A gold medal opened the French team’s counter-attack in style. Other podium finishes (two silver medals) confirmed the French ambitions. Victories until the very end to test the strength of character of Les Bleus. The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games began on Thursday 29 August, as the Olympic fortnight began, with a bang. And, for those who doubted the ability of the public to thrill as much during this new sporting session as it did between 26 July and 10 August, this first day of competition provided convincing answers.
The end of the summer holidays for many families and the approaching start of the school year do not seem to have dampened the enthusiasm of the French for these home Games. At the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines velodrome (Yvelines), for example, the atmosphere was heightened on Thursday. The stands began to fill up around midday and the public came out to cheer on Marie Patouillet and Heïdi Gaugain, who opened the rankings in the competition. 500-metre time trial (category C4-C5).
Then, in an arena packed with blue supporters, but also Italians, Irish, Danes and Argentinians, at around 3.45pm the French disabled sports team began to collect its first medal, a silver medal. During its two laps, the stadium began to vibrate, cheering and applauding it. “Allez Marie, Allez Marie…” “I literally let myself be carried away by the audience”welcomed the runner.
An hour earlier, the atmosphere had already begun to boil with Alexandre Lloveras and Yoan Paillot in tandem (4,000m pursuit). “It was far beyond what we had imagined, said Alexandre Lloveras. We felt like we had the whole of France behind us. This was not enough to reach the final for the Tokyo Olympic champion, who now competes in the road events.
The loud applause from the spectators gathered under the nave of the Grand Palais in Paris was not enough to prevent the elimination of French para-taekwondo veteran Bopha Kong. The 43-year-old four-time world champion, weakened by a knee injury, was defeated twice in the quarter-finals and in the play-offs.
“In difficult times he helped us a lot”
the audience of The Paris La Défense Arena in Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine) did not need a warm-up lap to light up the stands on the first day of swimming. At the end of the afternoon, Ugo Didier from Toulouse was applauded like a rock star in the pool by the 15,000 spectators, where the announcer had to call for silence to silence the spectators. “Ugo”. A fervour that accompanied the 22-year-old athlete throughout the 400m freestyle final, which he won ahead of Italy’s Simone Barlaam and Australia’s Brenden Hall.
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