The 2024 Paralympics opened in Paris on Wednesday in a colorful and hope-filled ceremony that marked the start of 11 days of competition in a city still riding the wave of the successful Olympics.
French President Emmanuel Macron declared the Games open during a ceremony in a balmy Place de la Concorde in central Paris — the first time a Paralympic opening ceremony has taken place away from the main stadium.
The 4,400 competitors from 168 delegations paraded into the arena as the sun set with host nation France entering last to a standing ovation from 30,000 spectators packed into the stands around the historic square.
The fine weather was in sharp contrast to the heavy rain which fell throughout the Olympic opening ceremony on July 26.
In one of the highlights of the ceremony, French singer Lucky Love, who is missing his left arm below the elbow, performed a moving rendition of his song "My Ability" surrounded by both able-bodied and disabled dancers.
International Paralympic Committee (IPC) president Andrew Parsons then told the athletes and spectators he hoped for an "inclusion revolution," before Macron officially declared the Games open.
The Paralympic flag was carried into the square by John McFall, a British Paralympic sprinter who has been selected by the European Space Agency to become the first "parastronaut."
French Olympian Florent Manaudou brought the flame into the arena, as the four-day torch relay reached its culmination with five French Paralympians, including 2020 gold medalists Alexis Hanquinquant and Nantenin Keita, lighting the cauldron in the Tuileries Gardens.
Riding the wave of its Olympic team's success, host nation France is aiming for a substantial improvement on the 11 golds it won in 2021, which left it 14th in the medals table.
A total of 18 of the 35 Olympic venues will also be used for the Paralympics, which run until Sept. 8, including the ornate Grand Palais and the Stade de France.
Ticket sales have sped up since the Olympics, and organizers say more than two million of the 2.5 million available have been sold, with several venues sold out.
Theatre director Thomas Jolly, who also oversaw the Olympic opening ceremony, said there was a clear symbolism in holding the Paralympic ceremony in the center of the French capital — a city whose subway system, in particular, is completely unadapted to the needs of wheelchair users.
"Putting Paralympic athletes in the heart of the city is already a political marker in the sense that the city is not sufficiently adapted to every handicapped person," Jolly said this week.
Organizers say wheelchair users can take Paris buses and that 1,000 specially adapted taxis will also be in use.
The Paralympics always have a far wider message than simply sports, and Parsons said earlier this year he hopes the Paris edition will restore the issues that disabled people face to the top of the list of global priorities.
The Brazilian believes the Games "will have a big impact in how people with disability are perceived around the world."
"This is one of the key expectations we have around Paris 2024," Parsons said. "We believe that we need people with disability to be put back on the global agenda.
"We do believe people with disability have been left behind. There is very little debate about persons with disability."
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