Key occasions
In the meantime Ade Adepitan, who will probably be writing for the Guardian in the course of the Paralympics, has been reflecting on London 2012, saying it “created heroes and redefined what the British public would perceive as a job mannequin”. He wonders whether or not the French can harness one thing related – “to see in the event that they actually perceive the facility of partaking that incapacity hero issue” – and if this could truly impact social change. His first column of the Video games is offered right here:
The Paris Olympics undoubtedly introduced new followers to the Video games – and the hope is that the Paralympics will do the identical. Unimaginable sport is assured over the next 11 days, with occasions starting from the physicality of wheelchair rugby to the precision of boccia. However for a lot of (together with me) what’s so particular in regards to the Paralympics is the superb human tales of resilience amid adversity, and the transformative energy of sport for disabled folks, epitomised by the France’s longest-serving Paralympian Ryadh Sallem. He’s been chatting with our Paris correspondent, Angelique Chrisafis, about his “rendezvous with future” at his dwelling Video games and the way sport saved his life.
When the French wheelchair rugby staff play their first match on Thursday, all eyes will probably be on Ryadh Sallem, whose extraordinary journey from thalidomide child to record-breaking athlete has made him one of many nation’s best-loved and longest-serving Paralympians.
Sallem, who will flip 54 on the Paris Video games – his sixth Paralympics – is finest recognized for competing in a number of sports activities. He started as a swimmer, breaking the 1991 world report for the 400m particular person medley. Then he realized circus juggling strategies in an effort to turn into one of many first wheelchair basketball gamers with out two full palms.
After Paralympic basketball, he selected the fast-paced depth of wheelchair rugby, which he describes as a fight, gladiator sport, competing in London and Rio. Ending his Paralympic profession in Paris, his dwelling metropolis, is a “rendezvous with future”, he says.
Sallem was born within the Tunisian coastal city of Monastir, with no legs, no left hand and a malformation of his proper hand. His mom had taken the drug thalidomide, which was used within the Nineteen Fifties and Sixties for morning illness however led to 1000’s of youngsters worldwide being born with out limbs.
“My grandfather fought for France within the second world struggle and he instructed my dad and mom: ‘If you wish to save your baby you must take him to France,’” he says. So, on the age of two, Sallem’s father took him to a French hospital rehabilitation centre exterior Paris. Sallem would spend nearly 20 years residing in what he described as a hospital setting with a faculty hooked up – a form of hospital boarding college – the place he had quite a few surgical procedures.
You possibly can learn the complete interview right here:
Opening ceremony set to start as Paris welcomes Paralympians
We’re now quarter-hour away from the beginning of proceedings. About 4,400 athletes from a report 182 delegations will parade alongside the Champs-Élysées, beginning on the Arc de Triomphe and ending on the Place de la Concorde, which is able to host the remainder of the ceremony. It’s at the moment a balmy 28 levels in Paris, in distinction to the chilly and moist climate that opened the Olympics, so the scene is about for a memorable night within the French capital, which is at the moment glistening within the sundown.
From the sports activities to the venues to which stars to look out for, right here’s a helpful information to the Paralympics, courtesy of Paul MacInnes:
What are the Paralympic Video games?
Eleven days of elite competitors throughout 22 sports activities. With no fewer than 549 medals at stake, 4,400 athletes will probably be participating from 128 totally different nations, every of them with a bodily or cognitive incapacity.
When does it begin?
The opening ceremony for the seventeenth summer time Paralympic Video games will happen in Paris on Wednesday 28 August from 7pm UK time. As with the Olympics this summer time, the ceremony will probably be staged not in a stadium however within the metropolis, with the situation shifting from the River Seine to the Champs Élysées. A “folks’s parade” will probably be accessible to most of the people earlier than arriving on the Place de la Concorde, previously the positioning of the Olympic “parc urbain”, which is able to then stage the climactic portion of the night and the lighting of the Paralympic torch. The sporting motion begins the subsequent day.
The place will the game be performed?
Various the venues you fell in love with earlier in the summertime are set to return, with 18 of the 35 Olympic places being repurposed for the Paralympics. The Stade de France and La Défense Area will as soon as once more host athletics and swimming, respectively, and biking will return to the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome. The sand has been faraway from the Eiffel Tower stadium in order that blind soccer can exchange seaside volleyball. The one occasion to be held exterior the French capital would be the para-shooting in Châteauroux.
What time will the motion be on?
You’ve got most likely already adjusted your physique clock to the challenges of consuming sport from the French capital and for these within the UK it’s not very exhausting (it’s an hour forward). The game will start at 8.30am within the morning native time and finish at 10.30pm.
