The Paralympic Games Paris 2024 came to an end in style on Sunday 8 September 2024, after 11 days of spectacular sporting performances, surprises and emotion-packed moments. After taking part in the Opening Ceremony in the heart of Paris, the athletes gathered at the Stade de France to be cheered by the public one last time. The evening was the high point of an historic, festive and unifying summer, and was marked by the handover to Los Angeles 2028 before the Flame was extinguished. The extinguishing of the Flame kicked off the grand finale: a spectacular electronic music concert that had the thousands of spectators on their feet dancing.
Celebrating the success of France's first Summer Paralympic Games
Paris 2024 had invited the whole world to celebrate the end of the Paralympic Games Paris 2024 in a glittering Stade de France. In this temple of sporting performance, which has shone so brightly over the course of this unforgettable summer, the public were able to relive the success of the first Summer Paralympic Games to be held in France.
Over the course of the 11 days of competition, spectators from all over the world marvelled at some extraordinary sporting feats: the first Paralympic title for the Refugee Team won by Zakia Khudadadi in Para taekwondo; multi-medalled stars such as China’s Jiang Yuyan (the most decorated athlete of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games with 7 golds) the Brazilian Gabrielzinho in Para swimming (three gold medals), Switzerland's Catherine Debrunner in Para athletics (five gold medals) and the American Oksana Masters in Para cycling (two gold medals); as well as the triumph of Matt Stutzman in the Para archery competition.
With stadiums packed full - over 2.5 million tickets were sold - and overjoyed crowds, the French team shone in front of its home crowd, beating the record for most titles won at the Paralympic Games set in Tokyo, with 19 gold medals (compared with 11 in 2020) and a total of 75 medals. And the champions Alexis Hanquinquant (Para triathlon), Aurélie Aubert (Boccia), Lucas Mazur (Para badminton), Emeline Pierre (Para swimming) and the brilliant French Para cycling team (28 medals), with its stars Marie Patouillet and Alexandre Léauté, won the hearts of the French by winning gold on home soil.
The many celebration venues across France also gave people the chance to experience the excitement of the Paralympic Games and extend the party: one million people came to one of the 70 Clubs 2024 and the Club France to enjoy the feats of the French team and celebrate the medallists, while more than 600 mini clubs brought the new school year to life in French schools.
The Cauldron lit for the last time to the tune of Vivre pour le meilleur [Living for the Best]
This Sunday evening at the Stade de France, singer Santa opened the Closing Ceremony of the Paralympic Games with a rendition of “Vivre pour le Meilleur”, an iconic song by French rock legend Johnny Hallyday. Accompanied by her band of musicians, the singer lit up the Stade de France, powerfully uniting the hearts and generations that had shared the same passion throughout the summer.
At the same time, thousands of people watched the final moments of the Cauldron, designed by Mathieu Lehanneur. The Cauldron will go down as one of the most powerful symbols of these Games, bringing together hundreds of thousands of people day and night, and adding to the magic of the Games of Paris 2024.
A final lap for the flag-bearers of the 169 Paralympic delegations
After the raising of the French flag to the sound of “The Marseillaise” played by a French trumpeter with a disability, André Feydy, the public gave a final cheer to the flag-bearers of the 169 Paralympic delegations present in Paris - a record in the history of the Paralympic Games.
In a party atmosphere, to the rhythm of the songs performed by the Republican Guard, the public at the Stade de France was able to express its admiration one last time for the 4,400 athletes who took part in the Paralympic Games Paris 2024.
On the stage, Presidents Tony Estanguet of Paris 2024 and Andrew Parsons of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) celebrated “an historic summer that will remain with us” for a long time, and paid a passionate tribute to the Paralympic athletes for their achievements as well as to the French public for the magnificent atmosphere in the venues.
Paralympic tributes were paid to the six newly elected members of the IPC Athletes' Council (four women and two men: Martina Caironi (Para athletics) and Vladyslava Kravchenko (Para swimming) were re-elected, as were Yujiao Tan (Para powerlifting), Denise Schindler (Para cycling), Yoomin Won (wheelchair basketball) and Lenine Cunha (Para athletics), the first athlete with an intellectual disability to be elected) before the 15,000 volunteers received a tribute of their own for having made a remarkable contribution to the success of the event through their energy, commitment and good humour.
