The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games have opened in spectacular style with a unique opening ceremony, held for the first time outside a stadium, on the Place de la Concorde. Para athletes from 168 delegations paraded around the largest square in Paris, which was transformed for one evening only into a magnificent open-air arena. Making their way around the Obelisk from the bottom of the Champs-Elysées, the Paralympians were given a magnificent stage to showcase Para sport to the world. At the end of the ceremony, the Paris 2024 Cauldron was lit once again and, illuminated by the Paralympic Flame, returned to the skies over Paris.
This exceptional show saw Alexander Ekman, artistic director and choreographer of the ceremony – chosen by Thomas Jolly, artistic director of the ceremonies of the Paris 2024 Games – bring together 500 artists, including more than 140 dancers and 16 performers with disabilities. The Place de la Concorde was transformed into a true scenographic showcase, designed by Bruno Delavenère to offer new perspectives on this great historical landmark of Paris and to showcase the performers’ bodies, accentuated by the costumes of young designer Louis Gabriel Nouchi. Victor le Masne provided the music and Thomas Dechandon the lighting, both lending their talents to an unforgettable evening, which drew 15,000 spectators to the foot of the Champs-Elysées and 35,000 to the square itself. Across five artistic ‘tableaux,’ the ceremony shared a strong and poetic message about inclusion and the place of people with disabilities in society.
After the athletes’ parade, two French Para athletes took the Paralympic Oath: Sandrine Martinet, French Paralympic triple bronze medallist and champion in Para judo in Rio 2016, and Arnaud Assoumani, French Paralympic champion in long jump in Beijing 2008, who is also a two-time silver and two-time bronze medallist. John Mc Fall, Paralympian and the first astronaut with a disability to join the European Space Agency, brought the Paralympic flag to the Place de la Concorde, alongside Damien Seguin, three-time French Paralympic medallist and the first Paralympic athlete to sail solo around the world, finishing 7th in the 2020-2021 edition of the Vendée Globe.
A rich and emotional musical programme to accompany the ceremony
A succession of artists took to the stage to set the protocol and artistic sequences to music, under the direction of Victor le Masne, musical director of the Paris 2024 ceremonies, accompanied by the Ensemble Matheus, an academy of young instrumentalists and singers.
First up, Canadian Chilly Gonzales, who has collaborated frequently with Victor Le Masne, accompanied the ceremony’s introductory sequence on the piano with an original work entitled ‘countdown,’ which set to music Alexander Ekman’s choreographic staging, set among multiple grand pianos. Christine and the Queens, an internationally acclaimed French artist, then performed a rendition of Edith Piaf’s ‘Non, je ne regrette rien,’ orchestrated by Victor Le Masne in a choppy, breathy style.
Myd, the new face of the Ed Banger stable, mixed the music for the Parade of Athletes around the Obelisk on Place de la Concorde with emblematic tracks such as ‘So flute’ by St Germain, ‘Quand je joue’ by Julien Clerc and ‘La Valse d’Amélie Poulain’ by Yann Tiersen. Lucky Love sang ‘My Ability’, an original and heartfelt creation, accompanied by a gospel choir. Luan Pommier, a real rising star from Guadeloupe, then introduced the Paralympic Anthem on the piano in a jazz and lyrical style. The arrival of the Paralympic Flame on the lower Champs-Elysées was accompanied by music from Sébastien Tellier, who performed his famous song ‘La Ritournelle’.
Christine and the Queens brought the ceremony to a close with a rendition of ‘Born to be alive’, the disco classic by Patrick Hernandez, arranged for the occasion by Victor Le Masne, in an explosion of joy and colour.
Twelve French and international Paralympic champions carried the flame to the Cauldron, accompanied by choreography to the rhythm of Ravel’s Bolero.
A link between Olympic and Paralympic athletes
Paris 2024 has always had the same ambition for the Paralympic Games as for the Olympic Games and has sought to strengthen the links between these two events, as demonstrated by the presence of the Paralympic flag bearers at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games and the handover ceremony between the Olympic athletes and the Paralympic athletes at the Olympic Games closing ceremony.
To symbolise this connection once again, it was Florent Manaudou, flag bearer for the French delegation and winner of 2 bronze medals at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, who brought the Flame to the Place de la Concorde and passed it on to Michael Jeremiasz, Paralympic champion in wheelchair tennis in Beijing 2008 and now chef de mission for the French delegation at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
Paris 2024 then chose to honour three international defending champions and legends of Paralympic sport in order to celebrate great athletes from around the world: Italian wheelchair fencer Bebe Vio, a two-time winner at the Tokyo Games and four-time medallist overall, American Oksana Masters, 17-time Paralympic medallist in four different Para sports (Para cross-country skiing, Para biathlon, Para cycling and Para rowing) and finally Markus Rehm: German Para athletics icon and three-time Paralympic long jump champion.
Three heavyweights of French Para sport were selected by Tony Estanguet, President of Paris 2024, to then carry the Paralympic Flame into the Jardin des Tuileries: Assia El Hannouni, the most successful French athlete in Para athletics with eight titles, including an exceptional four gold medals in Athens 2004, Christian Lachaud, the most successful French Para athlete at the Paralympic Games, with 10 gold medals and a total of 14 medals in wheelchair fencing, and finally Béatrice Hess, the most successful and most dedicated French athlete at the Olympic, Paralympic, summer and winter Games combined, with 26 medals including 20 gold.
At the end of this Paralympic Torch Relay, which will have been seen by 600,000 spectators over four days, with 12 flames travelling through each region of France, all converging simultaneously on Paris, the Paris 2024 Cauldron was lit together by the last five torchbearers, all from the French team competing in the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games: Alexis Hanquinquant, Paralympic champion in Para triathlon at Tokyo 2020; Nantenin Keita, Paralympic champion Para athletics, 400m, in Rio 2016 and four-time medallist overall; Charles-Antoine Kouakou, reigning Paralympic champion in the 400m T20 category in Tokyo 2020, in Para athletics; Elodie Lorandi, the most decorated active athlete with seven medals in Para swimming, including a gold in the 400m freestyle at London 2012 and Fabien Lamirault, the most successful French athlete of the Paris 2024 delegation, a four-time gold medallist in Para table tennis and six-time medallist overall.
Around the base of the Cauldron designed by Mathieu Lehanneur, 51 torchbearers selected by EDF, Premium Partner of Paris 2024, gathered to support the lighting. It is thanks to EDF, Premium Partner of Paris 2024, that the Paralympic Flame shines without fuel. A meticulous combination of light beams and mist means that the Flame can ‘burn’ with electricity as its sole source of energy.
An explosion of colour to round off a conscious and festive ceremony
The opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games ended with the sound of Born to Be Alive, revisited by Victor Le Masne and performed by Christine and the Queens, as the Place de la Concorde was simultaneously transformed into a giant canvas, on which the dancers painted a final colourful and creative work. The ceremony ended with this cheerful, enthusiastic and resolutely festive illustration of “concord,” carrying a message of hope. The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games can now begin!
