The history of the Paralympic Games began in 1948 in a military hospital for paraplegic patients, all veterans of the Second World War, in a small town north of London called Stoke Mandeville. First called Stoke Mandeville International Gamesthe competition would become the Paralympic Games throughout the Olympics. The first Paralympic Games took place in Rome in 1960, six days after the closing of the Olympic Games.
As close to the Olympic Games as possible
The Paris Paralympic Games, the first for France, They are organized as close as possible of the Olympic Games, which ended two weeks earlier. This proximity occurs in time and space, since, as the official Paris 2024 website notes, “Almost all competition venues will be identical between the Paralympic and Olympic Games, except for the road events.“. Thus, the Paralympic events will take place in the same venues as the Olympics. This will be the case of 15 of the 22 sports on the Paralympic Games programme, for a total of 549 events, spread over 269 sessions, in which 4,440 athletes will compete.
French students and former students in competition
According to AEF info, which has conducted its own survey with a Analysis of the official list of the 257 French athletes in competition“One fifth of the French delegation to the Paralympic Games is currently a student and 35% is pursuing higher education“. In total, more than half (55%) of these athletes are students or former students. The disciplines most followed by these athletes, continues the AEF, are economics, management, commerce and sales (24.4%) and science and engineering (22.5%). The institutions with the most students and former students in the Paralympic team are the University of Grenoble Alpes (6 alumni), the University of Bordeaux (5 alumni), the University Paris Cité and the IFMK (Institute of training in massage and kinesitherapy) in Limoges (4 alumni and/or students).
See the big picture
It doesn’t matter the status of the athletes competing: the Paris City Hall website states that the 549 events in the programme “will be held in exceptional locations“, like the esplanade of the Disabled for para-archery, the vicinity of the Eiffel Tower for 5-a-side football, the Champ-de-Mars for para-judo and wheelchair rugby, and the park of the Palace of Versailles for para-equestrian. The Paralympic Games will be “as exceptional and historic as the Olympic Games“, says the government information website.
With this perspective, the August 28th will take place opening ceremonya historic premiere orchestrated once again by Thomas Jolly, director of the opening of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 “see things in a big way” reinventing the opening ceremony and taking it out of the traditional stadium setting. The ceremony will take place in the Place de la Concorde and in the Champs-Elyséeswhich, according to the organizers, will turn the event into a “unprecedented celebration in the heart of the city“. The ceremony will open with a popular parade along the legendary Champs-Elysées avenue, where the 184 delegations of all participating countries. Because, the official website concludes, “The Games are sport, but much more“. The Games, Paralympic or Olympic, are a “Popular and multicultural festival organized so that everyone can enjoy it“.
A great Paralympic team of refugees
These Games will be even more exceptional because the International Paralympic Committee has announced the Largest refugee Paralympic team in history for Paris 2024. Since the Rio Games in 2016, a refugee team has participated in both the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The team is not supervised by any national committee, so “allows athletes with refugee status to participate in international competitions”.
In the case of Paris 2024, it will be the third time that Paralympic athletes will compete on this team. It will even be the largest in history: there will be eight of them at the Paris 2024 Games. In this regard, the official website of the Games, Refugee Paralympic team to be first to parade on the Place de la Concorde on 28 August, during the opening ceremony of the Games. With one idea in mind: to leave a historic mark on the Games.
Related News :