The 2024 Paralympic Games: What you need to know

Paris is hosting the Paralympic Games from August 28 to September 8, and in the run-up to the event, the sense of anticipation among the athletes is growing.

"We are at a higher level than a few years ago," German Paralympian Johannes Floors told DW.

With the Summer Olympics having wrapped up just a few weeks ago, organizers are now looking forward to hosting the Paralympic Games.

"We are excited to find the same ingredients of Olympic magic, but in Paralympic mode, at the same iconic venues, to showcase the best athletes in the world,” said Tony Estanguet, head of the organizing committee for both the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris.

Russians and Belarusians may compete as neutrals

Around 4,000 athletes are to compete in 22 sports at the Paralympics. Ninety-eight athletes from Russia and Belarus are among those who have been given approval to take part. However, due to Russia's full-scale of Ukraine launched in February 2022, they may not compete under their national flags. They will be excluded from the opening ceremony and their national anthem will not be played should they win a gold medal. Only 15 Russians and Belarusians competed at this summer's Olympic Games.

"They don't belong there," Friedhelm Julius Beucher, president of the German Disabled Sports Association (DBS) said.

"If the Olympic and Paralympic Games are to send out messages of peace, then an aggressor who invades another country and causes death and destruction there must not be given the opportunity to compete alongside Ukrainian athletes."

Biggest Refugee team yet

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has also announced that eight athletes will be competing as members of the Refugee Paralympic Team – the largest of its kind to date. A six-person refugee team competed at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo in 2021. These athletes represent the more than 120 million displaced people worldwide.

Over the past seven years, the organizers of the Games have invested around €125 million ($139 million) to make the French capital more inclusive. Public buildings and local transport have been made more accessible, and 10,400 acoustic modules have been installed at critical intersections for the visually impaired.

According to the organizers, around half of the approximately 3.4 million tickets for the 164 competitions have already been sold.

A brief history

In the summer of 1948, Jewish neurologist Ludwig Guttmann, who had fled to the UK from Nazi Germany in 1939, organized the first competition for wheelchair athletes in London, which he called the "Stoke Mandeville Games." This was the forerunner to the Paralympic Games, which were first held in Rome in 1960 with 400 athletes from 23 countries. Since then, they have been held every four years.

In 1976, Sweden hosted the first Winter Games in the history of the Paralympics, which have also been held every four years since then. Since 1988, the games have been held at the same venue as the Olympic Games thanks to an agreement between the IPC and the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

The significance of the Paralympic Games

The Paralympics are one of the most important events in disabled sports. The number of athletes taking part has risen steadily and media interest continues to grow.

"The media rush is getting bigger and bigger, and the questions in interviews are becoming more and more universal," said German sprinter Floors.

"It's no longer just about a person's disability, but increasingly about the person, the character, the motivation," added the gold medal winner in the 400 meters in Tokyo three years ago.

"There is much more background interest."

For world champion swimmer Elena Semechin, the Paralympics are about more than just sporting competition.

"I also see it as an ambassadorial activity, as a role model for other people. That's why it's even more important for me to be able to represent Germany and our sport at the Games,” the gold medalist in the 100-meter breaststroke in Tokyo told DW.

"It's the greatest thing you can do,” said 39-year-old cyclist Thomas Ulbricht who is taking part in his fifth Paralympic Games. "You want to represent yourself, make your parents proud and, of course, your country."

What makes the Paralympics different from the Olympics

The venues and the Olympic Village, where the athletes stay during the Games, had to be partially rebuilt following the Olympic Games.

"Public squares, streets, sidewalks and crosswalks were designed in such a way that wheelchair users can use them without any problems," explained Laurent Michaud, head of the village.

"This is in line with the universal accessibility standards required for new urban developments."

Only the apartments in the village that have at least one accessible bathroom will be used. In the outdoor areas, poorly visible obstacles have been color-coded and ramps for wheelchair users have been installed at the competition venues.

The discussion about the water quality of the Seine will continue because, as at the Olympics, swimming in the triathlon competitions is to be held in the river. Unlike the Olympic Games, however, there will be no open water swimming competitions at the Paralympics.

Unlike the Olympics, boccia has been part of the Paralympic program since 1984. Para-climbing will be added as a sport in Los Angeles in 2028, seven years after sport climbing made its Olympic debut in Tokyo.

This article was originally published in German.