What are the important thing occasions?
Very similar to the Olympics, the centrepiece of the Paralympic Video games is the observe and discipline programme. The competitors begins on Friday 30 August, runs for 9 days and produces medals on daily basis. Each Saturdays are significantly stuffed, with 7 September boasting no fewer than 22 finals over its two periods. Different marquee occasions to look out for would be the wheelchair rugby closing on Monday 2 September and finals day in the para-rowing at Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium on Sunday 1 September.
Which British stars ought to we glance out for?
Of the 215 athletes that type the ParalympicsGB staff this yr there are 81 debutants, which means an excellent probability for brand new heroes to be made. Amongst these contemporary names, look out for 19-year-old bike owner Archie Atkinson (racing within the C4 pursuit), the 13-year-old swimming prodigy Iona Winnifrith (going within the SB7 100m breaststroke and SM7 particular person medley) and Rachel Choong, world champion in para-badminton who’s making her debut on the Video games after her classification was lastly included in competitors.
You possibly can learn the remainder right here:
Stats time. Information will probably be damaged at these Paralympics, with the best ever variety of each delegations (182) and feminine athletes (about 2,000). The variety of feminine contributors is predicted to be at the very least double that at Sydney 2000 and they’re going to compete in a report 235 medal occasions.
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And the ideas of the president of the Worldwide Paralympic Committee, Andrew Parsons:
The idea was at all times that [by staging the event] within the Champs Élysées and the Place de la Concorde it’s like town’s embracing the Paralympic athletes, the Paralympic motion. We’re seeing it as a big hug for our athletes and this can’t be extra optimistic.
Extra from the Paris 2024 president, Tony Estanguet:
I imagine French persons are going to have the ability to make a distinction, to make these Paralympics their very own. We went past what we dreamed of with the Olympics, creating a real fervour, and I imagine it’s going to be the case with the Paralympics as nicely.
We selected goal to place the Video games throughout again to high school in France as a result of we need to make the most of the alternatives it presents. Again to high school is an efficient time to ship messages to college students, to point out inclusion and accessibility, to supply a possibility for schooling.
Here’s a taster of what we’re going to see ce soir.
Welcome to our protection of the Paris Paralympic Video games opening ceremony
Bon soir! So 17 days after the Olympics got here to an finish, it’s time to do all of it once more because the Paralympics get beneath approach in Paris. Hourra! I feel it’s honest to say that Half Un exceeded expectations – because the early French indifference in direction of the Olympics, poor climate and transport issues gave strategy to a festivity of nationalism and sport – and there’s already a way that Half Deux might do the identical.
Sure, there’s some native scepticism in regards to the timing of the Paralympics, which coincide with the top of Les Vacances in France, and it’s predicted Paris will welcome about half the quantity the guests that travelled for the Olympics. However after months of considerations over low ticket gross sales and questions on whether or not the French would embrace incapacity sport, there’s been an enormous upturn in curiosity, with greater than 2m of two.5m tickets offered and lots of occasions promoting out.
As a way to ship out a message of inclusivity and accessibility, tickets aren’t wanted to observe tonight’s athletes’ parade, which received’t be staged on the Stade de France however will as a substitute take spectators, rivals and TV viewers to the landmarks of Paris – simply because the Olympics opening ceremony did. About 4,400 athletes from 182 delegations will probably be parading alongside the Champs-Élysées from the Arc de Triomphe earlier than arriving on the Place de la Concorde, which offered such a memorable backdrop for the Olympic skateboarding, BMX and breaking competitions. The Place de la Concorde will then host the inventive performances and the lighting of the Paralympic torch.
Organisers are preserving the names of tonight’s performers beneath wraps – however after the Olympics opening ceremony included performances from Woman Gaga and Celine Dion, together with a guillotined Marie Antoinette, the Minions combating over the Mona Lisa and the controversial but unintentional Last Supper parody, it’s most likely smart to count on the surprising. What the Paris 2024 president, Tony Estanguet, has stated is that “the ceremony on the coronary heart of town is a robust image illustrating our ambition to capitalise on our nation internet hosting its first ever Paralympics to place the difficulty of inclusion for folks with disabilities on the coronary heart of our society”.
La cérémonie begin à: 20h Paris time (7pm UK time).
But it surely’s not all about parades and pizzazz, you understand: the competitors begins tomorrow morning in sports activities together with observe biking, swimming, taekwondo and desk tennis, with 549 gold medals on provide over the next 11 days.
