Paris Paralympics 2024 – All you need to know

A detailed overview of the general information you would require in the forthcoming Paralympic event this summer. This would be the first Paralympics summer Games wherein Paris would be hosting; the second time in France, suffice to mention the winter Games in 1992 in Tignes and Albertville.

Some 4,400 athletes from around the world will participate in 22 summer events, fans will come back after the postponed Olympics 2021 that took place behind closed doors due to the coronavirus pandemic.

What isParalympics and when did it start?

The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the Games of the Paralympiad, is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities.

Even though the event that was later to be christened as the first Paralympics happened in Rome in 1960 the wheels of the games where set in motion in Britain over a decade earlier.

German born neurologist Sir Ludwig Guttman who was working with paralysed Second World War soldiers at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Aylesbury started incorporating sport in the rehabilitation process of his patients.

He established, in 1948, a contest that was to involving other hospitals in coordination with the London Olympics and within the next ten years, his sporting concept was embraced by the other spinal injury units across the country.

The event was held in Rome in 1960, where 400 disabled athletes from 23 nations participated in 57 competitive events in eight sports at the ninth Annual International Stoke Mandeville Games which is recognized as the 1960 Paralympics.

When are the Paralympics?

The Paralympics are to begin with an opening event on 28th August and for the first time ever, the event will not be held in a conventional stadium, but in London. The final leg of the athletes’ parade will take them from the Champs-Elysée to the Place de la Concorde in Paris.

The public has the right to watch the event on the streets; ticket holders only can attend the official ceremonies at Place de la Concorde. The event commences on 29th August and on the first day, twenty-two gold medals are on offer. The Games will come to a close on September 8 with one full day of competition in wheelchair basketball, Para-powerlifting, Para-canoe, and wheelchair marathons followed by the closing ceremony.

Which venues are being used for the Paralympics?

Some of the Olympic venues will also be used for Paralympic games and this will make the backdrops of the competition quite impressive. Qualifying matches in Wheelchair tennis are expected to be hosted at the Stade Roland Garros while Para-equestrian events will be held at stunning palaces of Château de Versailles. There are plans that the Stade de France is to host the Para-athletics program.

Art and sporting events have been previously hosted in the Grand Palais and it is where athletes participating in wheelchair fencing and Para-taekwondo will be received. On the other hand, a stadium which will have been put up for the sole purpose of hosting football for the blind will be located at the feet of the Eiffel Tower. Co- Triathletes nations will perform their acts in the middle of Paris in River Seine for the swimming legs.

How can I watch the Paralympics?

Channel 4 will show the Games in the UK with more than 1,300 hours of live sport airing across Channel 4, More4, Channel 4 Streaming and Channel 4 Sport’s YouTube.

How to follow the Paralympics on the BBC

BBC Radio 5 Live will have commentary and updates from key events in Paris, starting with 5 Live Drive from 16:00 BST.

There will also be programmes dedicated to the Paralympics on most evenings, usually between 20:00 and 21:00.

The BBC Sport website will have live text commentary and reports on each day of the Games.

Which sports feature at the Paralympics?

There are 22 sports in the Paralympic programme:

• Blind football
• Boccia
• Goalball
• Para-archery
• Para-athletics
• Para-badminton
• Para-canoe
• Para-cycling
• Para-equestrian
• Para-judo
• Para-powerlifting
• Para-rowing
• Para-swimming
• Para-table tennis
• Para-taekwondo
• Para-triathlon
• Shooting Para-sport
• Sitting volleyball
• Wheelchair basketball
• Wheelchair fencing
• Wheelchair rugby
• Wheelchair tennis

Which new sports are at the Paralympics?

Unlike the past two editions of the Paralympics where new sports such as para-triathlon and para-canoe were introduced in Rio and para-taekwondo and para-badminton in Tokyo, there will be no new sport in the Paris 2024 Paralympics. However, both the badminton and the taekwondo events have been upgraded for these Games, and there will also be more medal events exclusively for women, illustrating the developments towards gender equity and participation.

How many gold medals will be won?

A total of 549 gold medals will be up for grabs.

Who is competing for ParalympicsGB and how many medals could they win?

ParalympicsGB will compete in 19 sports in Paris, having failed to qualify in blind football, goalball and sitting volleyball.

The GB team will feature about 213 athletes, and you can find the confirmed names of who will be competing here.

Among the stars in action will be Britain’s most successful Paralympian, Sarah Storey, who is competing at a ninth Games – a British record – and will be hoping to add to her 17 gold medals.

Wheelchair tennis player Alfie Hewett will be aiming to win a first gold medal having completed a career Grand Slam by winning the Wimbledon singles title last month. Wheelchair racer Hannah Cockroft, table tennis player Will Bayley and swimmer Alice Tai will also be among those in action.

In Tokyo, Britain finished second in the medal table behind China with 124 medals, including 41 golds.

UK Sport has set a medal range of between 100 and 140 medals for the GB team.

How many nations will compete at the Paralympics?

The increase in the profile of Para-sport has meant a gradual rise in the number of nations participating in a Paralympic Games.

In Atlanta in 1996, 104 nations took part in the Games, rising to 123 four years later in Sydney and that number reached a record 164 at London 2012 before a slight drop to 159 at Rio in 2016.

At the Tokyo 2020 Games, which were held in 2021, 162 nations participated with a number missing out because of Covid-19 restrictions.

There were debut appearances for Bhutan, Grenada, Guyana, Maldives and St Vincent and the Grenadines.

It is expected that the number of nations competing in Paris will exceed the record of 164 set in London, although it will fall short of the 207 delegations who competed at the Paris Olympics.

Can athletes from Russia and Belarus compete at the Paris Paralympics?

Athletes from Russia and Belarus will be allowed to compete at the Games as neutrals.

Both nations have been suspended from Paralympic competition since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. At the following month’s Winter Paralympics in Beijing, competitors from Russia and Belarus were not allowed to take part as neutrals after the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) was criticised for originally saying they could.

In September 2023, the IPC voted to lift the full ban and partially suspend the national Paralympic committees of Russia and Belarus. That decision was criticized by some international federations, including ParalympicsGB.

Russian athletes were barred from the 2016 Rio Paralympics over historic doping allegations before athletes were able to compete under a neutral flag and using the initials of the Russian Paralympic Committee at the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang and Tokyo 2020.