“It’s going to be a great show”: the Athletes’ Village came back to life on Wednesday north of Paris with the arrival of the first athletes who will participate in the Paralympic Games from August 28, an opportunity for them to change the way people look at disability.
Hundreds of athletes arrived on Wednesday at the Village, which was refurbished after the Olympic Games to accommodate them.
Canada, United Arab Emirates, Ukraine: vans and coaches, adorned with the official colours of the Paris 2024 Games, drop off one after the other the delegations from the four corners of the world, in a calm atmosphere.
Having arrived in France that morning, Czech para-archery champion David Drahoninsky is delighted that the competition is taking place in a country close to his own: “My friends and family are going to come and support me,” he explains to AFP, in his blue-white-and-red outfit. “The Olympic Games are good, but the Paralympic Games are better, because the athletes have difficult stories, it’s going to be a great spectacle,” promises this athlete who uses a wheelchair.
A little further on, staff are busy unloading the athletes’ suitcases and equipment from the trucks, including wheelchairs, sometimes protected by covers.
Accompanied by members of his delegation, Frederick Assor, a blind para-cyclist from Ghana, says he is “more than ready” to participate in the Paris Paralympic Games, which last until September 8: “We are here to show that we are also part of the world of sport,” he says enthusiastically.
“Athletes like any other”
The public is expected to be there at most competition sites: more than 1.75 million tickets to attend an event have been sold, the organizers announced on Wednesday. A dozen sports are almost sold out, with 800,000 places still available.
In Paris for a few days now, Venezuelan para-taekwondo athlete Valeria Morales hopes to win gold in her category: “I’ll do my best for that,” she assures us upon her arrival at the Village. But, above all, she hopes that para-athletes will now be “recognized as athletes like any other.”
As the day went on, the comings and goings of vehicles accelerated.
On the French side, only the French disabled table tennis delegation, made up of 19 para-athletes, entered the Village on Wednesday, mid-afternoon.
Table tennis player Emeric Martin says he is “impatient” to “discover” the venue and “fight it out”: “We’re going to do the best we can, we obviously hope to bring back a lot of gold medals.” He hopes that “the public will come as much as for the Olympic Games.”
Similarly, her colleague Thu Kamkasomphou, who is participating in the Paralympic Games for the seventh time, hopes that there will be “the same fervor” as during the Olympic Games. Especially since this competition is also an opportunity to “get messages across” about disability.
Up to 9000 people
The other French teams will set up in the Village as the week progresses. The para-rowing and wheelchair basketball teams are expected on Thursday, the sitting volleyball teams on Saturday, and the para-swimming teams on Sunday.
The Israeli delegation arrived on Wednesday under escort.
“We will welcome approximately 500 to 1,000 arrivals per day, with a peak on the first day,” the site’s director, Laurent Michaud, had told AFP during a visit reserved for the press a few days earlier.
The Village, which covers 52 hectares in an area spanning Saint-Denis, Saint-Ouen and Île Saint-Denis, will accommodate a total of up to 9,000 people during the competitions.
In addition to the 4,400 athletes, administrative staff, assistants, chaperones, doctors and physiotherapists will reside there.
Between the two competitions, the site did not require any special redevelopment, because it was “programmed for the Paralympic phase”, according to its director. “All the roads, sidewalks and access points are completely accessible to people with reduced mobility”, specified Laurent Michaud.
Para-athletes from some 180 countries will live in the Village, including the majority of the 237 athletes in the French delegation.