PThis week, every metro station in Paris is plastered with advertisements featuring groundbreaking Franglais. Next to images of Paralympic athletes running, jumping and cycling is a slogan addressed to the people of the French capital. It reads: “Game (is not) over.”

For those unfamiliar with 80s video arcade jargon, “game over” was the message that signaled the moment a machine would eat your money. The grammatically tortuous “is not” has been added by Paris 2024 organizers to remind locals that the summer of sporting excellence will continue. The Paralympic Games begin Wednesday night, and all Parisians are welcome.

After months of fear over low ticket sales and concerns about whether a French public would embrace disabled sports, the news in recent days has been good. More than 2 million tickets have now been sold, out of 2.5 million, and a number of events are sold out. The regional government of Île de France has announced its ambition to finally make the Paris metro accessible to wheelchair users, one of the persistent concerns surrounding the Games.

And on Wednesday evening there will be an opening ceremony which will once again take place in the heart of the city and organisers say it will be a “giant hug” for the 44,000 athletes who will compete over the next 11 days.

The opening parade will begin on the Champs Élysées and wind along “the most beautiful avenue in the world” before a more traditional outdoor ceremony at the Place de la Concorde. Organizers are continuing the main theme of Paris, which is open to all. They want to extend the general message of welcome and inclusion to one that is specific to people with disabilities.

According to Paris 2024 President Tony Estanguet: “This ceremony in the heart of the city is a strong symbol that illustrates our ambition… to put the issue of disability inclusion at the heart of our society.”

International Paralympic Committee President Andrew Parsons promises an incredible ceremony. “I like the French expression ‘the party continues’ and the opening ceremony tomorrow is going to be fantastic, it’s going to be incredible, that’s for sure,” he said.

“The idea was always that (by hosting the event) on the Champs Élysées and the Place de la Concorde it is like the city is embracing the Paralympic athletes, the Paralympic movement. We see it as a giant hug for our athletes and it couldn’t be more positive.”

Estanguet stressed that the work to get French and Parisians with disabilities involved in sport is ongoing. Official estimates predict 300,000 visitors for the Games, around half the number who travelled to the Olympics. This makes involving locals more important, particularly to fill the 80,000-capacity Stade de France, which will once again host the athletics programme. A surge in ticket sales means organisers are now working to create extra space at the Eiffel Tower and the Château de Versailles, with events at seven venues now sold out.

“What made the Olympics a success was the atmosphere,” Estanguet said. “The fans sang the Marseillaise more than ever before and this is the result of our work to have a square in each venue where there were very proactive supporters. We felt it worked very well and we will do exactly the same at the Paralympic Games.”

There is still some local scepticism, especially as the Games coincide with the end of Holidays and the return to school. But Estanguet says the scheduling is intentional. “We deliberately chose to place the games during the return to school in France because we want to take advantage of the opportunities it offers,” he said. “The return to school is a good time to send messages to students, to show inclusion and accessibility, to offer an opportunity for education.

“I believe that the French can make the difference, to make these Paralympics their own. We have gone further than we ever dreamed with the Olympic Games, and have created a real passion, and I believe that this will also be the case with the Paralympics.”

Another reason for optimism is that exciting elite sport is guaranteed. New fans will be introduced to exciting events unique to disabled sport, the pace and aggression of wheelchair rugby and the precision and strategy of boccia, for example. They will also be coming to the arenas at a time when performance in para-sport is improving almost exponentially. A record number of countries will compete, 182, and as Parsons put it, “world records will be broken”.

ParalympicsGB will be hoping to emulate the towering performance in Tokyo three years ago. Finishing second in the medal table with 124 medals in total, it was one of the best British performances at a Paralympic Games, especially given the challenges of Covid. With a target of 100-140 medals this time around, and with 215 athletes and guides in the team, ParalympicsGB will be keen to maintain the record of never finishing outside the top five countries.

On Tuesday, Terry Bywater and Lucy Shukur were announced as Britain’s flag bearers for the opening ceremony. Shukur, a wheelchair tennis player, will be competing in her fifth Games, while Terry Bywater will add to her six previous appearances in wheelchair basketball. “I’m feeling quite emotional,” Bywater said. “This is my seventh Games, I’m also wearing the No 7 vest – so it’s all a bit crazy at the moment. I’m just super, super proud.

“This is not just about me, this is for the 215 athletes that are here, all the staff, my family, my wife, my son, my deceased relatives who have always followed me – I do this for everyone.”