Almost two weeks after the end of the Olympic Games in Paris, the Paralympic Games are now the center of attention.

British athletes Helene Raynsford and Gregor Ewan lit the Paralympic flame in Stoke Mandeville, a village northwest of London widely regarded as the birthplace of the Games.

The Paralympic flame travels to France under the Channel for a four-day relay.

The journey ends in Paris on Thursday morning, Australian time, during the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games.

The lighting ceremony of the Paralympic Heritage Flame took place in Buckinghamshire, where the Stoke Mandeville Games were first held in 1948.

The competition was organized for a small group of wheelchair athletes who had suffered spinal cord injuries during World War II.

The man behind the idea was Ludwig Guttmann, a Jewish neurosurgeon who fled Germany and worked in a hospital in Stoke Mandeville.

At that time, a spinal injury was considered a death sentence and patients were discouraged from exercise.

Guttmann had the patients sit up and use their muscles. He created competition to keep them motivated.

“I can feel his (Guttmann) presence here today, there’s no doubt about that,” International Paralympic Committee President Andrew Parsons said during the lighting ceremony.

Tony Estanguet, president of the Paris 2024 organising committee, said the French capital is “proud and excited” to host the 17th edition of the Paralympic Games.

“We are ready to make it unique and unforgettable for France and the whole world,” said Estanguet.

The Stoke Mandeville Games later evolved into the first Paralympic Games, which took place in Rome in 1960.

The Heritage Flame ceremony in Stoke Mandeville was first held in preparation for the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

The flame will cross the sea via the Channel Tunnel to mark the start of the Paralympic relay.

A group of 24 British athletes are set to begin the underwater journey through the tunnel.

Halfway through the race, they hand over the flame to 24 French athletes, who bring it ashore in Calais.

12 torches are lit, symbolizing 11 days of competition and the opening ceremony.

AP