The

opening ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly constructed location or the start of an event.

of the

2024 Summer Paralympics The 2024 Summer Paralympics (), also known as the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games (), and branded as Paris 2024, were the 17th Summer Paralympic Games, an international Multi-sport event, multi-sport parasports event governed by the International P ...

took place on the evening of 28 August 2024 at the

Place de la Concorde The Place de la Concorde (; ) is a public square in Paris, France. Measuring in area, it is the largest square in the French capital. It is located in the city's eighth arrondissement, at the eastern end of the Champs-Élysées. It was the s ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. It was the first time that a Summer Paralympic Games opening ceremony was held outside of a stadium. Like the

2024 Summer Olympics opening ceremony The Olympic Games ceremony#Opening, opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics took place on 26 July 2024 across Paris, beginning at 19:30 Central European Summer Time, CEST (17:30 Coordinated Universal Time, UTC). As mandated by the Olympic ...

, this event was directed by

Alexander Ekman Karl Wilhelm Alexander Ekman (born 1984) is a Swedish ballet dancer and choreographer. His choreographies have been performed by Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, the Boston Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, the Semperoper Ballett, the Nederlands Dan ...

and

Thomas Jolly Thomas Jolly (born 1 February 1982) is a French actor and artistic director of La Piccola Familia, a theatre company that he founded in Rouen in 2006. Jolly's early life in Normandy was marked by a strong interest in theater, performing from a ...

. The ceremony was themed around the human body and "history and its paradoxes", and featured more than 500 dancers and performers. Unlike the Olympics opening ceremony, which took place mostly under rain, the weather was clear and sunny with a view of sunset during the ceremony. The

Parade of Nations The Olympic Games ceremonies are events held at the Olympic Games since their beginning in the ancient games, including the opening, closing, and medal ceremonies. The ceremonies are used to introduce and end the competition, award competitors, ...

took place on the

Champs-Élysées The Avenue des Champs-Élysées (, ; ) is an Avenue (landscape), avenue in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France, long and wide, running between the Place de la Concorde in the east and the Place Charles de Gaulle in the west, where the Arc ...

starting at the Rond-point des Champs-Élysées, and ending at

. The final leg culminated with multiple torch bearers 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 The Montgolfier brothers – Joseph-Michel Montgolfier (; 26 August 1740 – 26 June 1810) and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier (; 6 January 1745 – 2 August 1799) – were aviation pioneers, balloonists and paper manufacturers from the Communes o ...

' experiments leading to the first hot air balloon flight in 1783. Performers included French singer

Christine and the Queens Rahim Claude Redcar (sometimes shortened to Chris or Redcar; born Héloïse Adélaïde Letissier; 1 June 1988) is a French singer and songwriter, best known under the pseudonym of Christine and the Queens. Born and raised in Nantes, he started ...

Preparations

The

opening ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly constructed location or the start of an event.

of the

took place on the evening of 28 August 2024 at the

. It was the first time that a Paralympic Games opening ceremony had been held outside of a stadium. The venue was already equipped with temporary stands installed a few weeks earlier for the Olympic

skateboarding Skateboarding is an extreme sport, action sport that involves riding and Skateboarding trick, performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as a recreational activity, an art form, an entertainment industry Profession, job, and a method of tr ...

breakdancing Breakdancing or breaking, also called b-boying (when performed by men) or b-girling (women), is a style of street dance originated by African Americans and Nuyorican, Puerto Ricans in The Bronx borough of New York City. Breakdancing consist ...

BMX freestyle Freestyle BMX is bicycle motocross stunt riding on BMX bikes. It is an extreme sport descended from BMX racing that consists of four disciplines: street, park, trails, and flatland. The sport made its Olympic debut at the 2020 Summer Olympics. E ...

and

3X3 basketball 3x3 basketball (stylized as ''ƐX3'', pronounced ''three-ex-three'') is a Variations of basketball, variation of basketball played three-a-side, with one Backboard (basketball), backboard and in a basketball court, half-court setup. This basketba ...

events. Seating was provided for 35,000 paying and accredited spectators. Another 30,000 spectators could view the parade to the Place de la Concorde for free from along the Champs-Elysées. Unlike the Olympic opening ceremony, which took place in cold weather and mostly in the rain, the skies were clear, with a view of a colourful sunset during the ceremony. It was warm, at 30°C, and somewhat humid. The stage consisted of two runways flanking the

Luxor Obelisk The Luxor Obelisks (French: ) are a pair of ancient Egyptian obelisks, over 3,000 years old, carved to stand either side of the portal of the Luxor Temple in the reign of Ramesses II (). The right-hand (western) stone, high, was gifted by Egy ...

