The opening ceremony, prepared by artistic director Thomas Jolly, will take place outside the stadium, just like the Olympic competition. This time, the athletes’ parade will take place on the Champs Elysees, while the grand finale will take place on the Place de la Concorde.
According to the organizers’ estimates, about 50,000 people are expected to take part in the ceremony, 15,000 of whom are to occupy seats open to the public.
For the duration of the event, 25,000 policemen and gendarmes will be mobilized, as well as 10,000 private sector security guards and 8,000 soldiers from the special operation “Sentinelle”.
Some 4,400 Paralympians are set to compete in Paris, including 88 Russians and eight Belarusians under a neutral flag. Athletes from these countries had to meet the International Olympic Committee’s requirements to be eligible to compete because of their invasion of Ukraine. These were the same criteria as for Olympians.
The athletes have access to the same village that the athletes lived in at the turn of July and August, only slightly smaller. The facility was built with accessibility for people with disabilities in mind, but it has undergone several modifications, such as adding seats in the bathrooms and a prosthetic repair center. The buildings, which opened last Wednesday, can accommodate up to 9,000 people, not only Paralympians but also their assistants, carers, doctors and physiotherapists.
Ticket sales, which began last October, have seen increased interest during the Olympics, with more than 1.9 million tickets sold or allocated last Sunday alone.
The greatest interest among fans is enjoyed by disciplines held in locations that made an impression during the Olympians’ competition, including wheelchair fencing at the Grand Palais, dressage in Versailles and football for the visually impaired at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.
The Polish national team includes 84 athletes – 41 women and 43 men. Nine will start with the support of an assistant, pilot or guide. The white and reds will compete in 15 disciplines out of 22 disciplines.
The Paralympics programme includes: visually impaired football, badminton, bocce, archery, dressage, weightlifting, goalball, judo, kayaking, athletics, cycling, wheelchair basketball, wheelchair fencing, wheelchair rugby, wheelchair tennis, rowing, swimming, sitting volleyball, shooting, taekwondo, table tennis and triathlon.
Poles will be absent from visually impaired football, goalball (a team game for the blind and visually impaired; each team has three players on a volleyball-sized pitch, defending a 1.30 m high, 9 m wide goal), wheelchair basketball, rugby and tennis, judo and sitting volleyball. They will make their debuts on the Seine in bocce and taekwondo.
In the previous Paralympic Games in Tokyo three years ago, the Polish national team won 24 medals: seven gold, six silver and 11 bronze, which gave them 17th place in the national classification.
The total achievement of Polish athletes in the Summer Paralympic Games, since the first start in 1972, is 798 medals.
The first Paralympics were held in Rome in 1960. Ludwig Guttmann, born in Toszek, Upper Silesia, is considered to be the creator of the competition for athletes with disabilities. This certified neurologist considered sport as a form of treatment and rehabilitation.
