Paris 2024 Paralympic Games: what will the opening ceremony at the Concorde look like?

The opening ceremonies for the Paris Games are truly unprecedented! Following on from the opening ceremony on the Seine for the Olympic Games, which took place outside a stadium for the first time, Paris 2024 is doing it again with the opening ceremony for the Paralympic Games on August 28, 2024! This time, the event will take place on the Place de la Concorde, between the obelisk and the Arc de Triomphe, adorned with its Agitos, for an exceptional event that will open these first Paralympic Games in Paris, in the very heart of the capital!

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Thomas Jolly has indicated that it will be"a show that highlights the Paralympic athletes and the values they embody", "that will unite spectators and television viewers from all over the world around the unique spirit of the Paralympic Games", "with performances never seen before"! With him, there's no doubt that the ceremony will be spectacular, given what he gave us at the first ceremony on the Seine, as well as the story concocted for the closing ceremony.

Once again, the ceremony will be broadcast on France Télévisions for almost three hours, starting at 8pm. But this time, the parade of 4,400 Paralympic athletes from 184 different delegations will take place on land, not on boats! In 2022, Thierry Reboul, director of the ceremonies, had explained that "the delegations will start marching from Place Clemenceau, at the height of the Grand Palais, to Place de la Concorde". They will then march up the most beautiful avenue in the world, the Champs-Elysées, to arrive in the midst of 50,000 spectators.

In addition to the usual ceremonial sequences, we know that"four stages will be added in the four corners of this square, on which a completely new type of ceremony will take place". This time, the scenes will be inspired by a music festival,"with several stages that can play simultaneously or successively", for a visual show in a 4500m2 open-air theater.

The show, entitled"Paradoxe", will be"very body-centric", with the aim of"changing society's view of disability", and will feature 500 artists and 140 dancers, including some 20 disabled performers. As for the artists, no names have been released, but we'll be experiencing a "journey through our musical repertoire". The Paralympic flame will then once again light up the superb cauldron in the heart of the Tuileries, remaining lit until September 8, before being extinguished forever !

It's going to be a dazzling affair,"showing off French chic", according to Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra!

Paris 2024 Paralympic Games: date, channel, proceedings everything you need to know about the opening ceremony
The Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games are here! For an incredible backdrop, the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games will take place on the Place de la Concorde, right in the heart of the capital, after the Seine for the Olympic version. [Read more]

As for the closing ceremony, to be held on September 8 at the Stade de France, Thomas Jolly simply referred to the"desire to bring Hemingway's title Paris is a party to life".