The opening ceremony of the Paris Paralympics got underway on Wednesday in the centre of the French capital, firing the starting gun on 11 days of intense competition.
Just as for the opening ceremony of the Olympics on the River Seine in July, it took place away from the main stadium for the first time at a Paralympics.
In balmy weather – in contrast to the heavy rain which blighted the opening of the Olympics on July 26 – the Games opened in Place de la Concorde, in the presence of French President Emmanuel Macron.
The ceremony will culminate with the lighting of the cauldron, which has already become a highly popular point of interest in the city since its debut at the Olympics.
When the sporting action begins on Thursday, a new generation of Paralympians will join seasoned veterans competing in many of the same venues that hosted Olympic sports.
A total of 18 of the 35 Olympic venues will be used for the Paralympics, which run until September 8, including the Grand Palais which scored rave reviews for its hosting of the fencing and taekwondo under an ornate roof.
The La Defense Arena will again host the swimming events and track and field will take place on the purple track of the Stade de France.
Sluggish ticket sales have picked up since the Olympics and more than two million of the 2.5 million available have been sold, with several venues sold out.
The Paralympic flame was lit at Stoke Mandeville hospital in England, the birthplace of the Games, and brought to France through the Channel Tunnel before touring French cities.
Theatre director Thomas Jolly, who also oversaw the Olympics opening ceremony, said there was a deep symbolism in having the Paralympics ceremony in the centre of the French capital – a city whose Metro system, in particular, is completely unadapted to the needs of wheelchair users.
“Putting Paralympic athletes in the heart of the city is already a political marker in the sense that the city is not sufficiently adapted to every handicapped person,” Jolly said earlier this week.
Organisers say wheelchair users can take Paris buses and they have laid on 1,000 specially adapted taxis as well.
