Paris Paralympic Games Open with Historic Ceremony

The 2024 Paris Paralympic Games commenced with a historic outdoor opening ceremony at the Champs-Élysées and Place de la Concorde, featuring 168 delegations and over 4,400 athletes. The ceremony included performances by disabled artists and saw the torch relay led by French Olympian Florent Manaudou, culminating in the lighting of the cauldron by five French Paralympians. A record 167 National Paralympic Committees are participating, with an unprecedented 1,983 female athletes, marking significant progress toward gender parity. French President Emmanuel Macron declared the Games open, while International Paralympic Committee President Andrew Parsons called for an 'inclusion revolution.' The event was well-received, with over 22 million viewers in France and more than two million tickets sold.