2024 Paralympic Games open in Paris

DW (English)

The 2024 Paralympic Games have begun in the French capital, with an opening ceremony celebrating how humans can rise above adversity. More than 4,000 disabled athletes from 168 delegations will be vying for medals in 11 days of competition.

Transcript

00:00DWS correspondent Rosie Burchard told us more about the atmosphere at that opening ceremony.

00:05There is a real buzz about Paris as the City of Light welcomes the Paralympic torch.

00:11We saw thousands of Paralympians parading down the Champs-Élysées, that famous Paris

00:16street, representing more than 160 delegations.

00:21And already on Thursday, the first medals are up for grabs in sports including para-taekwondo,

00:27para-table tennis and para-swimming.

00:29Now, the arrival of this Paralympic torch, the beginning of the Games, is also putting

00:35a spotlight on the question of accessibility in Paris and in fact the mastermind behind

00:40the opening ceremony said for him it was also all about the idea of paradox, this idea that

00:45Paris, as a city, is hosting the Paralympic Games.

00:49It's put plenty of funding into trying to adapt to make the city more accessible but

00:54key things like the metro still really remain out of reach, especially for anyone with any

00:59sort of reduced mobility.

01:01Now, there are still tickets on sale for the Paralympics, there have been about two million

01:07of them sold so far and still about 500,000 to go.

01:11They're going for as little as 15 euros or less than 17 US dollars.

01:15Some of them will be going to school kids because it's right ready to go into back-to-school

01:19season now here in France and it would usually be also the season for a new political cycle.

01:26However, there is a political impasse rumbling on here in France after snap elections last

01:32month produced no clear winner and there's a real danger that to some extent that kind

01:37of political crisis could distract from these Games.

01:41You can be sure that President Emmanuel Macron will be trying to keep the focus on the sport

01:45and letting the Paralympics begin.

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