. At the end of each were huge cylindrical video screens. The ceremony involved 500 performers. There were 1,100 accredited media present, and the event was viewed by an estimated television audience of 300 million. Security was provided by 15,000 personnel. The ceremony was themed around the human body and "history and its paradoxes", and was titled "Paradox: Form Discord to Concord". Each artistic sequence was built around the theme of working together to create a better and more inclusive society.

Producers

* Artistic director:

* Music director: Victor Le Masne * Choreographer and Artistic Director: **

* Scenography: Bruno Delavenère * Costume designer: Louis Gabriel * Lighting creation: Thomas Dechandon

Proceedings

Welcome to Paris

The ceremony opened with a video featuring , a French Paralympic swimmer and a member of the Athletes' Commission of the

Paris Organising Committee for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games The Paris Organising Committee for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games (COJOP2024) () is the organising committee for the 2024 Summer Olympics and the 2024 Summer Paralympics which were held in Paris, France. Tony Estanguet serves as presiden ...

. Curin was the host of a show called "Théo Le Taxi" on

France Télévisions France Télévisions (; stylized since 2018 as ) is the French national public television broadcaster. It is a state-owned company formed from the integration of the public television channels France 2 (formerly Antenne 2) and France 3 (form ...

, the official broadcaster of the 2024 Paralympic Games. For the opening ceremony, he arrived in a taxi provided by Toyota, one of the Games' sponsors, and decorated with hundreds of toy Phryges, the Games' ubiquitous mascot.

Official Introduction

The President of France,

Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra since 2017. He was Ministry of Economy and Finance (France), Minister of Economics, Industr ...

, and the President of the International Paralympic Committee, Andrew Parsons, were introduced.

Discord

The Canadian pianist

Chilly Gonzales Jason Charles Beck (born 20 March 1972), professionally known as Chilly Gonzales or just Gonzales, is a Canadian musician, songwriter, and producer. Currently based in Cologne, Germany, he previously lived for several years in Paris and Berlin. G ...

opened the sequence with a piano performance. He was joined by 140 dancers in suits representing the "Strict Society", whose costumes symbolized rigidity, and 16 performers with disabilities representing the "Creative Gang", whose costumes symbolized freedom. The Creative Gang included

Chelsie Hill Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria, a suburb **Chelsea railway station, Melbourne Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia, a community * Chelsea, Quebec, a municipality United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of Lond ...

, a founder of the Rollettes wheelchair dance team, and Israeli Para dancing champion

Tomer Margalit Tomer () is an Israeli settlement organized as a moshav in the West Bank. Located in the Jordan Valley next to the Palestinian village of Fasayil, it falls under the jurisdiction of Bik'at HaYarden Regional Council. In it had a population of ...

and her dance partner Orel Chalaf. File:2024 Summer Paralympics opening ceremony - discord 06.jpg, "Strict Society" dancers perform before a Toyota taxi decorated with toy Phryges File:2024 Summer Paralympics opening ceremony - discord 04.jpg, "Strict Society" and "Creative Gang" dancers with Chelsie Hill (in wheelchair) File:2024 Summer Paralympics opening ceremony - discord 15.jpg, "Strict Society" dancers The interactions between both groups on stage was meant as a representation of the paradoxical relationship between persons with disabilities and wider society, with the choreography depicting inappropriate gestures, acts of exclusion, and the objectification of the Creative Gang by the Strict Society. At the end of the segment, the two groups came together as French singer

performed

Edith Piaf Edith is a feminine given name derived from the Old English word , meaning ''wealth'' or ''prosperity'', in combination with the Old English , meaning '' strife'', and is in common usage in this form in English, German, many Scandinavian lang ...

