"VAN" (Olympic Desk - Paris, France - 09.09.2024) :: Ahead of the Closing Ceremony, we caught up with International Paralympic Committee President Andrew Parsons about the Paris 2024 Paralympics, which featured over 4,000 athletes from around the world.
The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games are coming to an end after 11 days of amazing action. What are your thoughts just hours before the Closing Ceremony?
I think athletes were happy, the National Paralympic Committees are happy, the International Federations are happy. I think it was a complete success. What’s in my mind now is what’s the next step after we have come so, so, so far prior to Milano Cortina (2026) and LA (2028).
Can you share your three favourite moments from the Games?
I think the first one was the first medal for the Refugee Paralympic Team. Zakia (Khudadadi) won bronze in Para taekwondo.
In that moment, the fans were having fun, of course, but it was something that clearly told me, ‘Look, they know what they do here. They know what they’re watching. You will know what we stand for as a Movement and they love it. Above all, I think they were just fantastic.
The Opening Ceremony was fantastic. It was great to see the ceremony outside of a stadium. Paris and Parisians embraced the Paralympic Movement. We said before the ceremony it would be a symbolic hug of the Paralympic Movement.
What did you think of the level of sport in Paris?
The sport was absolutely fantastic. It was at the next level – it has been better than ever before. There were world records while team sports here were incredible. We saw incredible results, and some new athletes and some new countries.
It was just fantastic to see Mauritius, Moldova and Nepal win their first ever medal. We have been working with these countries. It’s great to see that the athletes are responding, and it’s paying off.
What kind of role did the crowd play in Paris? Do you have a message for all the fans who came to watch the Games?
My message to them is a huge, enormous 'merci beaucoup' because after the athletes, they were the big stars of the Games. No doubt about it, they provided an incredible atmosphere. They cheer for the athletes from all nations, so of course, when French athletes were competing, we can understand.
The French population were going crazy, like last night at the blind football final, they cheered for every athlete. They understood what the Paralympic Movement is. This is just fantastic.
There were also so many friendly volunteers working behind the scenes.
If the athletes are at the heart of the Games, the volunteers are probably the muscles. They are the ones making sure that things happen and that the athletes have what they need.
I saw so many beautiful smiles and I interacted with so many volunteers here from different parts of the world. It was just very touching to see how proud they were. They will leave this experience for the rest of their lives, no doubt about it.
The Games were also broadcast in more places than ever before. What kind of impact do you see from this?
This is what we want. When we have a vision to make a more inclusive world through Para sport, it's not only about the people, the spectators at the venues. It's about the people watching it at home in the four corners of the world.
And again, going through the four corners of the world, more countries watching basically every single person on this planet had a chance to watch a little bit of the Paralympics. This is very strong.
As you said, Paris 2024 raised the bar for future host cities...
They really raised the bar here and I think it's good. We had that in Barcelona, we had that in Beijing, we had that in London, and now we have it in Paris.
By raising the bar, it showed our friends in Milano Cortina (2026), LA (2028), French Alps (2030), Brisbane (2032), Salt Lake City Utah (2034) that this is the benchmark now, and they had to deliver against that.
2.5 million tickets were sold – they were not given. The number of broadcasts is higher than ever before, and this shows commercial value. So, let's say, this gives them a few challenges, but many opportunities.
Lastly, can you share a message for all the athletes who competed in Paris?
You are my heroes. It's just incredible to see how far they came in this three-year cycle (since Tokyo 2020), which, of course, brings a lot of challenges. They needed first to qualify and to be in good shape. But the performance they put here was astonishing.
My message to the athletes is again, thank you for your performances. Thank you for putting the Paralympic Movement so high. Now enjoy the Closing Ceremony. Have some rest, because we have a lot to do in the lead up to LA because we need to put this Movement to an even higher level.
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