of sporting activity begins on Thursday, as France hosts the summer Paralympic Games for the first time.

Athletes from 184 delegations will compete in 22 Paralympic sports for a total of 549 gold medals in Paris.

Artistic director Thomas Jolly claimed that the opening ceremony would be “a spectacle that will showcase the Paralympic athletes and the values that they embody” and would include “performances that have never been seen before”.

Lucy Shuker, a wheelchair tennis competitor, and Terry Bywater, a wheelchair basketball player, will carry the British flag for Paralympics GB.

Nantenin Keita, a sprinter, and Alexis Hanquinquant, a paratriathlete, will be the French flag bearers at the opening ceremony.

Andrew Parsons, president of the International Paralympic Committee, predicts that Paris will host “the most spectacular Paralympic Games ever”.