(Coquelles) The Games are back: two weeks after the end of the Paris Olympics, the Paralympic Games flame arrived in France on Sunday at the end of an unprecedented crossing through the Channel Tunnel, before the official kick-off on Wednesday.
In the capital, a few hours before the opening ceremony, the torch will pass into the hands of Chinese actor Jackie Chan, a martial arts specialist, the organising committee (COJOP) announced on Sunday.
All smiles, wheelchair fencing medallist Emmanuelle Assmann appeared around 1 p.m. at the exit of the tunnel in Coquelles (Pas-de-Calais), shortly after a heavy downpour, brandishing the flame attached by a metal torch holder to her chair.
The bronze medallist at Athens 2004 was welcomed by the French Minister of Sports and the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Amélie Oudéa-Castera, and the head of Cojop, Tony Estanguet, as well as around fifty elected officials and volunteers.
PHOTO LOU BENOIST, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Amélie Oudéa-Castera (right), outgoing French Minister of Sports and the Olympic Games, welcomes former fencer Emmanuelle Assmann.
Members of the organizing committee and children wearing white volunteer T-shirts formed a guard of honor.
“It’s about making sport a part of the lives of people with disabilities,” according to Mr.me Oudéa-Castera, as France hosts the Paralympic Games for the first time.
For the resigning minister, “the challenge is really to achieve greater inclusion for people with disabilities, better protect their rights, their access to equipment, and ensure that we also have sports clubs that are specifically trained to welcome people with disabilities.”
“Several million euros” have been invested “so that after the Games, we will have 3,000 clubs trained to welcome people with disabilities,” the minister said.
The flame at Rock en Seine
Lit on Saturday in Stoke Mandeville (Great Britain), the historic birthplace of the Paralympic Games, the flame began its journey by crossing the sea via the service road of the Channel Tunnel, some fifty kilometres long.
She left Folkestone on Sunday morning, the last English town from which 24 British athletes began the crossing. They were joined halfway by 24 French porters.
Under high security, it continued its journey on Sunday afternoon to Calais, where the Olympic flame had already passed in July.
In the evening, she showed up at the Rock en Seine festival, on the outskirts of Paris. A strong symbol: she was worn by DJ Barbara Butch, a victim of cyberbullying after her participation in the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in a scene embodied in particular by drag queens.
“As an activist fighting for inclusivity, against ableism [discrimination à l’égard des personnes handicapées]it’s super important for me to be there and to make visible all the people who are invisible,” said the artist, feminist and figure of the LGBT community, who was accompanied by para-athlete Hélios Latchoumanaya (judo) and designer Marjane Satrapi.
Twelve torches, including the main one – the one that arrived in Calais – will shine for four days across France before converging on Wednesday on Paris and the Olympic cauldron, housed in the heart of the Tuileries Gardens. The latter will once again welcome the public free of charge from Thursday, the day after the opening ceremony, until the closing ceremony on September 8.
A thousand torchbearers will follow one another in around fifty cities, with surprise personalities such as Jackie Chan. Actress Elsa Zylberstein, comedian Jarry and choreographer Benjamin Millepied are also announced in Paris on Wednesday, alongside Paralympic athletes.
PHOTO JADE GAO, VALERY HACHE, ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES
A thousand torchbearers will follow one another in around fifty cities, with surprise personalities such as Jackie Chan (left), actress Elsa Zylberstein (center) and choreographer Benjamin Millepied.
“We thought about how we could promote Paralympic athletes from the beginning, from Greece, from Marseille, from the Olympic opening ceremony and, ultimately, at all stages,” explained Tony Estanguet.
On Wednesday evening, some 4,400 para-athletes from 182 delegations will parade from the Champs-Élysées to the Place de la Concorde, where the opening spectacle of the Paralympic Games will be held. It has “the same level of ambition” as that of the Olympic Games, which has been globally acclaimed, its authors assured on Sunday.
The history of the Games dates back to 1948, when German neurologist Ludwig Guttmann organised sporting events for veterans who had become paraplegic or confined to wheelchairs at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in north-west London.