The Paralympic competitions begin on Thursday.

More than two weeks after the end of the Olympics, the flame flared up again in Paris, thus beginning the XVII. Paralympics, the largest sporting event for physically challenged, visually impaired and mildly mentally disabled athletes, which lasts until next Sunday.

The opening ceremony on Wednesday evening, with a great atmosphere, was held not in a stadium, but in the place of Concorde and the famous Parisian boulevard, the Champs-Elysées starting from the Arc de Triomphe. and their attendants.

With the unusual location, the hosts also wanted to draw attention to the fact that the smaller and larger cities of the world were not designed with disabled people in mind, therefore, in the future, steps must be taken to ensure that these people can equally enjoy the freedom of movement and change of location.

The intention of the organizers was to make the viewers think with the colorful show "Paradox, from discord to agreement" that lasted the whole evening, in which the story of two groups was presented in several acts, with the help of hundreds of actors, including 16 people with disabilities. The story illustrated how creativity can be used to build a bridge between groups that are far from each other, and to think together, for each other, in an inclusive way, not against each other, in an exclusionary way. The central element of the program was dance and the human body, and the obelisk in the center of the square also played a major role, which was brought to life several times with light painting, in an extremely spectacular way.

In the meantime - with the Arc de Triomphe in the background showing a magnificent sight in the light of the setting sun - the competitors from the lower part of the Champs-Elysées also arrived on the square, the Hungarian delegation was the 66th in the line of marchers, the flag was carried by the Tokyo champion swimmer Illés Fanni and the archer Tamás Gáspár took it.

The hosts, the French, marched in last, amid a huge ovation, and the line was closed by volunteers and human-sized mascots, the large group of Phrygians - the latter encouraged and entertained the competitors throughout the parade.

Tony Estanguet, the president of the Paris 2024 organizing committee, called the Paris Paralympics revolutionary in his speech,

in which every athlete is a participant, and he asked the fans to encourage the competitors with the same enthusiasm as they did a few weeks earlier, at the Olympics.

Andrew Parsons, president of the International Paralympic Committee, said in an impassioned speech, "we are in the most beautiful city in the world, in difficult times, but let sport be a community force that brings people together." He emphasized: the Paralympics did not come to participate, but to compete, win and represent the 1.3 billion people, 15 percent of the world's population, who live their lives with some kind of disability. We are one, but we are not the same, he said.

The first Paris Paralympics was opened by the French President, Emmanuel Macron, and at the end of the program - after the raising of the Paralympic flag, the singing of the Paralympic anthem and the oaths - the Paralympic torch arrived on the square and the best-known composition of the French composer, Maurice Ravel, was played. the Bolero. The flame - which, like the Olympics, will fly in the garden of the neighboring Tuileries, on a hot air balloon rising high for the next eleven days - was lit by five para-athletes, Charles-Antoine Kouakou, Nantenin Keita, Fabien Lamirault, Alexis Hanquinquant and Elodie Lorandi, amidst spectacular appearances.

The opening, which lasted more than three and a half hours, ended with fireworks.

At the Paris Paralympics, about 4,400 competitors from a record 168 delegations, including the refugee team, including 88 Russians and eight Belarusians as neutrals, will compete in 22 sports. A total of 549 champions are crowned in the various injury categories. The Hungarian colors are represented by 39 athletes who will be interested in 13 sports and 68 events. The fights start on Thursday.

MTI

Cover photo: Illés Fanni swimming with the Hungarian flag at the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Summer Paralympic Games on the Champs-Elysées in Paris on August 28, 2024
Source: MTI/Szilárd Koszticsák