Paralympics kicks off with gorgeous spectacles at opening ceremony

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. 

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.’

‘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 dancers with crutches.

British astronaut John McFall carried the Paralympic flag at the opening ceremony of the games in Paris.

McFall was one of only two flag bearers, along with French sailor Damien Seguin, to represent the whole Paralympic Games, rather than a specific county.

Reflecting before the ceremony on being a flag bearer, McFall said he was ‘truly honoured’.

‘I am truly honoured to be standing here today, as a Paralympian and a member of the astronaut reserve with a physical disability,’ McFall said.

‘I like to think that my presence at this year’s ceremony, in my new role at the European Space Agency, attests to and embodies the success, reach and legacy of the Paralympic movement.’

McFall turned to a career in athletics after losing his right leg in a motorcycle accident at the age of 19.

He won a bronze medal in the 100m at the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games. He then became a doctor, qualifying as a trauma and orthopaedic specialist.

In November 2022, he was selected by the European Space Agency as a member of the astronaut reserve, becoming the world’s first person with a disability to qualify for the role.

He is undertaking astronaut training and a feasibility project with a view to boarding the International Space Station.

‘With every new step of my journey, I am proud to be challenging preconceptions around the professional roles in which we should expect to see people with physical disabilities,’ he said.

‘I am committed to playing my part in laying the foundations for a future that is diverse, inclusive and full of opportunity for all.’

International Paralympic Committee President Andrew Parsons said he hoped the Paris Paralympics would start an ‘inclusion revolution’ beyond the field of sport.

‘The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games will show what persons with disabilities can achieve at the highest level when the barriers to succeed are removed,’ he said in a speech. 

‘The fact these opportunities largely exist only in sport in the year 2024 is shocking. It is proof we can and must do more to advance disability inclusion — whether on the field of play, in the classroom, concert hall or in the boardroom.’

As the ceremony concluded, the Paralympic torch was carried into the area by former Olympic wheelchair tennis gold medalist Michaël Jérémiasz, who was surrounded on stage by dozens of torchbearers. 

Five French Paralympians lit the Olympic cauldron, which is designed to look like a hot air balloon and glowed gold-like in the night.

The Paralympic flag was raised high into the night sky and its emblem adorned the top of the Arc de Triomphe about 3 kilometers (2 miles) away.

Although Wednesday night’s show started at 8 pm local time, fans had gathered hours earlier under a scorching sun to get top spots along the way. 

As performers entertained the crowd on stage, volunteers danced alongside Paralympians as they waved their national flags and the sky gave off a postcard-perfect orange glow.

Tony Estanguet, the president of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, called Paralympians ‘immense champions who we have the honor of being with tonight.’

The first medals handed out on Thursday will be in taekwondo, table tennis, swimming and track cycling. Athletes are grouped by impairment levels to ensure as level a playing field as possible.

The closing ceremony will be held at Stade de France, the national stadium.