It’s that time again – the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games start this week!
Beginning on 28 August and running until 8 September, the Paris Paralympics will bring together over 4400 athletes from 184 countries. They’ll compete in 22 para-sports over the 11 days of the competition, to an expected audience of four billion people around the world.
The International Paralympic Committee has already announced that this year’s games will feature a record number of delegations and women competing. Among them will be a Refugee Paralympic Team comprising eight people, along with 98 Neutral Paralympic Athletes from Russia and Belarus.
The largest sport in this year’s games is Para Athletics, which will feature 1135 athletes competing in 164 medal events. Para Swimming is the second largest event in the competition, followed by Para Table Tennis.
Australia’s contingent will include 160 athletes, including 61 competing for the first time.
The Opening Ceremony starts at 8pm Paris time on Wednesday 28 August – or 4am Thursday 29 August, Australian time, with Australian Paralympic champions Madison de Rozario and Brenden Hall announced as our flag bearers for the ceremony.
What are the Paralympics?
The Paralympic Games are an international sporting competition for people with disability. They are separate to the Special Olympics, which are for people with intellectual disability – although people with intellectual disabilities are also able to compete in the Paralympics.
The Paralympics began in 1948 when a sports competition was held for World War Two veterans with spinal cord injuries in London. The competition continued year after year and was opened to international athletes in 1952. In 1960 the games took place in Rome, the first time they had been held outside the UK; these were the first games to officially be called the Paralympics.
Some of Australia’s best-known athletes and disability advocates – including Kurt Fearnley, Dylan Alcott, Matthew Cowdrey and Tracey Freeman – are Paralympians.
Find out more about Australia’s Paralympics team on the Paralympics Australia website.
Caption: Flag bearers Madison de Rozario and Brenden Hall