LIVE. Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony: Controversial Show, Stars Present… The Detail

The 2024 Paralympic Games officially begin this Wednesday, August 28 with the opening ceremony, discover all the information about the show.

The essentials

• The opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games will begin at 8 p.m. on the Place de la Concorde. It will start with the music Parade, the theme of the Games. A new version of La Marseillaise will also sound just after to launch the show. This ceremony is based on the concept of “Paradox”. “We have drawn two sons. Athletes with disabilities are celebrated in a city that is not adapted to them on a daily basis. Putting this city as the backdrop for the Paralympics is a first paradox. The second is linked to the Place de la Concorde which has also been " a hotbed of discord," explained Thomas Jolly. The authors of the ceremony have a desire to “disturb”.
• For the moment, the panel of stars present is still unknown. Alexander Ekman, a Swedish choreographer, wants to bring back ballroom dancing and jazz will be the main theme of the musical atmosphere.
• The one hundred and eighty-four delegations of the Paralympic Games will descend the avenue from the Arc de Triomphe which displays the symbol of the Paralympic Games, the Agitos. Among them, 240 French athletes are expected for this “popular parade”, led by sprinter Nantenin Keita and triathlete Alexis Hanquinquant

Live

14:30 – The village is in full swing again

Two weeks after the Olympians left the athletes' village, there are nearly 9,000 of them, including the staff present after having invested the Paralympic village. Very little development was necessary, the village having been designed to accommodate Paralympic athletes without any worries.

14:00 – The flame is in Paris

After a four-day journey across France, the Paralympic flame has arrived in Paris and the cauldron at the Hôtel de Ville will be lit in the evening by Cyréna Samba-Mayela and Ryadh Sallem.

Discover all the images from the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games

13:30 – "Getting out of the clichés"

This is the stated objective by the organizers of the Paralympic Games opening ceremony tonight, starting with Thomas Jolly. For the first ceremony in history to be held outside a stadium, the director wants to highlight “a message of inclusion and normality towards people with disabilities”

13:00 – Still 500,000 tickets available

More than two million tickets have been sold so far for the Paralympic Games, and the organising committee announced on Tuesday that 500,000 tickets, including for “iconic venues”, would be put back on sale. of the Grand Palais, the Invalides and the Château de Versailles.

12:30 – Ideal weather for the opening ceremony

While the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games was marked by rain and bad weather, there is no need to worry about the Paralympic ceremony. Good weather is forecast and even the heat, since 28°C is forecast.

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12:00 – The cauldron is open to all

For the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games tonight, several thousand people will be able to access the Tuileries Gardens for free and without reservation to admire the cauldron and the flame taking off.

11:30 – Alexis Hanquinquant on a mission

The flag bearer for the French team is the master of his classification in the triathlon. On a difficult course, Alexis Hanquinquant is counting on his swimming power to make a first difference.

11:00 – A standardization of bonuses

As has been the case since 2008, French athletes at the Paralympic Games will receive the same bonuses as their Olympian counterparts if they win a medal. €80,000 for a gold medal, €40,000 for silver and €20,000 for bronze. However, this uniformity is not the norm. This is the first time that this will be the case for countries like Spain or Belgium.

10:30 – Objective top 8

For these Paralympic Games at home, the president of the CPSF Marie-Amélie Le Fur has announced her intentions: France wants to enter the top eight in the medal rankings. To do this, it will have to double the number of titles from Tokyo (11 gold medals). In 2021 the French delegation finished 14th.

10:00 – 15,000 police officers and gendarmes mobilized

Although the route is shorter and less difficult to secure than for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, the security system set up by the Ministry of the Interior remains large-scale, with 15,000 police forces deployed around the Place de la Concorde, the Tuileries Gardens and the Avenue des Champs-Elysées.

09:30 – 182 delegations present

More than 4,400 athletes will parade on the Champs Elysées this Wednesday evening, divided into 182 different delegations. The French delegation, led by flag bearers Alexis Hanquinquant and Nantenin Keita, will include 240 athletes.

09:00 – Choreography entrusted to Swede Alexander Ekman

Thomas Jolly is once again at the helm for the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games, and the latter has chosen to surround himself with Swedish dancer Alexander Ekman for the choreography, who has notably has already collaborated with the Paris Opera, and has staged more than 50 ballets around the world.

08:30 – “A unique exhibition”

As with the Olympic Games, Tony Estanguet is banking heavily on the opening ceremony to boost the momentum of the Paralympic Games. “To shine a light on the exploits of Paralympic athletes, the values ​​they embody and the emotions they make us experience, Paris 2024 wanted to offer them an unprecedented window of exposure by organizing the first Paralympic Games opening ceremony outside a stadium.”

Hello everyone and welcome to the Paralympic Games opening ceremony. Meet at 8pm on the Champs-Elysées for the parade of 6,000 athletes heading towards Place de la Concorde, and all day on the L'Internaute website for the latest information.