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A more traditional Opening Ceremony than the Olympic Games, with the Eiffel Tower lit as a backdrop crowned by a glorious sunset.
The 17th Summer Paralympic Games began with a parade of 168 delegations along the Champs-Elysées, ending in La Place de la Concorde.
It was simple, powerful and classical, witnessed by 65,000 seated in the largest and most historic square in the capital of France.
For the next 11days, 4,400 Paralympic athletes from those 168 delegations, including a refugee team, will compete in 549 medal events in 22 sports. A Games of mind, body and spirit and extraordinary sporting endeavour.
Andrew Parsons, head of the Paralympic movement, sitting alongside Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, summed up the symbolism of the Opening Ceremony’s picture-perfect parade of music, dance and celebration of athletes with impairments.
“The concept was always that by staging the event in the Champs Elysées and the Place de la Concorde was the city embracing the Paralympic athletes, and the Paralympic movement. We are seeing it as a gigantic hug for our athletes and this cannot be more positive,” said Parsons.
”We cannot fix centuries of neglect in seven years of preparation but we can accelerate the amelioration of the lives of people living with disability.”
Tony Estanguet, president of the 2024 organising committee, speaking before Parsons, said: “We are determined to give everything – our hearts, our souls, and above all you will find an entire country in love with the Games to host you for the first time.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer arrived at the Elysee Palace earlier to be greeted by president Macron after his summit in Germany. He was on his feet, smiling and waving at the 50-strong contingent from ParalympicsGB led by flag bearers Lucy Shuker and Terry Bywater.
The entire team numbers 215, but a hard-nosed plan by Chef de Mission Penny Briscoe saw the remaining athletes sit out the proceedings.
“We have the most complex master plan ever,” said Briscoe.
This ParalympicsGB team is about winning, not parading, and get underway on a busy opening day.
Opening Ceremony: as it happened
10:41 PM BST
Not quite finally
Here come the foreworks as the song draws to a close and the stage is festooned with vibrantly coloured grafitti by the performers.
That’s that, then.
Magical opening ceremony. “As good as London’s,” says Rob Walker. Hmmm … It was better.
10:39 PM BST
And finally …
It’s the return of Christine and the Queens to close the opening ceremony.
Blimey, he’s doing a cover of Patrick Hernández’s Born to be Alive.
10:37 PM BST
The cauldron is lit
And 11 days of elite para sport will now commence in a little over eight hours.
The cauldron is lifted into the sky, seemingly by the balloon above it in a spine-tingling optical illusion.
10:32 PM BST
The relay continues
Until they reach Jardin des Tuileries where they will light the Montogolfier inspired cauldron that became such a familiar sight at the Olympics.
10:29 PM BST
Simply the best
Best Opening Ceremony I’ve seen at the Paralympics. Magical. Divine. Diverse. Incredible setting, classic.
It startedslowly, but the several acts, the powerful speeches, all add up to top marks. Enchanting. Paris at its best. The French at their most formidable.
What a show... befitting of the 4400 athletes who will now show just why they are at the forefront of their own physicality.
10:28 PM BST
The flame is taken out of Place de la Concorde
In relay to the cauldron by legends of the past giving way to legends of the present.
10:17 PM BST
And the next tune for the torch choreography?
Ravel’s Bolero. This has been for more intimate, far more classical, far more beautiful than the Olympics opening ceremony which was ambitious but could not pull it off on the rain, boldly though they tried. Pitch perfect and picture perfect.
10:16 PM BST
The Paralympic flame is coming down the Champs-Elysees
To join the other torches (there are 12 in total in the Paralympics, taken around the country). Twelve Paralympians will take their flame from Place de la Concorde to light the cauldron. The flame was brought over from Stoke Mandeville, the spiritual home of Paralympic Sport by virtue of the pioneering zeal of Ludwig Guttmann.
10:14 PM BST
A musical interlude
It’s the great Sébastien Tellier. looking ever more like the late Chas Hodges out of Chas ’n’ Dave by the day. He’s pretty special.
10:06 PM BST
Four French athletes
Read out the Paralympic oath, pledging to honour and respect their fellow athletes and the Paralympic spirit.
10:03 PM BST
The Paralympic flag is brought on to the stage
By Britain’s Jihn McFall, a bronze medal winner in Tokyo and an astronaut, along with French sailor Damien Seguin. The flag is raised by a party of servicemen and women as the Paralympic anthem is played in extraordinary fashion by Luan Pommier.
