Once again, Paris has been transformed into a vibrant stage to celebrate sport and its athletes from around the world. But on Wednesday, August 28, like a blessing from above, the weather joined the celebration. Gone were the showers that fell at the opening of the Olympic Games on July 26. It was under a radiant sun and stifling heat that the XVIImy Summer Paralympic Games, with the help of 168 sports delegations and 500 artists or performers.
For these disabled champions, as for their able-bodied counterparts, the capital offered its splendid setting for an event that took place outside a stadium for the first time, as during the Olympic Games. The sky changed colour, turning pink the facades of the Arc de Triomphe, the National Assembly and the Hôtel de la Marine, then turning velvety dark over the immense stage created around the Obelisk of Concorde.
This square, where the BMX, skate, break and 3×3 basketball events were held during the Olympic Games, was completely remodeled to host the sports parade and the show designed under the direction of Swedish choreographer Alexander Ekman.
It was there, then, in front of the Egyptian column from the Temple of Luxor in Egypt, that the delegations arrived, after having descended to the bottom of the Champs-Élysées in front of 15,000 spectators. A crowd certainly less dense than that at the Olympic Games, but joyous, waving the colours of several countries and determined to seize the moment.
Place de la Concorde, 35,000 people in the stands
If many had come from Paris, like Christelle Tricot and Gauthier, her 11-year-old son, proud of the gift menus distributed by the teams to the lucky ones in the front rows: a bracelet from Indonesia, a key ring from Brazil or a British pin – others had made the trip especially. About fifty students from the Saint-Thomas d’Aquin high school in Flers (Orne) traveled for a whole week, as part of a school project started in 2021 and sponsored by Marie-José Perec. As for the Faerber family, their parents and their daughters from London, they say they have “we check, check and check the time again” before picking up their tickets to Paris.
They were able to attend the parade free of charge, even from afar. The 35,000 people seated in the stands around the square had to pay an entrance fee to be able to attend all the celebrations. Starting with the parade of athletes, marching behind their national flags. From the largest – China – to the smallest – Suriname, just one person – from the most soberly dressed to the most extravagant – the Indonesians in particular, dressed like queens, their heads surrounded by glittering crowns – the delegations followed one after another between rows of volunteers dancing and waving their arms rhythmically.
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