's .

The Parade of Athletes

Olympic and Paralympic Phryges danced and play acted on stage while the 168 delegations of athletes entered the Place de Concorde in French alphabetical order, except for Australia, the United States and France, which brought up the rear in that order as the host nations of the

2032 The 2030s (pronounced "twenty-thirties" or "two thousand ndthirties"; shortened to "the '30s" and also known as "The Thirties") is the next decade that will begin on 1 January 2030, and end on 31 December 2039. Plans and goals * NASA plans to exe ...

2028 Predicted and scheduled events * April 12 - The 2028 South Korean legislative election is scheduled to be held. * May 7 – If not triggered earlier, the 2028 Turkish presidential election and the next Turkish parliamentary election wi ...

and 2024 Summer Paralympics respectively. As the French contingent entered, Joe Dassin's "

Les Champs-Élysées LES or Les may refer to: People * Les (given name) * Les (surname) * L.E.S. (producer), hip hop producer Space flight * Launch Entry Suit, worn by Space Shuttle crews * Launch escape system, for spacecraft emergencies * Lincoln Experimental S ...

" as well as

Yann Tiersen Yann Pierre Tiersen (born 23 June 1970) is a French Breton musician and composer. His musical career is split between studio recordings, music collaborations, and film soundtracks songwriting. His music incorporates a large variety of classical ...

's theme from the film ''

Amélie ''Amélie'' (, , ) is a 2001 French-language romantic comedy film directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Written by Jeunet with Guillaume Laurant, the film is a whimsical depiction of contemporary Parisian life, set in Montmartre. It tells the story ...

'' were played, and the crowd chanted "". File:2024 Summer Paralympics opening ceremony - Australia.jpg, Australian contingent enters with the flag carried by

Madison de Rozario Madison de Rozario, (born 24 November 1993) is an Australian Paralympic athlete and wheelchair racer who specialises in middle and long-distance events. She competed at the 2008 Summer Paralympics, 2008 Beijing, 2012 Summer Paralympics, 2012 Lo ...

and

Brenden Hall Brenden Hall, (born 27 May 1993) is an Australian Paralympic swimmer. He competed at the, 2008 Beijing Paralympics, 2012 London Paralympics, 2016 Rio Paralympics, 2020 Tokyo Paralympics and the 2024 Paris Paralympics. At the end of the Pari ...

File:2024 Summer Paralympics opening ceremony - dancing mascots 26.jpg, Dancing Phryges mascots File:2024 Summer Paralympics opening ceremony 08.jpg, The

Patrouille de France The (, "French Acrobatic Patrol"), also known as the (PAF), is the precision aerobatics demonstration unit of the French Air and Space Force, officially commissioned in 1953. Using the French Aerial Aerobatics () unit of the French Air and ...

flies over the Place de la Concorde to start the parade

My Ability

The segment opened with a film depicting various persons with disabilities narrating their journeys to self-acceptance over their disabilities. Afterwards, the one-armed French singer sang "My Ability", with the Strict Society joining him. This sequence represented the Strict Society's realization of their internalized prejudices, leading to self reflections and their awakening.

Protocol

A video was shown depicting the origins of the Paralympic movement under Sir

Ludwig Guttmann Sir Ludwig Guttmann (3 July 1899 – 18 March 1980) was a German-British neurologist who established the Stoke Mandeville Games, the sporting event for people with disabilities (PWD) that evolved in England into the Paralympic Games. A Jewish ...

at the spinal injuries hospital in

Stoke Mandeville Stoke Mandeville is a village and civil parish in the Vale of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, England. It is located three miles (5 km) from Aylesbury and 3.4 miles (5.5 km) from the market town of Wendover. Although a separate civil ...

in the UK. French Armed Forces personnel raised the

French flag The national flag of France () is a tricolour featuring three vertical bands coloured blue ( hoist side), white, and red. The design was adopted after the French Revolution, whose revolutionaries were influenced by the horizontally striped r ...

while the French National Anthem, was performed by music director Victor Le Masne. Brief speeches were given by

Tony Estanguet Tony Estanguet (; born 6 May 1978 in Pau) is a French slalom canoeist and a three-time Olympic champion in C1 (canoe single). He competed at the international level from 1994 to 2012. He successfully led Paris's bid for the 2024 Summer Olymp ...