09:59 PM BST
The routine continues
This element is called ‘Sportography’ with performers in white, some with white flags, others on recumbent paracycles, others in wheelchairs, some with headguards …
09:49 PM BST
Closing phase
A quite stunning dance routine on the stage around the Obelisk of Luxor starts the closing phase of the opening ceremony. After an ensemble performance Musa Motha comes on to the stage at the front and shows off the skills that had Britain’s Got Talent and America’s Got Talent transfixed.
The staging is amazing. The Klieg Lights are illuminating the Obelisk in white.
09:44 PM BST
As much Estanguet as I managed to type
Tonight is the start of the most beautiful of revolutions, the Paralympic revolution.
Like our ancestors you have panache. Like them you are fighting for a cause bigger than you. In your case your weapons are your records. When they said it was impossible you did it. And tonight you’re inviting us to join you in your Paralympic revolution, to give everybody their full place. When the sport starts we will no longer see disabilities but champions. You have no limits, so let us stop imposing limits on you. A gentle revolution but one that is going to profoundly change us for ever. On September 9 we will wake up different.
Thank you dear athletes. There are 4,400 Paralympians in Paris. You are the best para athletes in the world. You represent 168 delegations. You inspire us. Above all, you will find an entire country in the love with the Games, who are so proud to host you for the very first time. We’ll be like kids when you’re at the starting line, we’ll be like coaches when the match comes and we’ll be like crazy people when you cross the finish line.
Full transcript to follow.
09:40 PM BST
Emmanuel Macron declares the Paralympics open
Invited by Estanguet, he uses the usual formula to declare the commencement of the 2024 Paris Paralympics. Short and sweet:
It’s only just begun. I proclaim the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games open.
09:36 PM BST
Andrew Parsons’ perpration
Let’s hope, mon cher ami Tony Paris 2024 starts a revolution, an inclusion revolution. Marchons, marchons … vive la revolution d’inclusion. Vive la France!
09:30 PM BST
Time for the speeches
First up is Tony Estanguet, president of the 2024 organising committee followed by Andrew Parsons, chair of the International Paralympic Committee.
Estanguet’s is a wonderful speech, full of inspiring thoughts and fun. Optimism and empathy abounds. I will post a transcription in the next few minutes.
09:21 PM BST
‘Please be upstanding, if you can, for the national anthem of France’
Four service personnel raise the tricolor.
And the national anthem is played by a flautist leading the orchestra. The Obleisk is lit up in blue, white and red stripes up all four sides.
It’s a tremendous arrangement of an unimprovable melody.
09:18 PM BST
Time for another VT
Showing golden Paralympic moments from history. How moving.
09:16 PM BST
We have about an hour to go
And this part of the Discord to Concord theme, the arrow over halfway to Concord now, begins with some extraordinary choreography with performers in wheelchairs and others with mobility issues on crutches. In the middle of this cocoon, a moustachioed singer who takes off his jacket emerges singing ‘Do I cry as you do, do I sing as you do, what’s the difference?’.
Some marvellous work on the cellos to accompany him.
It’s My Ability by Lucky Love AKA Luc Bruyère.
09:10 PM BST
The parade is over
France brought it to a close and deservedly milked it for all it was worth with a lap of the Obelisk of Luxor. Who wouldn’t?
Now they are showing a film of Paralympians and other people with disabilities talking about their inspirations and motivations, talking about their lives.
08:57 PM BST
And finally… France
The third largest delegation at the Games and seemingly the second tonight, the whole team turning up.
They are serenaded by Joe Dassin’s Les Champs-Elysées.
Quelle fierté de voir la France clôturer ce magnifique défilé ! #paralympiques pic.twitter.com/zCKOJAXeiS
— Christophe Tardieu (@TardieuCh) August 28, 2024
08:55 PM BST
USA are the penultimate team
As the next hosts they precede France by protocol. They are wearing Ralph Lauren blazers and jeans.
08:52 PM BST
Cacophonous reception for Ukraine too
Another standing ovation for the delegation from Ukraine.
08:51 PM BST
Glorious spectacle highlights Olympics shortcomings
The more you study this Paralympic opening ceremony, the more you question whether the Olympians had quite the exposure they deserved last month under Parisian downpours. Trussed up in cagoules along the Seine in weather akin to a car wash, they seemed that night to be at a remove from their own party. The sense of detachment has been aptly corrected here, with this extraordinarily elegant parade around the Luxor Obelisk. The picture-perfect sunset has helped, of course, but so too has the proximity of the athletes to spectators. It has made the river spectacular look untidy and diffuse by comparison.
