This exceptional show saw Alexander EkmanArtistic Director and Choreographer of the Ceremony – chosen by Thomas Vrolijk, artistic director of the Paris 2024 Games ceremonies – brings together 500 artists, including more than 140 dancers and 16 artists with disabilities. The Place de la Concorde has been transformed into a real scenographic spectacle, designed by Bruno Delavenère to offer new perspectives on this major historical monument of Paris and to show the bodies of the artists, highlighted by costumes by young designers Louis Gabriel Nouchi. Victor le Masne provided the music and Thomas Dechandon the lighting, both of whom lent their talents to an unforgettable evening, which 15,000 spectators at the foot of the Champs-Elysées and 35,000 on the square itself. The ceremony shared a strong and poetic message about inclusion and the place of people with disabilities in society, spread across five artistic ‘tableaux’.

All details about the tableaus and the artistic team of the Paralympic Opening Ceremony can be found here.

After the athletes’ parade, two French para-athletes took the Paralympic oath: Sandrine Martinettriple bronze medalist at the French Paralympic Games and Parajudo champion at Rio 2016, and Arnaud AssoumaniFrench Paralympic long jump champion in Beijing 2008, who also won two silvers and two bronzes. John McVal, Paralympic athlete and the first astronaut with a disability to join the European Space Agency, brought the Paralympic flag to the Place de la Concorde, next to Damien Seguin, three-time French Paralympic medallist and the first Paralympic athlete to sail solo around the world. He finished 7th in the 2020-2021 edition of the Vendée Globe.

A rich and emotional musical program to accompany the ceremony

Under the direction of Victor le Masne, musical director of the Paris ceremonies in 2024, a series of artists took to the stage to set the protocol and artistic sequences to music. They were accompanied by the Ensemble Matheus, an academy of young instrumentalists and singers.

Fist up, Canadian Chilly Gonzales, a frequent collaborator with Victor Le Masne, accompanied the ceremony’s introductory sequence on piano with an original work entitled “Countdown,” which set to music Alexander Ekman’s choreographic staging, placed between several grand pianos. Christine and the Queens, an internationally acclaimed French artist, then performed a rendition of Edith Piaf’s “Non, je ne regrette rien,” orchestrated by Victor Le Masne in a chopped-up, hoarse style.

Myd, the new face of the Ed Banger stable, mixed the music for the Athletes’ Parade around the Obelisk on Place de la Concorde with emblematic songs such as ‘So flute’ by St Germain, ‘Quand je joue’ by Julien Clerc and ‘La Valse d’Amélie Poulain’ by Yann Tiersen. Lucky Love sang ‘My Ability’, an original and heartfelt creation, accompanied by a gospel choir. Luan Pommier, a true rising star from Guadeloupe, then introduced the Paralympic anthem on the piano in a jazzy and lyrical style. The arrival of the Paralympic Flame on the lower Champs-Elysées was accompanied by music by Sébastien Tellier, who performed his famous song ‘La Ritournelle’.

Christine and the Queens closed the ceremony with a performance of Patrick Hernandez’s disco classic ‘Born to be alive’, specially arranged for the occasion by Victor Le Masne, in an explosion of joy and colour.

Twelve French and international Paralympic champions carried the flame to the Cauldron, accompanied by choreography to the rhythm of Ravel’s Bolero.

A link between Olympic and Paralympic athletes

Paris 2024 has always had the same ambition for the Paralympic Games and the Olympic Games and has tried to strengthen the links between these two events. This is evident, for example, from the presence of the Paralympic flag bearers at the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games and the handover ceremony between the Olympic athletes and the Paralympic athletes at the Closing Ceremony of the Olympic Games.

To symbolize this connection once again, the Florent Manaudou, flag bearer of the French delegation and winner of 2 bronze medals at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, who carried the flame to the Place de la Concorde and passed it on to Michael JeremiaszParalympic wheelchair tennis champion in Beijing 2008 and now chef de mission for the French delegation at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.

Paris 2024 then chose to honour three international title defenders and legends of Paralympic sport to celebrate great athletes from around the world: Italian wheelchair fencer Baby Vioa two-time winner at the Tokyo Games and a four-time medalist overall, American Oksana Masters17-time Paralympic medalist in four different Para sports (Paracross-country skiing, Parabiathlon, Paracycling and Pararowing) and finally Markus Rehm: German para-athletics icon and three-time Paralympic long jump champion.

Three heavyweights from French para-sport were selected by Tony Estanguet, President of Paris 2024, to carry the Paralympic flame to the Jardin des Tuileries: Assia El Hannounithe most successful French athlete in para-athletics with eight titles, including an exceptional four gold medals in Athens 2004, Christian Lachaudthe most successful French Para-athlete at the Paralympic Games, with 10 gold medals and a total of 14 medals in wheelchair fencing, and finally Beatrice Hessthe most successful and most dedicated French athlete at the Olympic, Paralympic, Summer and Winter Games combined, with 26 medals, 20 of which were gold.

At the end of this Paralympic torch relay, attended by 600,000 spectators over four days, during which 12 flames travelled through each region of France and all converged simultaneously in Paris, the Cauldron de Paris 2024 was lit collectively by the last five torchbearers, all from the French team participating in the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris: Alexis HanquinquantParalympic champion in Para-triathlon in Tokyo 2020; Nantenin KeitaParalympic Para-athletics champion, 400m, in Rio 2016 and four-time medalist in the overall classification; Charles-Antoine Kouakoureigning Paralympic champion in the 400m T20 category at Tokyo 2020, in Para-athletics; Elodie Lorandithe most decorated active athlete with seven medals in Para-swimming, including a gold medal in the 400m freestyle at London 2012 and Fabien Lamiraultthe most successful French athlete of the Paris 2024 delegation, four-time gold medalist in Para table tennis and six-time medalist in the overall rankings.

Around the foot of the Cauldron, designed by Mathieu Lehanneur, 51 torchbearers, selected by EDF, Premium Partner of Paris 2024, gathered to support the lighting. It is thanks to EDF, Premium Partner of Paris 2024, that The Paralympic Flame shines without fuel. A precise combination of light beams and fog means the Flame can ‘burn’ using electricity as its only source of energy.

An explosion of color to complete a conscious and festive ceremony

The Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony ended with the sounds of Born to Be Alive, revisited by Victor Le Masne and performed by Christine and the Queens, while at the same time the Place de la Concorde was transformed into a giant canvas, on which the dancers painted a final colorful and creative work. The ceremony ended with this joyful, enthusiastic and resolutely festive illustration of “concord”, with a message of hope. The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games can now begin!