A demonstration of breaking by a group of artist-athletes including people with disabilities
Dance, inclusion and celebration once again took centre stage with a group performance of breaking, interpreted by eight artist-athletes, three of whom have disabilities and some of whom had already taken part in the Opening Ceremony of the Paralympic Games.
The Director of Ceremonies for Paris 2024, Thomas Jolly, wanted this nod to one of the four additional sports offered by Paris 2024 as part of the Olympic Games programme. The demonstration was an opportunity to showcase this discipline and its inclusive power one last time, with solo and group performances, to the sound of a set by DJ Cut Killer.
Je suis venu te dire que je m’en vais [I've come to tell you that I'm leaving]: a moving extinction of the Paralympic Flame.
After the handover from Paris 2024 to Los Angeles 2028, from the Tuileries Gardens, the duo Amadou et Mariam, accompanied by a string quartet in an intimate and poignant setting, sang Serge Gainsbourg's poetically elegant “Je suis venu te dire que je m'en vais” to mark the end of the Games.
In the Stade de France, a group of 6 French Paralympic athletes, all medallists at the Games, then led the final torch relay: Ugo Didier (Para swimming) and Frédéric Villeroux (Blind football), the first and last gold medallists of the French delegation, brought the Paralympic flame into the Stade de France before handing it over to another iconic duo of the Games: Charles Noakes, gold medallist in Para badminton, and Gloria Agblemagnon, silver medallist in Para athletics. To close this relay showcasing the diversity of Para sports, the precious Flame was extinguished by a final golden duo: Aurélie Aubert, France's first Paralympic champion in Boccia and flag bearer for the Paralympic delegation at the Closing Ceremony, blew out the Flame with Mathieu Bosrgdon, the most successful French athlete at these Paralympic Games, with three titles in Para cycling. At the same time, the Cauldron, was also extinguished.
A climactic finale with 24 artists from the French electro scene transforming the Stade de France into a giant disco
To bring the Paralympic Games to a close, Thomas Jolly and his artistic team, in particular Victor Le Masne as Musical Director and Romain Pissenem as Show Director, created a huge celebration entitled “Le Voyage de l'onde” [The Journey of the Wave].
A real tribute to Parisian nights, from the hectic cabaret evenings of the Belle Epoque to the buzz of the first discotheques, via the frenzied rhythms of jazz clubs, Paris has established itself as one of the nerve centres of party life.
With a back-to-back set of legendary hits, the French reminded the world that they know how to party! With Jean-Michel Jarre as the master of ceremonies, the Stade de France became France's biggest nightclub for one night, to the rhythm of the DJ set by the crème de la crème of the French electronic music scene: AGORIA, ALAN BRAXE, ANETHA, BOSTON BUN, BREAKBOT & IRFANE, BUSY P, CASSIUS, CHLOE, CHLOÉ CAILLET, DJ FALCON, ÉTIENNE DE CRÉCY, GЯEG, IRÈNE DRÉSEL, JEAN-MICHEL JARRE, KAVINSKY, KIDDY SMILE, KITTIN, KUNGS, MARTIN SOLVEIG, NATHALIE DUCHENE, OFENBACH, POLO & PAN, TATYANA JANE and THE AVENER.
It was on this joyous, danceable and unifying note that Paris 2024 wanted to invite all the athletes to take to the stage to close the adventure of the Games : double Paralympic cycling champion Alexandre Léauté joined Martin Solveig to launch the final track, with several French Olympic athletes also invited to symbolise the strong links between Olympism and Paralympism (Althéa Laurin, French Olympic taekwondo champion; Florent Manaudou, French Olympic swimming champion; Mélina Robert-Michon, French Olympic athletics silver medallist; Jordan Sepho and Stephen Parez Edo Martin, French Olympic rugby champions; Clément Secchi, French Olympic medallist in swimming; Romane Dicko, double French Olympic champion in judo).
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