A page turns with 75 medals! A score that will remain etched in people’s minds. This Sunday, September 8, France finished 8th in the medal table of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, achieving its goal of appearing in the Top 8. With a total of 75 medals, including 19 gold, 28 silver, and 28 bronze, the French delegation achieved a remarkable performance. This is a significant improvement compared to Tokyo 2021, where it ranked 14th. This result confirms the revival of French Paralympic sport on the international scene.
Moreover, this Sunday, September 8, was also marked by the closing ceremony of these Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, after 12 days of intense competition. And to celebrate this “timeless” period, which broke all records, the party was on the agenda. Thousands of athletes and spectators gathered for this event at the Stade de France, which was marked by musical shows, dances and speeches, thus closing this historic edition of the Paralympic Games on a festive and energetic note. Conceived by Thomas Jolly, this closing ceremony aimed to “make the planet dance” while celebrating diversity and inclusion, and it was done.
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Needless to say, emotion was present throughout this evening which brought to a close these Paralympic Games, but also the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Of course, Tony Estanguet gave a speech to pay tribute to all these athletes who have thrilled France in recent weeks. “The emotions we experienced united us. This summer, France was a rendezvous with history. With the Games, we rediscovered our heritage, our joy of living. Record medals, spectators, audiences… Thank you to the great Paris 2024 family. For several months, you have worked like crazy,” praised the president of the organizing committee. A feeling shared by many French people.
And if this closing ceremony had a bitter aftertaste for all the supporters, it was nevertheless highly anticipated to celebrate one last time this madness of the Olympic and Paralympic Games of Paris 2024. However, Internet users were particularly annoyed by the comments deemed intrusive and incessant by Daphné Bürki during this evening. Many criticized France Télévisions for not letting the music and the atmosphere of the show be fully expressed, some going so far as to turn off their TV to no longer hear these “useless” comments. Many subscribers of X, the former Twitter, denounced a lack of respect for the visual and sound experience of the ceremony, spoiled according to them by these interventions.
Daphné Bürki was therefore the target of frustrations. Internet users even went so far as to compare her to “summer mosquitoes”: “always there to spoil the fun with her comments deemed useless”. X users therefore expressed their fed up with her interventions, which seem to be more “self-congratulation” than anything else according to the Web. According to them, instead of letting the magic of the show work, she put herself forward, which ruined the mood for many viewers. Despite a rather “successful” closing ceremony according to Internet users, the France 2 commentators “ruined their evening”.
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