Is this the mark of a more recent history? Things are moving quickly for the Paralympic Games. To the sometimes lengthy ceremonial of their Olympic counterpart, they prefer brevity, even a certain form of haste.
The flame, for example. Lit on Saturday August 24 late morning in Stoke Mandeville, Great Britain, cradle of the Paralympic movement, it entered France the next day through the Channel Tunnel. A British collective relay transmitted it halfway between the two countries to a French team which also came in large numbers, with no less than 24 relayers. In the lead, former wheelchair fencer Emmanuelle Assmann, former president of the French Paralympic and Sports Committee (CPSF).
As it exited the tunnel in Calais, the flame multiplied. It is no longer unique, as for the Olympic Games, but divided into twelve versions of the same torch. They will meet on Wednesday August 28 in Paris, to light the cauldron during the opening ceremony. In two days, then. No time to waste.
The same desire to accelerate the pace, without ever delaying, for the IPC and its president, the Brazilian Andrew Parsons. The body has revealed the most significant figures for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. They reflect its image. In full progress.
No less than 168 delegations will participate in the competitions. A record. There were 164 at the London 2012 and Tokyo 2020 Games. The latest count is not yet final, but participation should reach, or even slightly exceed, 4.400 athletes. Another record in perspective, higher than the 4.393 competitors entered at the Tokyo 2020 Games.
In Paris, 167 national Paralympic committees are represented, plus a team of eight refugee athletes, and a contingent of 98 neutral individual athletes (90 Russians and 8 Belarusians).
Three new countries, Eritrea, Kiribati and Kosovo, are making their debut at the Paris 2024 Games.
The male/female parity is not yet perfect, with 45% female entrants, or 1.983 competitors. But there were 1.846 at the Tokyo 2020 Games, and less than a thousand (988) in Sydney in 2000.
Comment from Andrew Parsons: “ Having 168 delegations at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games represents a growth of 24% compared to the 135 nations who participated in the Athens 2004 Games. Being now this close to achieving gender parity, just 64 years after the first Paralympic Games in Rome in 1960, demonstrates very rapid progress. »
At the head of the procession, five countries will make up the number. Announced once again as the favorite to dominate the medal table, as it has done at each edition since Athens 2004, China sent 282 athletes (124 men and 158 women). Second, surprise: Brazil. Its delegation includes 255 athletes (138 men and 117 women). Host country, France follows at a distance, with 237 athletes (155 men and 82 women). For the first time in history, it will be represented in all 22 sports of the program.
The United States will be represented by 220 athletes, with perfect parity (110 men and 110 women). Great Britain and its 201 athletes (109 men and 92 women) complete the top 5.
Proof of the rise in female participation: no less than 15 sports on the program show a higher number of women than three years earlier at the Tokyo Games.
Unsurprisingly, athletics is at the top of the most represented sports, with 1.135 athletes competing in 164 medal events. Swimming comes in second place with 608 swimmers for 141 medal events. Table tennis is third in number, with 281 table tennis players competing in the 31 medal events.
Finally, the ticket office. Long anticipated as a subject of concern, even anxiety, it has now turned green. The OCOG announced at the start of the weekend that it had exceeded the mark of 1,8 million tickets sold, with the curve still pointing upwards.
The very symbolic milestone of 2 million seats purchased no longer seems out of reach. With a reduced gauge (2,5 million), unlike the Olympic Games, there would then be 500.000 tickets available.
