Tony Estanguet had never hidden it: succeeding in the ticketing operation for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games was not going to be easy. The president of the COJO had even confided to FrancsJeux, last April, that it was probably the " biggest challenge » to be noted in the final straight.
The numbers have long justified his fears, with only a million tickets sold at the start of the Olympics, the majority of which were acquired by the government. But the trend has reversed.
With four days to go until the end of the Paralympic Games, Tony Estanguet can breathe easy. The event has found its audience. Its popular success has even exceeded expectations, with more than 2,3 million tickets, according to the latest count communicated at the beginning of the week by the organizers.
According to IPC figures, the record still stands at the London 2012 Games, where the British managed to sell 2,7 million tickets. Craig Spence, the Paralympic body's spokesman, explained at a press conference that the mark would not be beaten this year in Paris.
« Gauges were bigger at London 2012he recalled. Paris will therefore not be able to equal or beat the record. But it is possible to reach 2,5 million tickets. » With such a result, the Paris 2024 Games would take their second place in history. Above all, they would be almost sold out, the COJO having revised its gauge downwards, before the start of the event, going from 2,8 million places to sell to a more reduced range, between 2,5 and 2,6 million.
The reason for this success, Etienne Thobois tried to explain in a press conference. We are riding the Olympic spirit, with an audience that has embraced this spirit, suggested the general director of the organizing committee. Now we have such a large audience that embraces the Paralympic spirit. It's a positive signal in a society that needs more positive signals."
The numbers prove him right, with ticket sales taking off spectacularly after the Olympic opening ceremony, more than doubling, with over 1,3 million tickets sold in just over a month.
Etienne Thobos also recalled that the organizing committee had chosen, since the first day, to associate the two events in all circumstances. A common logo, identical competition sites, reinforced communication around the Paralympic Games, with the launch last year of the first Paralympic Day. The return match after the first leg. Two parts of the same project.
The athletes were the first to be surprised. More accustomed to empty stands, or at best only slightly filled ones, they discovered full and noisy stands, a boiling crowd and an atmosphere they had never even dreamed of. We almost thought we were at the Tour de France", dared the Frenchman Alexis Hanquinquant the day after his gold medal in the para triathlon, to describe the atmosphere throughout the race.
“Before the Games, I imagined a crazy atmosphere, but the result is ten times higher than what I had anticipated, testified another French athlete, Antoine Praud, bronze medalist in the 1.500 m (T46) in para athletics, Saturday August 30 at the Stade de France. The audience carried me all the way.”
On Tuesday, September 3, France won its 100th medal in para swimming at Paris 2024, Olympic and Paralympic Games combined. Three years earlier, at the Tokyo 2020 Games, the counter had stopped at 87 for both events (33 Olympic medals, 54 Paralympic). The success is therefore also sporting. The public is surely not for nothing.