, the President of the Games of Paris 2024, and Andrew Parsons, the President of the

International Paralympic Committee The International Paralympic Committee (IPC; ) is an international non-profit organisation and the global governing body for the Paralympic Movement. The IPC organizes the Paralympic Games and functions as the international federation for nin ...

, the

President of France The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency is the supreme magistracy of the country, the po ...

, then officially declared the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games open.

New Ways

A video was shown in which blind Canadian

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

personality Molly Burke, quadriplegic comedian Martin Petit, and the amputee Lucie Retail spoke frankly about their respective disabilities, the way they affect their lives and the way they are perceived and treated by others.

Sportography

The video was followed by another choreographed performance with the Strict Society and the Creative Gang, featuring one-armed

hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...

dancer Angelina Bruno, wheelchair dancer Piotr Iwanicki and Musa Motha, a finalist on ''

Britain's Got Talent ''Britain's Got Talent'' (often abbreviated to ''BGT'') is a televised British talent show competition, and part of the global '' Got Talent'' franchise created by Simon Cowell. Presented by Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly (colloquial ...

'' in 2023 and '' America's Got Talent: Fantasy League''. The segment depicted both groups coming together, blending dance, sport, and art into a fictional game that highlighted teamwork and adaptive sport, as well as the overcoming of physical differences.

Paralympic Flag, Anthem and Oaths

The

Paralympic flag The Paralympic symbols are the icons, flags, and symbols used by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) to promote the Paralympic Games. Motto The current Paralympic motto is "Spirit in Motion". It was introduced at the 2004 Summer Paralym ...

was brought on stage by British Paralympic sprinter and astronaut John McFall and French sailor

Damien Seguin Damien Seguin (born 3 September 1979 in Briançon) is a French sailor. He is a paralympic champion and was a nominee for World Sailing - World Sailor of the Year Awards. With sailing no longer on the Paralympic agenda, he has pursued offshore yac ...

, while visually impaired musician Luan Pommier, played the Paralympic Anthem on the piano. French athletes Sandrine Martinet and

Arnaud Assoumani Arnaud Assoumani (born 4 September 1985) is a T46 French athlete. He represented France in the F46 long jump at the 2008 Summer Paralympics, and won gold by setting a new world record with a jump of 7.23 metres. He had previously won bronze a ...

took the Paralympic Oath, along with a coach and an official.

Arrival of the Flame

The 2024 Summer Paralympics torch relay saw the Paralympic flame lit in Stoke Mandeville on 24 August and carried through the

Channel Tunnel The Channel Tunnel (), sometimes referred to by the Portmanteau, portmanteau Chunnel, is a undersea railway tunnel, opened in 1994, that connects Folkestone (Kent, England) with Coquelles (Pas-de-Calais, France) beneath the English Channel at ...

by 24 British and 24 French torch bearers. The flame was divided into twelve flames, which were carried through France by 1,000 torch bearers. As the flame entered the arena, it was greeted by 150 dancers and performers carrying torches. To symbolise the connection between the Olympics and Paralympics, the flame was brought into the Place de la Concorde by

Florent Manaudou ] Florent Manaudou (; born 12 November 1990) is a French competitive swimming (sport), swimmer, an Olympic champion of the 50-meter freestyle at the 2012 London Olympics, and the younger brother of Laure Manaudou, a 2004 Olympic gold medalist ...

, the flag bearer of the French Olympic team, and handed to Paralympian Michael Jeremiasz, the French Paralympic

chef de mission In diplomatic usage, head of mission (HOM) or chief of mission (COM) from the French "chef de mission diplomatique" (CMD) is the head of a diplomatic representation, such as an ambassador, high commissioner, nuncio, chargé d'affaires, permanen ...

