Paralympics 2024 opening ceremony LIVE: Paris prepares for start of Games with athletes parade
The ceremony features athletes participating at the Games and is taking place in the heart of the French captial
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Your support makes all the difference.Paris is back in the spotlight this evening as the city hosts the opening ceremony of the Paralympics Games. Fresh off the heels of a blockbuster fortnight of Olympic action, the Paralympic athletes now take centre stage as they compete for medals, records and glory in front of huge crowds watching on around the globe.
The French captial is expected to be packed once again with up to 65,000 spectators expected to attend the first act of the Games which sees 4,400 athletes from 168 delegations parade down the Place de la Concorde and the Champs-Elysees in the heart of Paris ahead of what is sure to be 11 days of intense competition.
The opening ceremony’s artistic director Thomas Jolly has revealed the spectacle will “showcase the Paralympic athletes and the values that they embody”. He has promised “performances that have never been seen before” and claims that the show will “unite spectators and television audiences worldwide around the unique spirit of the Paralympic Games”.
Follow all the latest updates from the Paralympics opening ceremony with our live blog below:
Paralympics opening ceremony
Palestine receive one of the loudest cheers of the evening and so do the the Paralympic Refugee Team who also receive a standing ovation from the watching crowds.
The PRT represents 120m forcibly displaced people worldwide. It features eight athletes which is the largest team they’ve ever brought to a Games.
Paralympics opening ceremony
The parade of delegations is now down to the Ps as the Philippines head past the obelisk followed by Poland. The DJ has switched up the music which is now playing a kind of Euro pop instead of dance music.
After the parade there’ll be more presentations, speeches and of course more dancing.
Paralympics opening ceremony
The Champs-Élysées is a place of celebration where the French gather to celebrate major sporting victories and Bastille Day on 14 July.
At the top of the avenue stands the Arc de Triomphe, one of the symbols of France around the world.
Napoleon I, in the aftermath of the battle of Austerlitz, ordered its construction for the glory of the Grande Armée. It was completed and inaugurated in 1836.
Paralympics opening ceremony
Four-time Paralympic champion Kadeena Cox insists “competing is the easy bit” as she bids to win Great Britain’s maiden medal of Paris 2024 following a series of injury setbacks.
The dual-sport athlete will focus solely on track cycling at the third Games of her career having excelled on both the bike and as a sprinter across Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.
“It feels like it’s been a hard journey to get to this point so I’m really happy to have that selection,” she told the PA news agency.
“Training has been moving in the right direction and I still feel, as much as I’m getting older, I’ve got the capabilities to be able to medal. It’s normally just whether my body is in one piece.
“When you get to a competition, most times you know you’ve done the work and the hard bit’s been done and all you’ve got to do then is go out and show what you’ve done. Competing is the easy bit.”
Paralympics opening ceremony
The Great British team have arrived in Paris. They finished second in Tokyo, can they go one better this time around?
Paralympics opening ceremony
French President Emmanuel Macron was very pleased to see Keir Starmer earlier. Take a look at the two meeting:
Paralympics opening ceremony
Wheelchair rugby captain Gavin Walker is confident Great Britain are “peaking at the right time” ahead of launching their Paralympic title defence in Paris.
Former firefighter Walker made history at Tokyo 2020 as part of the squad which memorably clinched his country’s first gold in the team sport.
“We probably weren’t the favourites going into Tokyo but we had this confidence that we can achieve a gold medal,” the 40-year-old told the PA news agency.
“Things are just coming together at the right time and we believe we can have the same success in Paris. We think it can go our way.
“Saying that, the games this time around are going to be much closer. The top seven teams, arguably eight teams, are so much more competitive than it’s ever been.
“I expect most of the games to be very, very close, so we’ll have to see – all to fight for.
“We’re peaking at the right time, everyone is feeling as though it’s coming together and I’m confident we can put on a great performance.”
Paralympics opening ceremony
Paralympics opening ceremony
The UK Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, stands up and applauds as ParalympicsGB make their way past the obelisk.
Terry Bywater and Lucy Shuker lead the team who are competing across 19 of the 22 sports in these Games.
Britain have 215 athletes with 116 men and 99 women.
The oldest British competitor is 54-year-old canoeist Jeanette Chippington, who first represented ParalympicsGB at Seoul in 1988. The youngest is swimmer Iona Winnifrith, aged just 13.
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