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Paris Paralympics will be most spectacular in history: IPC President

Paris Paralympics will be most spectacular in history: IPC President
18 June 2024 17:49

PARIS (WAM)

The President of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), Andrew Parsons, declared that "the Paralympic Games in Paris will be the most spectacular in history."

The Brazilian head of the IPC made this declaration in an interview with the Spanish media outlet Servimedia, following his participation in the 17th European Congress of Adapted Physical Activity (Eucapa 2024).

Notably, the event took place at the Pablo de Olavide University in Seville, where he also had the honour of delivering a remarkable speech on the Paralympic Games, highlighting them as "the most transformative event on the planet."

During the conference, he also explained the role of science and research in achieving this.

Parsons explained that the Paralympic Games in Paris, which is scheduled to kich off on August 28 and go on until September 8, will take place with "the spectators back", after Tokyo 2020 was held with minimal spectators due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the interview, published by insidethegames, an Olympic news website, he added that "Paralympic sport is stronger than ever" and Paris is a "fantastic city" that will host events in "iconic venues" such as blind football under the Eiffel Tower, equestrian events in the gardens of Versailles and fencing and taekwondo at the Grand Palais.

Parsons highlighted the "impact" the Paris Paralympics will have, as they will be broadcast in nearly 170 countries around the world, reaching a cumulative audience of around 4.2 billion people, more than previous editions.

"We are in the final stages of the athlete classification process," he said, noting that around one million tickets have already been sold to watch the Paralympic events in the French capital.

"We are experiencing a very similar sales curve to London 2012," he added.

He also emphasised that one of the goals is for the Paris Games to be the most gender-balanced Paralympics in history, with an expected 45 percent of athletes being women, surpassing the record of 42 percent achieved at Tokyo 2020.

Parsons stressed that the Paris Paralympics will leave an "interesting legacy," with increased accessibility on the metro, adapted buses and a multi-million dollar accessibility plan for public spaces across France.

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