08:42 PM BST
Palestine team was given a resounding reception
08:39 PM BST
VIP gantry-dwellers stand up and applaud
For the entrance of the Refugee team, representing 120 million forcibly displaced people globally.
08:33 PM BST
The Parisian sunset is a glorious setting for the ceremony
We’re just over halfway through the parade now. Pakistan are the latest team to enter followed by Palestine who receive the loudest cheer so far.
08:29 PM BST
Israel closely follow Iran in the parade
08:27 PM BST
Chez GB
Aside from this now glorious ceremony - a more traditional opening than the Olympics Games here, which as we know was themed on water – the ParalympicsGB digs are making serious noise at the Athletes’ Village... unmissable.
08:14 PM BST
Here’s a better shot of the British team
08:03 PM BST
Gareth has to wait no more
ParalympicsGB’s delegation arrives at Place de la Concorde. Sir Keir Starmer is on his feet and smiling and waving at the 50-strong contingent led by Lucy Shuker and Terry Bywater.
07:57 PM BST
Practicality trumps parading
Awaiting the ParalympicsGB team, and hearing that for the Opening Ceremony parade, it will be 50 in total (of the 2015-strong team) with eight athletes, including flagbearers Terry Bywater (wheelchair basketball) and Lucy Shuker (wheelchair tennis) with the rest made up of team staff. A hard-nosed plan by Chef de Mission Penny Briscoe which is all about performance. This team is about winning, not parading.
07:54 PM BST
China have topped the medals table from Athens onwards
And are likely to do so again given the size of their team and their huge investment in para sport:
07:49 PM BST
Quite a sight
To see the teams coming down Champs-Elysées and into Place de la Concorde:
07:43 PM BST
The athletes’ parade continues
Germany make their way down the Champs-Elysées.
Plenty of Partridgean facts about each country accompany the parade courtesy of Rob Walker.
07:36 PM BST
Tricolor in the sky
07:34 PM BST
The Phryge car
07:31 PM BST
Some highlights of the Discord to Concord opening phase
07:26 PM BST
Eight and counting
Delighted to be here at my eighth Paralympic Summer Games for The Telegraph, sitting here at Place de la Concorde. From a charity organisation as the GB team was when I first attended the Games, in Atlanta in 1996, we are now the envy of the world with powerful funding, planning and legacy. London 2012 was a watershed. The team has punched above its weight again and again at the top of the medal table, finishing second in Tokyo three years ago.
This GB team, a group of 215 athletes competing in 19 of the 22 sports, underwritten in the last cycle since Tokyo by almost £69 million from UK Sport, has a target of between 100 and 140 medals. The GB second place in the medals table to China in Tokyo three years ago, with 41 gold medals and 124 overall. China topped the table with a staggering 217 medals, 96 of which were gold. Then again, the People’s Republic does have 65 million citizens with disabilities... near enough the population of the UK.
07:25 PM BST
Now seven aircraft of Patrouille de France
Leave a tricolor above the Champs Elysées and Place de la Concorde with two streaking red smoke and two blue flanking three trailing white.
That’s the signal to start the athletes’ parade which will take 90 minutes, we are told. Good Lord. Amphetamine sulphate all round.
Afghanistan begin the parade, not the refugee team as they did in Tokyo. Next up, following the French names in alphabetical order, is L’Afrique du Sud.
07:21 PM BST
C4 misses a good four minutes
And when they return we are treated to more dancing around the Obelisk.
Yes, that is a car covered in Phryges driving through the streets of Paris.
Here's a closer look 👀
📸: Maja Hitij | Getty Images pic.twitter.com/rG3ScgNqFX
— Paralympic Games (@Paralympics) August 28, 2024
Héloïse Adélaïde Letissier of Christine and the Queens strides from piano to piano singing his interpretation of Non, je ne regrette rien.
07:11 PM BST
Chilly Gonzalez takes to the piano
And begins pounding out a composition on the stage erected around the Obelisk of Luxor. There are several more pianos set up, without stools and pianists as yet, and on come the performers with flags as well as numerous dancers.
The pianist-less pianos are there for dancers dressed as the Men in Black to pretend to strike on the accented sections.
That taxi covered in mascots has just rolled up too. Avant-garde and suitably baffling.
Ah, here’s Théo, Joe le Phryge Taxi, striding up the steps and declaring: ‘Welcome to Paris.’
At which point C4 takes an ad break.
07:05 PM BST
And here we go
With a sweet film about the design of the mascots with our host, Théo, who festoons a taxi with six dozen mascots and chats with a series of home Paralympians in the passenger seat en route to the Place de la Concorde.
And then we switch to the introduction of President Macron.
