Thousands of athletes descend on Paris for shot at Paralympic gold

Sports fever is not over in the French capital, and is expected to be kicked into high gear with the 2024 Paris Paralympics.

Transcript

00:00Thousands of athletes will descend on the French capital for the 2024 Paralympics,

00:07set to kick off on Wednesday.

00:094,400 Paralympians, some of which will be torchbearers,

00:14will compete in 23 disciplines, spanning wheelchair rugby to para-athletics.

00:20I've always watched the games, I've dreamt,

00:23and to be able to carry the flame, it was huge,

00:26to be able to share this value of resilience, overcoming oneself.

00:2912 torchers will travel through 12 French towns before the start of the games,

00:34giving sports fans a taste of what's to come.

00:37The Paralympic flame is essential to me,

00:40so I said to myself, we absolutely have to go today.

00:44Other spectators witnessed the magic of the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics

00:50and have come back for more.

00:53I had the chance to go to the Olympic Games in Paris,

00:56and now I want to fully experience the Paralympic Games.

01:00It gives me the same energy and I hope to find the same joy and enthusiasm.

01:04French authorities have ramped up security at the Paralympic village,

01:08but a pair of Australian archers are not worried.

01:11I'm focused on the competition, I let the government of France worry about that.

01:16We're lucky, if they come in and try it on us, we've got archery gear,

01:19so we're pretty well protected.

01:21Roughly 43,000 security personnel are on site

01:25to ensure that athletes can safely go for gold.