Paris Gears Up For 2024 Paralympics Opening Ceremony One Month After Controversial Olympics Opening
Final preparations are underway for the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Paralympics on Wednesday.
It will take place one month after the tumultuous 2024 Olympics opening ceremony which divided spectators at home and internationally for its provocative take on French history and culture.
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Like its predecessor, which unfolded on the River Seine on July 26, the Paralympics opening will break with tradition by taking place outside of a sports stadium and will also be overseen by Olympics opening and closing ceremonies artistic director Thomas Jolly.
The celebrated theatre director received death threats in the wake of the Olympics opening, following suggestions that a scene featuring drag queens was a parody of Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper, which he denied.
At home, the ceremony was mainly applauded and it kicked off one of the most successful summer Olympics in more than a decade.
Entitled ‘Paradox’, the two-part 2024 Paralympics inauguration will see 4,400 Paralympians from 168 delegations parade down the iconic Champs-Elysées Avenue in front of 15,000 spectators, who have secured a free place.
This will be followed by a three-hour show in the temporary 30,000-capacity arena in La Place de la Concorde in the heart of Paris, which hosted the BMX freestyle, breaking, skateboard and basketball 3×3 contests during the Olympics, with the only remaining tickets priced at $780 (€700).
Jolly and his team are promising a show that puts the spotlight on the Paralympics spirit of inclusion, with its title “Paradox” taking inspiration from its La Place de la Concorde setting.
“We used the city, the Place de la Concorde to draw this line which goes from ‘disaccord’ to ‘concord’, to then recall that if we’re focused on people with disabilities due to the Paralympics, it’s perhaps a good time to ask questions about inclusion,” he told the Radio France International network over the weekend.
“Moreover, making the city the backdrop for this ceremony is already a paradox, because the city is not completely adapted to people with disabilities,” he added.
Swedish ballerina and choreographer Alexander Ekman has divised routines that will featuring more than 150 dancers, including many professional dancers with disabilities.
While the Olympics ceremony hosted Céline Dion’s comeback on the Eiffel Tower, a cabaret act by Lady Gaga and an eyecatching number by Aya Nakamura with France’s Republican Guard, the Paralympics ceremony is expected to be less starry although acts are under wraps yet again.
The lead-up to the ceremony, however, will see Hong Kong action star Jackie Chan take to the streets of Paris on Wednesday as one of the final bearers of the Olympic flame as it arrives back at the Tuilerie Gardens to re-illuminate the Olympic cauldron.
Other participants in the final leg of the flame’s journey will include actress Elsa Zylberstein and a number of past Paralympics champions including U.S. Democrat Party Politician Marianna Davis (Para alpine skiing and Para cycling), France’s Marie Graftiaux (para swimming) and Denmark’s John Petersson (para swimming).
One aspect of Wednesday’s night’s show that promises to be very different from the Olympics opening ceremony is the weather.
Unlike the deluge of July 26, the forecast is for clear skies and highs of 87.8 degrees Fahrenheit (31 degrees Celsius).
In the backdrop, the organizers announced on Tuesday that two million tickets had already been bought, with the track cycling and triathlon events already sold out and 500,000 tickets remaining.
On the basis of what happened during the Olympics, these places are likely to go fast as the spirit of the games takes hold and Parisians return from their summer breaks.
USA Network and Peacock will present live coverage of the Opening Ceremony on August 28, beginning at 1 p.m. ET, with NBC Sports host Ahmed Fareed and 13-time Paralympic medalist Chris Waddell on board as anchors.
Highlights of the Opening Ceremony will be included in primetime coverage on August 30, at 9 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock.
There were close to 29 million viewers for the Olympics opening ceremony for NBCUniversal’s NBC and Peacock channels, making it the second most watched Olympics opening ceremony in the U.S. after London in 2012, which saw 40.2 million U.S. viewers tune in.
The 2024 Paralympics organizers estimate a worldwide TV audience of 300 million people for its opening ceremony.
The 17th edition of the Paralympics runs from August 28 to September 8.
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