Paris to inaugurate Paralympics with 'never seen before' opening ceremony

Just weeks after hosting the Olympics, the summer of sports in Paris begins its final chapter Wednesday with the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games.

More than 4,000 athletes with physical, visual and intellectual impairments will compete in 22 sports over the next 11 days.

Organizers are promising a spectacular show to open the Games. Once again it's being held outside the confines of a stadium, but unlike the Olympic opening ceremony, which featured a boat parade on the Seine River, the Paralympic ceremony is happening exclusively on land, with athletes parading down the famous Champs-Elyses to the ceremony at the Place de la Concorde.

Artistic director Thomas Jolly, who also led the opening ceremony for the Olympics, said the event will showcase the Paralympic athletes and the values that they embody", and promised performances that have never been seen before."

Organizers say more than 2 million tickets have been sold for the Paris Paralympics. Competition begins Thursday with the first medals handed out in taekwondo, table tennis and track cycling. Athletes are grouped by impairment levels to ensure as level a playing field as possible. Only two sports on the program, goalball and boccia, don't have an Olympic equivalent.

International Paralympic Committee President Andrew Parsons said that the big crowds expected in Paris will mean a lot to the athletes, many of whom competed in front of empty stands at the Tokyo Paralympics three years ago due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As our ambition is to be perceived and understood as the most transformational sport event on the planet, by having this atmosphere, it's important," he told The Associated Press on the eve of the opening ceremony.