The 2024 Summer Paralympics (French: Jeux paralympiques d'été de 2024), also known as the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games (French: Jeux paralympiques d'été de Paris 2024), and branded as Paris 2024, were the 17th Summer Paralympic Games, an international multi-sportparasports event governed by the International Paralympic Committee. The Games were held in Paris, France, from 28 August to 8 September 2024, and featured 549 medal events across 22 sports. These games marked the first time Paris hosted the Summer Paralympics and the second time France hosted the Paralympic Games, following the 1992 Winter Paralympics in Tignes and Albertville. France also hosted the 2024 Summer Olympics.
China topped the medal table for the sixth consecutive Paralympics, winning 94 golds and 221 total medals. Great Britain finished second for the tenth time, with 49 golds and 124 total medals. The United States finished third, with 36 golds, and 105 total medals. Additionally, Mauritius, Nepal, and the Refugee Paralympic Team won their first-ever Paralympic medals. The host nation, France, finished eighth with 19 gold and 75 total medals.
Due to concerns over a number of cities withdrawing in the bid process of the 2022 Winter Olympics and 2024 Summer Olympics, a process to award the 2024 and 2028 Games simultaneously to the final two cities in the running to host the 2024 Summer Olympics – Los Angeles and Paris – was approved at an Extraordinary IOC Session on 11 July 2017 in Lausanne.[7] Paris was understood to be the preferred host for the 2024 Games. On 31 July 2017, the IOC announced Los Angeles as the sole candidate for the 2028 Games, opening Paris up to be confirmed as host for the 2024 Games. Both decisions were ratified at the 131st IOC Session on 13 September 2017.[8]
All the Paralympic events were held in and around Paris, including the suburbs of Saint-Denis and Versailles, and Vaires-sur-Marne which is just outside the city environs.[9]
The designs of the medals for the 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics were unveiled on 8 February 2024;[10] as with the Olympic medals, the front of the Paralympic medals features an embedded original piece of scrap iron from the Eiffel Tower in the shape of a hexagon, engraved with the Paris 2024 emblem. The obverse contains a design of the Eiffel Tower viewed from below, inscriptions in braille (a writing system whose development has been credited to French educator and inventor Louis Braille), and line patterns that can be used to identify the medals by touch.[11][12]
Volunteers
In March 2023, applications to be volunteers at the Olympic and Paralympic Games were released.[13] By May 2023, 300,000 applications had been received.[14] Applicants were made aware of the status of their application in late 2023, of which 45,000 were expected to be assigned a volunteering position.[15]
Accessibility in the transportation network for people with disabilities was a concern during the lead-up to the Games; accessibility of the Paris Métro system is limited, with only one of its 16 lines being fully wheelchair-accessible—a shortcoming that faced criticism from disability advocates and IPC president Andrew Parsons. Ahead of the Olympics and Paralympics, Paris invested €1.5 billion towards improving the accessibility of local businesses and other forms of transport, including €125 million to upgrade its bus fleet to accommodate passengers with wheelchairs, and subsidizing the purchase of wheelchair-accessible taxicabs.[16][17][18]
Tickets
On the day of the closing ceremony, 2.5 million of the 2.8 million tickets available for the games were sold. Suprassing London 2012 as the most tickets ever sold for a Paralympic games. Several sports reported record attendance.[19][20]
The torch relay began with the lighting of the Paralympic Heritage flame in Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom, on 24 August. The next day, the torch arrived in France via the Channel Tunnel, thus beginning the torch relay. The torch was split into 12 parts and visited 12 different cities across France. The relay ended with the lighting of the Paralympic cauldron on 28 August.[21][22][23]
The opening ceremony was held on 28 August 2024 at the Place de la Concorde, the first Paralympic opening ceremony to take place outside of a stadium. Directed by Thomas Jolly and with choreography by Alexander Ekman, the ceremony was themed around the "human body and its paradoxes".[24] The Parade of Nations took place on the Champs-Élysées starting at the Arc de Triomphe (where the Paralympic Agitos were erected), and ending at provisory arena.[25]
The final leg culminated with multiple torchbearers coming together, who then lit the Paralympic cauldron, a ring of 40 computerised LEDs and 200 high-pressure water aerosol spray dispensers which was topped by a 30-metre-tall helium sphere resembling a hot air balloon, rising in the air, reminiscent of the Montgolfier brothers' experiments leading to the first hot air balloon flight in 1783.[26] Performers included French singer Christine and the Queens. Dignitaries who attended the ceremony included British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, IOC President Thomas Bach, IPC President Andrew Parsons, and French President Emmanuel Macron, who opened the games.
