What are you most excited about for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games?
I’m excited that following the absence of spectators at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games due to the pandemic, we will have spectators and packed crowds back for Paris 2024. This will bring out the best performances from the athletes. I fully expect Paris 2024 to be the most spectacular Paralympics in history due to the mixture of stunning iconic venues and world class sport.
I’m also tremendously excited about the social impact the Paralympic Games will have with more global TV coverage than ever before. We expect a cumulative TV audience of more than 4.2 billion people will watch the Games, a move that will put persons with disabilities and issues regarding their rights to the top of the news agenda.
The Paralympic Games are the only event with a global impact that puts persons with disabilities on centre stage. We have a big opportunity here – we have an incredible platform to advance the social agenda, the human rights agenda of persons with disabilities.
Right after the Paralympic Games, there is the UN Summit of the Future, which aims to draft a document called the Pact for the Future. We believe that persons with disabilities need to be taken into account in that planning for the future.
We believe that compared to other marginalised groups or other minority groups, persons with disabilities are being left behind. On the global level, you see many people talking about gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, and so on, but not about disability to the same level.
So, right before this incredible event that will shape the way governments see the future of mankind, it is important to have this platform of the Paralympic Games to say, ‘We are here, and we are important.’ It’s not about representing the 4,400 athletes on the field of play, but providing a platform for the 1.2 billion persons with disabilities.
This is what I want Paris 2024 to be: an incredible and exciting sports event that people will want to watch. At the same time, it will make the Paralympic Movement relevant to the point that people understand that we are a Movement that helps change the world.
How has the committee aimed towards greater participation and inclusion this year?
The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games will feature a record number of medal events and athlete slots for women, as well as more competition opportunities for athletes with high support needs.
The Games will include a record 235 medal events for women, eight more than at Tokyo 2020. This number also represents a 28 percent increase on the 183 medal events for female athletes at the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games.
In addition to more medal events, there will be at least 1,859 slots for female athletes, 77 more than Tokyo 2020. This record number is almost double the 990 women that took part at the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games.
What has been the greatest challenge in ensuring the games are a success?
Organising every Paralympic Games comes with its own set of challenges. It is in the IPC’s mantra however to see these challenges as opportunities rather than something that should hold us back.
What is so pleasing to see in France is the legacy the Games are already creating.
France as a country is a little behind where the leading countries are in terms of addressing disability issues but has used the Games as a chance to change this situation.
In 2023 the French Government announced a policy which prioritises accessibility, education and employment for persons with disabilities and includes a commitment to invest EUR 1.5 billion to improve the accessibility of places of daily life.
The City of Paris is investing EUR 125 million in accessibility projects, and the French capital also aims to have 1,000 wheelchair-accessible taxis in operation by the time the Games open.
On a sporting side, Club Inclusif, created by the French Paralympic and Sports Committee, aims at raising awareness in 3,000 sports clubs across France through improving physical education practices and by educating coaches, so they are prepared to welcome not only Para) athletes, but persons with disabilities in general. This is fantastic progress in just seven years which will continue full throttle once the Games are over.
How do the sporting venues adapt and support the Paralympians as they deliver world-class performances?
The main adaptions from the Olympic Games to the Paralympic Games are regarding branding, replacing Olympic rings with the Paralympic Agitos.
Paris 2024 has done an excellent job ensuring that accessible venues are not something unique to the Paralympics but applied to the Olympics as well. Why? Because persons with disabilities are not just attending the Paralympics, they are also attending the Olympics too as spectators, journalists, and officials. Accessibility is not just for persons with disabilities either, accessibility benefits the elderly, parents with strollers, or anyone with a leg injury.
As part of efforts to make the Games more sustainable, Paris 2024 is using many existing venues, rather than building new facilities. Over the last seven years, we have been working hard with them to ensure all facilities used for the Games are fully accessible.
The venues in Paris are absolutely spectacular while the Paralympic Village is a blueprint of accessibility, and an example of how future cities can be made in terms of movement for all.
I think athletes will love the venues and this will ensure world class performances.
Considering the high demand for tickets, what measures have been put in place to ensure they are affordable and accessible for spectators?
The IPC prides itself on making the Paralympic Games an accessible events for spectators, in particular familes. This is one of the few global sport events where the whole family can attend at an affordable price.
Tickets prices for all sports at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games start from EUR 15, while more than half of all tickets are priced EUR 25 or less. We believe the Games are afforable and accessible to all.