+ What
The Paralympics are the counterpart to the Olympic Games for parasports. The competitors have some form of disability, such as mobility or visual impairment.
The first Paralympic Games were held in Rome in 1960 and have since been held shortly after the Olympic Games and in the same city. This year, 4,400 athletes from 184 countries will compete.
+ When
The opening ceremony will take place on Wednesday, August 28, at 8:00 PM in Paris. The competitions will begin the day after.
+ TV
SVT will broadcast.
+ Spectacular arenas
The Olympic opening ceremony in Paris in July was historic because it was the first time the opening ceremony for a summer Olympic Games was held outside a large sports arena. However, the Paralympic opening ceremony will not take place on the Seine River, but the theme of holding the ceremony in the Paris city environment remains.
The Paralympians will walk along the Champs-Élysées. Stands for spectators will be built around the Place de la Concorde, and the ceremony will have room for approximately 65,000 spectators.
Several of the Olympic arenas near Paris landmarks will be reused. The beach volleyball on Champ-de-Mars by the Eiffel Tower will be replaced by blind football, the archery audience will have a view of the Hôtel des Invalides, and wheelchair tennis will be played on the classic Roland Garros.
Some events will take place in other locations. For example, the shooting competition will be held in Chateauroux, about three hours south of Paris, and equestrian sports will be held at the Château de Versailles.
+ Three big stars
Diede de Groot – wheelchair tennis
The Dutchwoman is the superstar of wheelchair tennis. In Tokyo, she won gold in both singles and doubles and held an impressive winning streak of 145 matches before it was broken in May this year. Two months later, she won her sixth singles title at Wimbledon.
Brazil's men – blind football
Since the sport was introduced in Athens in 2004, Brazil has won five consecutive gold medals. In the Paralympics in Tokyo three years ago, they defeated their rivals Argentina in the final after a beautiful solo goal from Raimundo "Nonato" Mendes.
Alexis Hanquinquant – triathlon
The French home favorite and reigning champion will defend his gold medal from Tokyo. After a workplace accident, he had his leg amputated below the knee and runs with a prosthesis.
+ Swedish medal chances
The Swedish team consists of 20 athletes. Nine are debutants, and six have previously won medals in the Paralympics.
Among the medal hopefuls are Anna Benson, sports shooting, Anna Beck, cycling, Louise Etzner Jakobsson, equestrian sports, Emil Andersson, table tennis, and Nicolina Pernheim Goodrich, judo, despite having given birth to her first child in January.
+ Ukrainian successes
At the Winter Paralympics in Beijing 2022, Ukraine finished second in the medal table after China. This was despite problems with getting both athletes and equipment to the venue on time due to Russia's invasion just over a week before the Games.
When the war broke out, Ukrainian parasports lost their funding, and their training center in western Ukraine became a refugee camp. The Ukrainian Paralympic Committee is now in great need of support from outside and, for example, was able to participate in the World Championship in cross-country skiing and biathlon thanks to support from the Swedish Paralympic Committee.
+ Controversial nations
Just like in the Olympic Games, Russian and Belarusian athletes will compete under a neutral flag. Their medals will not be credited to their home countries in the official medal table. They will not participate in the opening or closing ceremonies.
Participants from the two countries have also been screened to see if they have expressed support for Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine, and they are not allowed to be affiliated with the military.
+ How many tickets have been sold
The conditions for a public success are good, given that several of the popular arenas, located among Paris landmarks, remain.
According to the International Paralympic Committee, 1.7 million tickets have been sold, and over 700,000 of them were purchased after the Olympic Games started at the end of July.
