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≡ PARIS 2024 ≡
“You staged the most spectacular Paralympic Games ever.”
That salute from International Paralympic Committee President Andrew Parsons (BRA) was the highlight of a rainy but happy XVII Paralympic Games in Paris, closing out more than a month of joy in the French capital.
Parsons was unrestrained in his thanks for a brilliant Paralympics:
● “Tonight, we must bring the record-breaking Paris 2024 Paralympic Games to a close. With more competing countries, women and global coverage than ever before, Paris 2024 has set a benchmark for all future Paralympic Games.”
● “People of France, your passion and support has been incredible and magnificent.
“With spirit and pride, you made the last 12 days joyful and unforgettable. You celebrated the start of the inclusion revolution with a Paralympic party in Paris. Together with fans all over the world, you idolized the athletes and were in awe at what you saw. Free from barriers, Paralympians performed to their best.
“Through sport they showed what humanity can achieve when given an opportunity to succeed.”
● “We all have a collective responsibility to use the momentum of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games to make the world around us more inclusive.”
Paris 2024 President Tony Estanguet, in charge of a magnificent organizing committee that shattered the idea that the Olympic and Paralympic Games are no longer relevant after the Covid-depressed Tokyo 2020 experience, told the Stade de France and the Paralympians:
“In life, there are encounters that touch us, encounters that transform us, that make us better people.
“The Games we have experienced together were about sport, they were about records. But above all, it has been a story of encounters. The kind of extraordinary encounters that leave a permanent mark. Our encounter with you, dear Paralympians, is one of them.”
And to the Paralympians specifically, he said:
“Every time you competed, more people joined the party. Every time you succeeded, the intensity grew. With every wow, every cry, every heart you sent racing, you changed how people see sport and how they see the disability.
“Thanks to you, everyone has seen what an inclusive world looks like. You have launched this Paralympic revolution and now there is no turning back.”
Estanguet also noted the end of the party, including for the true champions of Paris 2024, the spectators who came out in the millions:
“Tonight is not just the end of the Paralympic Games, it’s also the end of Paris 2024.
“So I’d like to thank all of you who are here this evening and who have been with us since the first day of the Games: in the stadiums, in the fan zones, in the bars, in the streets. You have never been spectators. From the start, you’ve been supporters.
“You’ve given us everything: the flags, the shaking stands, the giant athletes’ faces, the singing, the dancing in the rain, the thunder claps, the Mexican waves. You’ve even invented the silent Mexican wave for Blind Football.
“The success of these Games is also your success.”
The ceremony itself, about two hours, included a lot of music, a final half-hour of electronica from 24 French DJs and the handover ceremony to Los Angeles for 2028. Estanguet accompanied Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo as she handed the Paralympic flag to Parsons, who gave it to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, accompanied by Blake Leeper, a two-time Paralympic medalist in 2012 and fourth in the men’s 400 m T62 final in Paris.
The U.S. national anthem was impressively rendered in the rain by Tony Award-winner Ali Stroker, followed by a cut to a six-minute video featuring multiple Paralympians, incorporating the iconic 1965 anthem “California Dreamin’” by The Mamas and the Papas, and ending with a performance at the Venice Beach Skatepark highlighted by eight-time Grammy winner Anderson .Paak.
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The final week of the Games had lots of highlights, including a unique Olympic-Paralympic tie-in for Hunter Woodhall, the husband of Olympic women’s long jump winner Tara Davis-Woodhall.
Hunter finished sixth in the men’s T64 100 m earlier, but was brilliant on Friday (6th), winning the men’s T62 400 m in 46.36, over Johannes Floors (GER: 46.90) with Leeper fourth in 47.32. The win touched off a wild celebration on the field with the Woodhalls together, after Tara had returned from long-jumping in the Golden Gala Pietro Mennea meet on 30 August.
Hunter also won a bronze as a member of the mixed U.S. team in the 4×100 m Universal Relay, with Noah Malone (T12), Woodhall, Taylor Swanson (T37) and Tatyana McFadden (T54).
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U.S. Paralympic icon Jessica Long continued busy, winning her second Paris Paralympic gold, this time in the women’s 100 m Butterfly S8, more than a second ahead of the field in 1:10.59.
Combined with her gold on 4 September in the 400 m Freestyle S8 final, she ended the Games with a sensational total of 31 career Paralympic medals, including 18 golds, eight silvers and five bronzes, all in swimming.
Long is now tied with Israel’s Zipora Rubin-Rosenbaum (1964-92) with 31 career Paralympic medals, no. 3 on the all-time list.
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A sad note from Saturday’s men’s standing javelin (T41), won on the field by Iran’s Sadegh Beit Sayah with a Paralympic record of 47.64 m (156-3). But he was disqualified afterwards for two “Unsporting or improper conduct” actions which drew yellow cards and combined for his disqualification.
These were reported as “a ‘throat-slitting’ gesture after breaking the Paralympic record with his second throw” and showing “black flag with red writing as he celebrated his victory.” Sayah said the flag was a religious salute. He appealed, but to no avail.
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China topped the medal table as expected with 220 (94-76-50), followed by Great Britain (124: 49-44-31) and the U.S. (105: 36-42-27).
China improved its total from Tokyo 2020 from 207 to 220; the British were exactly the same, and the U.S. won 104 medals in 2021 and 105 this time.
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In Parsons’ closing remarks, he reminded everyone of the future to come:
“Sadly, the time has come for me to declare the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games closed.
“I call upon Paralympic athletes from all over the world to meet again in Los Angeles in four years’ time where the Paralympic Games will aim to transform America.”
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