07:00 PM BST
Krishnan Guru-Murthy is C4’s lead commentator
Alongside Rob Walker. He says that the opening ceremony is titled Paradox: From discord to concord and encompasses five phases. He does not mention how many of the five will be surreal.
06:47 PM BST
Andrew Parsons, president of the International Paralympic Committee, speaks
The concept was always that [by staging the event] in the Champs Elysées and the Place de la Concorde it’s like the city’s embracing the Paralympic athletes, the Paralympic movement. We are seeing it as a gigantic hug for our athletes and this cannot be more positive.
We cannot fix centuries of neglect in seven years of preparation but we can accelerate [the amelioration of the lives of people living with disability]
06:43 PM BST
Playing the greatest hits
Like the Olympics, the coverage initially is skewed by a desire to compare everything with London 2012. “Sir, sir, am I still best?” Tanni Grey-Thompson predicts between 100-140 medals and a top five place on the medals table.
06:38 PM BST
Channel 4’s coverage begins
Clare Balding is the host after Ade Apitan introduces the opening credits. Balding is on Pont Alexandre III, a terrible Tsar if not as poor as his son, but who cares now …
06:13 PM BST
Shame of the nation
Baroness Grey-Thompson, one of Britain’s most successful Paralympians who was travelling to Paris to join the BBC’s radio commentary team, said she was angry on Monday after waiting 16 minutes for London North Eastern Railway staff to help her disembark the train. No member of staff who had been insured to help her leave the carriage was available.
The full story is here:
Baroness Grey-Thompson having to crawl off train ‘an absolute disgrace’, says ParalympicsGB chief
06:01 PM BST
The Paralympic symbol’s meaning
The International Paralympic Committee writes:
The Paralympic symbol is the heart of our identity, symbolising the Paralympic values of courage, determination, inspiration and equality.
The three elements of the Agitos (from the Latin meaning “I move”) encircling a central point symbolise motion and emphasise the role of the Paralympic Movement in bringing athletes together from all corners of the world to compete and achieve sporting excellence. The symbol also emphasises the fact that Paralympic athletes are constantly inspiring and exciting the world with their performances: always moving forward and never giving up
05:52 PM BST
Paralympics GB flagbearers
From being paralysed in a crash to GB Paralympics flagbearer – Lucy Shuker’s amazing journey:
05:50 PM BST
Jackie Chan was one of today’s torchbearers
05:42 PM BST
Sir Keir Starmer is at the opening ceremony
05:40 PM BST
The best of the Paralympics
Starting tomorrow and for the following 11 days, there is a feast of Paralympic sport to enjoy. Here’s our pick of the events and people to watch:
04:30 PM BST
Preview: Jolly good show?
Good evening and welcome to live coverage of the opening ceremony of the 17th Paralympic Games, from Paris, only 33 days on from the rainswept opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games on the Seine and throughout the City of Lights. Today’s festivities, starting at 7pm BST and broadcast live on Channel 4 in the UK, have Thomas Jolly as artistic director, the same man who devised the Olympics’ opening ceremony which divided opinion so markedly. Instead of using the entire city as his canvas, the Paralympics will be more intimate by design, sticking with the concept of hosting it away from the main stadium but using the glorious setting of Les Champs-Élysées and Place de la Concorde rather than sprawling throughout the arrondissem*nts.
We know very little about the plans for Jolly’s spectacle but there are some elements that are fixed: 4,400 Paralympic athletes will parade down the Champs-Élysées to Place de la Concorde in 184 national delegations, beginning with the refugee team, France’s tricolor will be raised and La Marseillaise sung and after the ‘show’ the Paralympic flag is also raised, speeches made declaring the ‘Spirit in Motion’ values and the Games open, oaths delivered and the Paralympic cauldron – which, after the stunning tribute to the Montgolfier brothers a month ago will be difficult to top – lit by the final torchbearer or bearers.
The flag of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland will be carried by seven-time Paralympian wheelchair basketball player Terry Bywater and wheelchair tennis’s Lucy Shuker who is competing at her fifth Games. The United States have entrusted the gold medallists Steve Serio (wheelchair basketball) and Nicky Nieves (sitting volleyball) with the honour tonight in the only part of the proceedings we can predict with any certainty. At least it has been warm and dry this afternoon and we ought to have a glorious setting for Jolly’s encapsulation “showcasing the Paralympic athletes and the values that they embody” in “performances that have never been seen before”. In other words, another Bohemian rhapsody on the Paralympic ideals replete with dance, mime and pseudish musings on the meaning of life made manifest.
