The President of the Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games of Paris-2024 (OCOG), Tony Estanguet, during the presentation ceremony of Agitos, the symbol of the Paralympic Games, at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, on June 28, 2024
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The Place de la Concorde, the Champs-Élysées and 4,400 athletes: the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games will take place on Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. local time (18:00 GMT) in a sumptuous Parisian setting, with the challenge of being spectacular and highlighting “all bodies”, according to the organizers.
Nearly 30,000 spectators will be able to attend the three-hour ceremony conceived by Thomas Jolly, artistic director of Paris-2024, which will mark the start of the first Paralympic Games organised in France.
Another 15,000 people will be able to watch the parade of athletes in a free zone at the bottom of the Champs-Élysées, and another 30,000 will be able to attend the final part of the ceremony, with the lighting of the cauldron next to the Louvre museum.
Like the internationally acclaimed ceremony on July 26, Wednesday’s event will take place outside an Olympic stadium and the “level of ambition” is the same, say the organisers.
Some 4,400 athletes from 168 delegations will parade down the Champs-Élysées towards the iconic square, with a central stage around the obelisk, where there will be “performances never seen before” in a show called ‘Paradoxe’ (Paradox).
Thomas Jolly announced on Wednesday that the show will give value to “all bodies.”
The internationally renowned Swedish choreographer Alexander Ekman has created more than 50 works and collaborated with the Paris Opera Ballet and Boston Ballet.
He is known for his grandiose stage designs, such as when he flooded a stage with 6,000 litres of water for his version of ‘Swan Lake’, or his rain of green balls falling from the sky at the Paris Opera Garnier in the play ‘Play’.
Thomas Jolly called for a marriage of the festive and the political. Through messages calling for the inclusion of people with disabilities, “I hope to educate, make people reflect” and see things from a new perspective, the choreographer told AFP on Saturday.
Around twenty of the 150 dancers who will participate in the show have some type of disability.
Some 4,400 parade-goers will take part in the parade, which will wind its way down the Champs-Élysées to the Place de la Concorde.
At the moment, no names of any major guest artists have been leaked.
The music will once again be by Victor Le Masne, composer of the anthem for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
And the Olympic cauldron, just like at the recent Olympic Games, will rise into the sky of Paris after being lit.
The closing ceremony will take place on Sunday 8 September at the Stade de France, just like the Olympic Games, and will simulate a major electronic music concert, with 24 artists and DJs such as Jean-Michel Jarre, Cassius and Kavinsky.
LSF (French Sign Language) will be available to the public and athletes, as well as subtitles in French and English, as well as audio description in English and French, while the venues will be accessible to all types of disabilities.
Some 15,000 members of the security forces will be deployed for the opening ceremony, according to French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin.
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