Concord

The flame was then carried in turn by three international Paralympic champions: Italian wheelchair fencer Bebe Vio, American multi paralympic sportperson

Oksana Masters Oksana Oleksandrivna Masters (born June 19, 1989) is an American multi-sport Paralympic athlete from Louisville, Kentucky. Having primarily specialized in rowing and cross-country skiing, she won the first ever United States medal in trunk and ...

and the German long jumper

Markus Rehm Markus Rehm (born 22 August 1988 in Göppingen, West Germany) is a German Paralympic athlete, and in the long jump has won four Paralympic, six world and five European titles. He began in sports at age 20 and became a long jump F44 world champio ...

. As the flame was handed over between the torchbearers, the 150 dancers carrying torches performed a choreography set to Maurice Ravel's ''Bolero''. This represented the achieving of concord, a contrast to the previous segment ''Discord'' which opened the ceremony. The segment culminated with the formation of the Paralympic agitos, and the flame's departure from the Place de la Concorde.

Lighting of the Cauldron

The torch was then carried to the

Jardin des Tuileries The Tuileries Garden (, ) is a public garden between the Louvre and the Place de la Concorde in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France. Created by Catherine de' Medici as the garden of the Tuileries Palace in 1564, it was opened to the public i ...

by three French champions: Assia El Hannouni, and Béatrice Hess. French athletes Charles-Antoine Kouakou,

Nantenin Keïta Nantenin Keïta (born 5 November 1984) is a French people, French Track and field, athlete who competes mainly in Paralympic category T13 sprint events. She is the daughter of the Malian musician Salif Keita and thus a direct descendant of the fo ...

, Fabien Lamirault,

Alexis Hanquinquant Alexis Hanquinquant (born 28 December 1985) is a French Paralympic triathlete. At the 2020 Summer Paralympics, he won a gold medal in the Paratriathlon at the 2020 Summer Paralympics – Men's PTS4, Men's PTS4 event. In 2021, Hanquinquant was a ...

and

Élodie Lorandi Élodie Lorandi (born 31 May 1989) is a French Paralympic swimming, Paralympic swimmer who won medals at the 2008 Summer Paralympics and the 2012 Summer Paralympics. On 1 January 2013, Lorandi was made a Knight (Chevalier) of the Légion d'honn ...

lit the cauldron. The cauldron took the form of a 7-metre diameter ring of fire with 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 22 metres in diameter, that rose in the air, reminiscent of the first flight in a hydrogen balloon by

Jacques Charles Jacques Alexandre César Charles (12 November 1746 – 7 April 1823) was a French people, French inventor, scientist, mathematician, and balloonist. Charles wrote almost nothing about mathematics, and most of what has been credited to him was due ...

and the

Robert brothers Les Frères Robert were two French brothers. Anne-Jean Robert (1758–1820) and Nicolas-Louis Robert (1760–1828) were the engineers who built the world's first hydrogen balloon for professor Jacques Charles, which flew from central Paris on ...

in Paris in 1783.

Celebration

The ceremony concluded with a laser light and fireworks display. Dancers performed on stage, which was flooded with colour in tribute to British artist Sue Austin, who used a wheelchair to paint, while Christine and the Queens sang

Patrick Hernandez Patrick Pierre Hernandez (born 6 April 1949) is a French singer who had a worldwide hit with " Born to Be Alive" in 1979. Biography Born to a Spanish father and an Italian/Austrian mother in Le Blanc-Mesnil, Seine-Saint-Denis, Hernandez grew ...

's "

Born to Be Alive Born to Be Alive may refer to: * ''Born to Be Alive'' (album), 1978 debut studio album by Patrick Hernandez * "Born to Be Alive" (song), 1978 song by French singer Patrick Hernandez {{Disambiguation ...

". File:2024 Summer Paralympics opening ceremony 23.jpg, Laser light display File:2024 Summer Paralympics opening ceremony 25.jpg, Fireworks File:2024 Summer Paralympics opening ceremony 38.jpg, Fireworks

Dignitaries

Dignitaries who attended the ceremony included the following:

International organisations

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2024 Summer Paralympics Opening Ceremony

Opening ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly constructed location or the start of an event.

Ceremonies in France Paralympics opening ceremonies