The opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Paralympics took place on the evening of 28 August 2024 at the Place de la Concorde in Paris. It was the first time that a Paralympic Games opening ceremony was held outside of a stadium. Like the 2024 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, this event was directed by Alexander Ekman. The ceremony was themed around the human body and "history and its paradoxes",[1] and featured more than 500 dancers and performers. Unlike the Olympics opening ceremony, which took place mostly under rain, the weather was clear and sunny with a view of sunset during the ceremony.
The Parade of Nations took place on the Champs-Élysées starting at the Rond-point des Champs-Élysées, and ending at Place de la Concorde.[2] The final leg culminated with multiple torch bearers coming together, who then lit the Paralympic cauldron, a ring of 40 computerised LEDs and 200 high-pressure water aerosol spray dispensers which was topped by a 30-metre-tall helium sphere resembling a hot air balloon, rising in the air, reminiscent of the Montgolfier brothers' experiments leading to the first hot air balloon flight in 1783. Performers included French singer Christine and the Queens.
Preparations
The opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Paralympics took place on the evening of 28 August 2024 at the Place de la Concorde in Paris. It was the first time that a Paralympic Games opening ceremony had been held outside of a stadium.[3] The venue was already equipped with temporary stands installed a few weeks earlier for the Olympic skateboarding, breakdancing, BMX freestyle and 3X3 basketball events. Seating was provided for 35,000 paying and accredited spectators. Another 30,000 spectators could view the parade to the Place de la Concorde for free from along the Champs-Elysées.[4]
Unlike the Olympic opening ceremony, which took place in cold weather and mostly in the rain, the skies were clear, with a view of a colourful sunset during the ceremony. It was warm, at 30°C, and somewhat humid.[5][6] The stage consisted of two runways flanking the Luxor Obelisk. At the end of each were huge cylindrical video screens. The ceremony involved 500 performers. There were 1,100 accredited media present, and the event was viewed by an estimated television audience of 300 million.[7][8] Security was provided by 15,000 personnel.[9] The ceremony was themed around the human body and "history and its paradoxes",[1] and was titled "Paradox: Form Discord to Concord". Each artistic sequence was built around the theme of working together to create a better and more inclusive society.[8]
The ceremony opened with a video featuring Théo Curin [fr], a French Paralympic swimmer and a member of the Athletes' Commission of the Paris Organising Committee for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Curin was the host of a show called "Théo Le Taxi" on France Télévisions, the official broadcaster of the 2024 Paralympic Games. For the opening ceremony, he arrived in a taxi provided by Toyota, one of the Games' sponsors, and decorated with hundreds of toy Phryges, the Games' ubiquitous mascot.[8][12]
Official Introduction
The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, and the President of the International Paralympic Committee, Andrew Parsons, were introduced.
Discord
Chilly Gonzales opened the sequence with a piano performance. He was joined by 140 dancers in suits representing the "Strict Society", whose costumes symbolized rigidity, and 16 performers with disabilities representing the "Creative Gang", whose costumes symbolized freedom. The Creative Gang included Chelsie Hill, a founder of the Rollettes wheelchair dance team, and Israeli Para dancing champion Tomer Margalit and her dance partner Orel Chalaf.
"Strict Society" dancers perform before a Toyota taxi decorated with toy Phryges
"Strict Society" and "Creative Gang" dancers with Chelsie Hill (in wheelchair)
"Strict Society" dancers
The interactions between both groups on stage was meant as a representation of the paradoxical relationship between persons with disabilities and wider society, with the choreography depicting inappropriate gestures, acts of exclusion, and the objectification of the Creative Gang by the Strict Society.
Olympic and Paralympic Phryges danced and play acted on stage while the 168 delegations of athletes entered the Place de Concorde in French alphabetical order, except for Australia, the United States and France, which brought up the rear in that order as the host nations of the 2032, 2028 and 2024 Summer Paralympics respectively. As the French contingent entered, Joe Dassin's "Les Champs-Élysées" as well as Yann Tiersen's theme from the film Amélie were played, and the crowd chanted "Allez Les Bleus".[15][8][9]
The Patrouille de France flies over the Place de la Concorde to start the parade
My Ability
The segment opened with a film depicting various persons with disabilities narrating their journeys to self-acceptance over their disabilities.
Afterwards, the one-armed French singer Lucky Love [fr] sang "My Ability", with the Strict Society joining him.[16] This sequence represented the Strict Society's realization of their internalized prejudices, leading to self reflections and their awakening.[8]
French Flag and Anthem, Speeches
A video was shown depicting the origins of the Paralympic movement under Sir Ludwig Guttmann at the spinal injuries hospital in Stoke Mandeville in the UK.
A video was shown in which blind Canadian YouTube personality Molly Burke, quadriplegic Martin Petit, and amputee Lucie Retail spoke frankly about their respective disabilities, the way they affect their lives and the way they are perceived and treated by others.
The segment depicted both groups coming together, blending dance, sport, and art into a fictional game that highlighted teamwork and adaptive sport, as well as the overcoming of physical differences.[8]
Paralympic Flag, Anthem and Oaths
The Paralympic Flag is carried across the stage
The Paralympic flag was brought on stage by British Paralympic sprinter and astronaut John McFall and French sailor Damien Seguin, while visually impaired musician Luan Pommier, played the Paralympic Anthem on the piano.[8][18] French athletes Sandrine Martinet and Arnaud Assoumani took the Paralympic Oath, along with a coach and an official.[19]
Arrival of the Flame
The 2024 Summer Paralympics torch relay saw the Paralympic flame lit in Stoke Mandeville on 24 August and carried through the Channel Tunnel by 24 British and 24 French torch bearers. The flame was divided into twelve flames, which were carried through France by 1,000 torch bearers. As the flame entered the arena, it was greeted by 150 dancers and performers carrying torches.[8] To symbolise the connection between the Olympics and Paralympics, the flame was brought into the Place de la Concorde by Florent Manaudou, the flag bearer of the French Olympic team, and handed to Paralympian Michael Jeremiasz, the French Paralympic chef de mission.[19]
Concord
150 dancers with torches surround the Paralympic flame during the Concord segment
The flame was then carried in turn by three international Paralympic champions: Italian wheelchair fencer Bebe Vio, American skier, biathlete, cyclist and rower Oksana Masters and German long jumper Markus Rehm.
As the flame was handed over between the torchbearers, the 150 dancers carrying torches performed a choreography set to Maurice Ravel's Bolero. This represented the achieving of concord, a contrast to the previous segment Discord which opened the ceremony. The segment culminated with the formation of the Paralympic agitos, and the flame's departure from the Place de la Concorde.[8]
The ceremony concluded with a laser light and fireworks display. Dancers performed on stage, which was flooded with colour in tribute to British artist Sue Austin, who used a wheelchair to paint, while Christine and the Queens sang Patrick Hernandez's "Born to Be Alive".[8]
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