Closing ceremony
The closing ceremony of the Paralympics at the Stade de France
The programme for the 2024 Summer Paralympics was announced in January 2019, with no changes to the 22 sports from the 2020 Summer Paralympics.[29][30][31] The first draft of the event schedule was released on 8 July 2022, with 549 events in 22 sports. A record 235 medal events will be women's events, an increase of eight over 2020; factoring these events and mixed-gender events, the number of female participants in the Paralympics is projected to be at least double of that of Sydney 2000.[30][31]
The IPC considered bids for golf, karate, para dance sport, and powerchair football to be added to the Paralympic programme as new sports. Bids were also made for CP football (football 7-a-side) and sailing—the two sports that had been dropped for 2020—to be reinstated. While CP football was selected for consideration by the IPC, it was rejected due to a lack of reach in women's participation.[29]
In January 2021, the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF) was declared non-competent by the IPC for violations of its Athlete Classification Code, and the sport was dropped from the Paris 2024 programme. On 22 September 2021, the IPC conditionally reinstated wheelchair basketball following reforms made by the IWBF, subject to compliance measures.[32]
The Eiffel Tower Stadium, installed on the Champ-de-Mars during the Paralympics
Of the 187 existing National Paralympic Committees (NPC), 168 classified at least one athlete for the Summer Paralympic Games, which was a historic participation record.Three NPCs, Eritrea, Kiribati and Kosovo, made their Paralympic debuts at these Games.[3] Nine NPCs returned to the Paralympics after a time of absence: Bangladesh (2008); the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu (2012); and East Timor, Macau, Myanmar, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago and Turkmenistan (2016).[41] Of the 162 Paralympic Committees that sent their delegations to Tokyo in 2021, only the Faroe Islands were not present.[42]
The emblem for the 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics (a stylized rendition of Marianne) was unveiled on 21 October 2019 at the Grand Rex. For the first time, a Paralympic Games will share the same emblem as their corresponding Olympics, with no difference or variation. Paris 2024 president Tony Estanguet stated that the decision was intended to reflect the two events sharing a single "ambition", explaining that "in terms of legacy we believe that in this country we need to strengthen the place of sport in the daily life of the people, and whatever the age, whatever the disability or not, you have a place and a role to play in the success of Paris 2024".[45]
The official posters for these Olympics and Paralympics by Ugo Gattoni (which features a stylized Paris landscape with themed depictions of its landmarks and venues) were also designed as a single piece, split in halves representing each event.[46]
The mascots of Paris 2024, The Phryges, were unveiled on 14 November 2022. They are a pair of anthrophomorphic Phrygian caps, which have been regarded as a historical symbol of liberty and freedom in France. The Phryge representing the Paralympics wears a running blade on one of its legs, marking the first time since 1994 that a Paralympic mascot has been depicted with a visible disability.[47]
Broadcasting rights
For the first time, Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) will provide live telecasts for all 22 Paralympic sports—an increase from 19 in Tokyo.[48]
In 175+ countries where broadcast rights had not been sold, the Games were streamed on YouTube via a partnership with the IPC, including event coverage, highlights and YouTube Shorts content, as well as multi-view support.[49] An exception was Great Britain and Ireland, as while the games were also broadcast on YouTube in this region, but they were broadcast on the Channel 4 Sport YouTube channel as opposed to the IPC channel.[50]
In conjunction with the Olympic Games, the French national public television broadcaster France Télévisions acquired rights to the 2024 Summer Paralympics, airing mainly on France 2 and France 3.[53] On 28 August 2020, Channel 4 renewed its rights to the Paralympics in the United Kingdom through 2024;[54] coverage was broadcast on Channel 4 television, streaming, and Channel 4 Sport channels on YouTube. Channel 4 notably hired actress Rose Ayling-Ellis as a presenter, with the broadcaster stating that she would be the first deaf person to serve as a correspondent on a live sports broadcast.[55][56]
CBC Sports renewed its Canadian rights to the Paralympics for 2024 and 2026, in partnership with the Canadian Paralympic Committee. This was notably the final on-air role for long-time CBC Sports anchor Scott Russell before his retirement from broadcasting; Russell had covered 16 Olympic Games and hosted six during his 40-year career at the network.[57][58] In the United States, NBC Sports planned a major expansion of its coverage, including extending digital features from the Olympics on Peacock such as the "Gold Zone" whiparound broadcast, and multi-view, to the Paralympics.[56][59]
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