Paris is facing a new challenge in its organization for 2024. In addition to the Olympic Games, the capital will organize, for the first time, the Paralympic Games. This forces the city to undertake major projects to improve accessibility and allow the recognition of these disabled sports events.
365 days before the opening ceremony between the Champs-Élysées and Place de la Concorde, Andrew Parsons, president of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), is already talking about “spectacular” Games. “Paralympic sport is stronger than ever,” he said, there will be “a fantastic combination of Paris, one of the most beautiful cities on the planet, and venues close to iconic locations.” But also a return “from the crowd”, after the Summer Games in Tokyo and the Winter Games in Beijing, marked by the Covid-19.
For their grand premiere in the capital, the Paris Paralympic Games (August 28 – September 8) will benefit from competition sites, such as the Esplanade des Invalides or the Eiffel Tower, common to the Olympic Games. “The images will be unforgettable, the sporting emotions intense. We will be proud of our medals. Proud to have made the country more accessible and inclusive,” French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday on X (formerly Twitter).
The organizers repeated that the two events complemented each other in a single project, with the same identity or a single team from France.
If the “City of Lights” will above all be the scene of performances by 4,400 athletes for 10 days, the spotlight will also be on the major Parisian projects around disability and accessibility. “We still live in a discriminatory society (…) the state, the region, the city, have never invested so much but we are very far from the results that we expect as a user”, declared during a press conference on Monday Michael Jeremiasz, quadruple Paralympic medalist in wheelchair tennis and head of mission for Paris-2024, and while 12 million French people are disabled.
Grégoire de Lasteyrie, vice-president of Ile-de-France Mobilités, promises that “100% of the sites will be accessible” during the Games thanks to the improvement of the train, bus and taxi networks but also by the implementation of Shuttle Buses.
Monday, the association APF France Handicap alerted for its part, in a letter addressed to Emmanuel Macron, on “the critical situation in air transport for people with reduced mobility”, evoking “serious dysfunctions” concerning in particular the reception at airports or “pick-up” of mobility aids such as wheelchairs.
She proposes the establishment of “a working group” to remedy “these unacceptable situations”.
“In response to this letter, we have decided to create a stakeholder advisory committee for the Paralympic Games, we will bring together all the stakeholders once a month,” commented ADP CEO Augustin de Romanet, interviewed on the sidelines. a visit to accessibility at the Stade de France.
For reception in hotels, a more precise inventory of accessible rooms will be carried out at the beginning of next year and establishments will be made aware.
The French Paralympic and Sports Committee (CPSF) hopes to use the momentum of the Games to increase the number of so-called “inclusive” clubs, with a target of 3,000 more by the end of 2024.
“It’s important that the change doesn’t stop after the closing ceremony,” says Andrew Parsons. “There is no event on this planet that can solve all the problems, but it will be a catalyst,” he said, while Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo expects a “culture shock” that will help progress.
Success will also depend on the ability to attract the public. While 2.7 million tickets were sold in London in 2012, during the last Paralympic Games in Europe, 2.8 million will go on sale in Paris from October 9. Far from the controversies around prices and access to the Olympic sites, the “para” ticket office will be more accessible with entries from 15 euros.
“We want to sell all of them,” says Andrew Parsons. “We are going to make the French want to support” French athletes in order to reach “the Top 5” of the medal table, for his part declared Tony Estanguet, president of the organizing committee.
There is now one year left to develop the educational tools and introduce the public, not always connoisseurs, to the Paralympic vocabulary. A year also to finalize the opening ceremony that artistic director Thomas Jolly wishes in accordance with “Joyously militant Games” and which will be based on the highlighting of “singularities”.
Last July, just over 100,000 spectators were able to follow the performances of para-athletics figures at the world championships, even if the French did not shine (4 bronze medals).
On the contrary, para-cyclists won 13 titles in August at the “Glasgow Super Worlds” while in swimming, 21-year-old Alex Portal won three gold medals at the Manchester Worlds this summer, out of 16 French medals .
10 days ago, Alexis Hanquinquant, Paralympic triathlon champion, won the test event at Pont Alexandre III, which he said launched “the race to the Games”.
In this race, the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes has yet to be determined. The members of the IPC will meet at the end of September to discuss it while the IOC has not yet decided definitively for the Olympics.
