The Paralympics Opening Ceremony has officially been declared open after a spectacular ceremony on the streets of Paris – with British medal hopes thronging the athletes’ parade and a UK astronaut hoisting the official Games flag.
Unlike the rain-sodden Olympics Opening ceremony earlier this summer, this showcase came against a sun-soaked backdrop – with the four-hour event featuring performances by French singers Christine and the Queens and Lucky Love.
A series of short films gave voice to people with disabilities, describing their journey to confidence in the people they are.
Thousands of competitors paraded down the famed Champs-Elysées avenue to Place de la Concorde in central Paris where French President Emmanuel Macron officially declared the Games open.
About 50,000 people watched the ceremony in stands built around the iconic square, which is the biggest in Paris and is visible from afar because of its ancient Egyptian Obelisk.
Artists perform the “Paradoxe” show at the Place de la Concorde around the Obelisque de Louxor at the Paralympics opening ceremony
Pyrotechnics during the final performance of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games
French President Emmanuel Macron and President of the International Paralympic Committee Andrew Parsons at the ceremony
Great Britain flagbearers Lucy Shuker and Terry Bywater parade with the athletes during the opening ceremony
Germany’s Markus Rehm holds the Paralympic flame during the torch relay
The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games cauldron, with the Olympic flame lit, lifts off while atached to a balloon
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer watched on from above, after he arrived in the city following his summit in Germany. He was greeted at the Elysee Palace by President Macron.
He could be seen smiling and waving at the ParalympicsGB contingent, which included gold medalists Jonnie Peacock and Hannah Cockcroft, who both triumphed at London 2012.
Accessibility for athletes in wheelchairs was facilitated with strips of asphalt laid along the avenue and placed over the square.
More than 4,000 athletes with physical, visual and intellectual impairments will compete in 22 sports from Thursday until September 8.
Organisers say more than 2million of the 2.8 million tickets have been sold for the various Paralympic events.
Yet viewers back in Britain expressed some frustration with Channel 4 coverage of the event, as the parade was interrupted by regular adverts – meaning some delegations were missed.
One wrote on X, formerly Twitter: ‘I know it’s Channel 4 but is it really impossible to show the Paralympics opening ceremony without interruptions from adverts? I’m finding them intrusive and disrespectful.’
Another posted: ‘Not Channel 4 having an ad break during Sébastien Tellier performing La Ritournelle at the Paralympics Opening Ceremony. One of the greatest songs of all time.’
A view from the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games at the Place de la Concorde
The lighting of the Paralympic cauldron with the Obelisque de Louxor (Luxor Obelisk)
Germany’s delegation parade on the Champs-Elysees avenue during the opening ceremony
Fireworks explode next to the Obelisque de Louxor (Luxor Obelisk)
The United States’ delegation arrives during the Parade of Nations
Yemen’s delegation arrives during the Parade of Nations
A view from the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games
‘Because Channel 4 has to run so many ads, I’ve not been able to fully enjoy the Paralympic Opening Ceremony,’ said another.
The opening ceremony was held outside the confines of a stadium, just like when the Olympics opened in the city on July 26 – although this time the focus were historic streets and plazas rather than the Seine which staged the earlier event.
Fighter planes flew overhead, leaving red-white-and blue vapors in the colors of the French national flag, before the delegations entered the square in alphabetical order.
Some delegations were huge — more than 250 athletes from Brazil — and some were tiny — less than a handful from Barbados and just three from Myanmar.
Ukraine’s delegation got a loud cheer and some of the crowd stood to applaud them.
Flag bearers Steve Serio and Nicky Nieves led the U.S. team’s delegation. The French arrived last and to roars from the crowd, which then sang along to popular French songs, including ‘Que Je T’aime’ by late rocker Johnny Hallyday.
Throughout the show, directed by Thomas Jolly who also led the Olympic opening ceremony, singers, dancers and musicians with and without disabilities performed on stage together seamlessly, projecting a theme of inclusion and overcoming physical differences.
Lucky Love, a French singer who lost his left arm at birth, was joined by performers in wheelchairs. Other acts featured
