PARIS (AP) — Just weeks after the hosting of the Olympic Games, the summer of sport in Paris begins its final chapter on Wednesday with the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games.

More than 4,000 athletes with physical, visual and intellectual disabilities will compete in 22 sports over the next 11 days.

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Organizers are promising a spectacular show to open the Games. Once again, it will be held outside the confines of a stadium, but unlike the rain-soaked Olympic opening ceremony, which featured a boat parade on the River Seine, the Paralympic ceremony will take place exclusively on land, with athletes strutting down the famous Champs-Elysées to the ceremony on the Place de la Concorde.

Artistic director Thomas Jolly, who led the Olympic Games opening ceremony, said the event would “showcase the Paralympic athletes and the values ​​they embody” and promised “performances never seen before.” The July 26 opening ceremony emphasized inclusion and diversity.

Wednesday night’s show — which starts at 8 p.m. — promises to be a celebration of the human body, and in much better weather. As the midday sun scorched Paris, some fans gathered early to grab prime spots on the Champs-Elysées, which leads to Concorde.

More than 2 million of the 2.8 million tickets for the Paris Paralympics have been sold, according to organizers. Competition begins Thursday with the first medals being awarded in taekwondo, table tennis and track cycling. Athletes are grouped according to their level of disability to ensure as level a playing field as possible. Only two sports on the program, goalball and boccia, do not have an Olympic equivalent.

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Andrew Parsons, president of the International Paralympic Committee, said the large crowds expected in Paris will mean a lot to the athletes, many of whom competed in empty stands at the Tokyo Paralympic Games three years ago because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“As our ambition is to be seen and understood as the most transformative sporting event on the planet, it is important to have this atmosphere,” he told The Associated Press on the eve of the opening ceremony.
Accessibility of the parade area has been improved by laying asphalt strips along the Champs-Elysées and across the entire Concorde Square.

Parsons added that the ceremony would be the city’s way of welcoming Paralympic athletes with a “giant hug.”