When is the 2024 Paralympics opening ceremony? Start time today and how to watch

After the stunning Olympic Games in Paris, there is more action to come with the Paralympics just around the corner, offering Team GB many more chances to win medals.

Team GB has an excellent record at the Paralympics, finishing second in the medal table at Tokyo 2020 with 41 gold, 38 silver and 45 bronze medals.

This is what awaits you in 2024.

Hannah Cockroft hopes for another gold medal in para-athletics

Bryn Lennon / Getty Images

When do the Paralympics start?

Things will really get started on Thursday, August 29th, and medals will be awarded right at the start.

The campaign lasts 10 days until the closing ceremony on Sunday, September 8th.

Unlike the Olympics, there will be athletics and swimming throughout the Games.

Can I watch the Paralympics?

Yes, the live action can be seen on Channel 4, which has promised more than 1,300 hours of coverage.

Unlike the Olympic Games, where the BBC had limited broadcasts, Channel 4 shows each event with up to 18 streams available online.

There will also be a highlights show.

Goalball at the Paralympics

Lisa Niesner / Reuters

Which sports are played at the Paralympics?

The 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris will feature 22 sports in 23 disciplines and a total of 549 competitions spread over 269 sessions (morning, afternoon and evening).

The disciplines offered include both Olympic and Paralympic disciplines such as goalball, bocce and sitting volleyball.

Each sport has subcategories that give athletes the opportunity to compete on equal terms with people with similar disabilities. The sports are as follows:

Para-archery
Para-athletics
Para-Badminton
Blind football
Bocce
Para-Canoe
Para-cycling
Para-equestrian
Goalball
Para-Judo
Para-powerlifting
Para-rowing
Shooting in Parasport
Sitting volleyball
Para-swimming
Para table tennis
Para Taekwondo
Para-Triathlon
Wheelchair basketball
Wheelchair fences
Wheelchair rugby
Wheelchair tennis

David Smith from Team GB takes part in Boccia

Scott Heavey / Getty Images

What do we know about the opening ceremony?

Around 4,400 para-athletes will take part in a “people’s parade” choreographed by Swede Alexander Ekman on the Avenue des Champs-Elysées.

As with the Olympic Games, the opening ceremony of the Paralympics will not be held in a stadium, but outdoors on the Place de la Concorde, which has been transformed into an “urban park” for the Olympic Games.

Thomas Jolly, artistic director of the ceremony, said: “From the Champs-Elysées to the Place de la Concorde, I am looking forward to creating this spectacle that will transform the heart of Paris with performances like never before.”

The flame, lit on Saturday (24 August) in Stoke Mandeville, the birthplace of the Paralympic Games, arrived in France through the Channel Tunnel on Sunday, carried by wheelchair fencing medallist Emmanuelle Assmann.

topicnews · August 28, 2024

When is the 2024 Paralympics opening ceremony? Start time today and how to watch

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