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Held at the Champs Elysees and the Place de la Concorde, the opening ceremony was the first Paralympics curtain-raiser to be held outside a stadium. read more
 "Top moments from the opening ceremony")
Fireworks explode during the opening ceremony of the Paris Paralympics. Reuters
French president Emmanuel Macron declared the Paralympic Games open on Wednesday after a glorious opening ceremony in which competitors were celebrated by volunteers and spectators on a calm summer night.
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Held at the Champs Elysees and the Place de la Concorde, the opening ceremony was the first Paralympics curtain-raiser to be held outside a stadium.
As with the Paris Olympics, security was tight, with some 15,000 law enforcement officers on site, but there was a light summer feeling to the evening in the French capital.
“Dear athletes, welcome to the country of love and revolution. Rest assured, tonight, no Storming of the Bastille, no guillotine, because tonight the most beautiful revolution starts — the Paralympic revolution,” Paris 2024 president Tony Estanguet said in his speech. “It’s a sweet revolution that will change all of us deeply.”
The live show started at the foot of the obelisk in Place de la Concorde with Canadian musician, songwriter, and producer Chilly Gonzales on the piano.
Artists with disabilities and impairments screamed together and ticked down the countdown to the Games opening. French singer Christine and the Queens delivered a pop rendition of Edith Piaf’s ‘Je ne regrette rien’.
Theme of the opening ceremony
The opening ceremony, directed by Swedish choreographer Alexander Ekman featured 500 artists and was named “Paradox, from discord to concord”, in a thinly-veiled reference to the Place de la Concorde, where the sold-out ceremony ended in front of over 50,000 spectators.
The ceremony was dedicated to convey the contradiction between a “society that claims to be inclusive but remains full of prejudice towards people with disabilities.”
‘Theo Le Taxi’
The opening ceremony began with French para swimmer Théo Curin driving a cab down the Champs-Élysées, in homage to popular French show “Théo Le Taxi.”
Curin’s cab was laden with numerous Phryges, the official mascot of the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The focus then shifted to the song and dance at the base of the La Concorde, with the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe looming in the background.
Canadian musician Chilly Gonzales sat at a piano as hundreds of dancers began a choreographed set. French singer and songwriter Christine and the Queens then took the stage.
Moments later, Curin pulled up in his taxi and walked onto the stage. He looked at the crowd and roared, “Welcome to Paris!” as the French colours shot into the sky.
John McFall carries the Paralympics flag
The Paralympic flag was carried by John McFall, who won a 100m bronze medal in the 2008 Beijing Paralympics for Great Britain before becoming the first person with a physical disability to be effectively cleared for future missions by the European Space Agency. He is now a reserve astronaut for the agency.
“I am truly honoured to be standing here today, as a Paralympian and a member of the astronaut reserve with a physical disability,” McFall had said earlier in a statement. “I like to think that my presence at this year’s ceremony, in my new role at the European Space Agency, attests to and embodies the success, reach and legacy of the Paralympic movement.”
McFall, alongside French sailor and Paralympic champion Damien Seguin, carried the Paralympic flags during the opening ceremony.
Cauldron gets lit again
After a relay of the torch through the Jardin des Tuileries, the cauldron, 17 days after the Olympics ended, was lit again near the Louvre Museum by five French paralympic athletes – Alexis Hanquinquant (triathlon), Nantenin Keita (athletics), Elodie Lorandi (swimming), Charles-Antoine Kouakou (athletics) and Fabien Lamirault (table tennis).
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English (US) ·