Tag: Paris

The Place de la Concorde, set to host the opening ceremony on 28 August, promises a showcase of talent for over 4,000 athletes who will compete in a display of skill.

 With 22 sports on the agenda and a total of 549 events across 19 stunning venues, epic Paralympic sporting stories will unfold.

At the Paralympic Games, fans from every corner will have the chance to rediscover the magic that made the Olympics unforgettable through the same iconic venues and fierce competition for medals. France will be dressed to impress with celebrations throughout the country, creating a unique sphere where everyone can experience the Paralympic excitement together, with renewed intensity and significance.

The party is far from winding down. For this reason, the French capital invites the public to extend the celebration by joining the thrilling athletic performances of the best Paralympic athletes from around the world. This is the message conveyed by the Organising Committee with the slogan “The Game isn’t over,” in their ground-breaking Paralympic campaign, signalling that there’s still plenty of success, excitement, tension, effort, and medals to be shared in the first weeks of September.

Just yesterday, the Olympic and Paralympic Gala Dinner of New South Wales took place at The Venue in Sydney, Australia, featuring one of the federations that will provide strong competition in Paris in just a few days. China, the champion of the Paralympic medal table at Tokyo 2020, aims to defend a throne that is increasingly being challenged by the Anglo-Saxon nations, Great Britain and the United States, with their blend of talent and experience across many disciplines. Not to be forgotten, the hosts, France, are eager after a stellar performance in the recent Games.

The excitement is palpable. In fact, ticket sales for the Paralympic Games have been booming recently and will continue to rise as the 28th approaches, marking the start of the event. Nearly 1.5 million tickets have been sold, including around 500.000 since the beginning of the Olympic Games, though many seats remain. They are likely to be snapped up, considering the frenzy of the Paralympics always delivers unique moments for spectators.

Read Also: ‘Punished’ Boniface  eyes more silverwares  with Leverkusen

Some events have already surpassed demand: wheelchair fencing and adapted taekwondo at the Grand Palais are box office hits, as well as adapted cycling, adapted equestrian events at the majestic Château de Versailles, and adapted triathlon at the iconic Alexandre III Bridge. Likewise, wheelchair rugby finals at Arena Champ de Mars and the final rounds of wheelchair basketball and blind football at the Eiffel Tower Stadium have also vanished in the blink of an eye.

Recently, Tony Estanguet, President of Paris 2024, spoke and promised an unforgettable experience: “After two weeks of extreme emotions and moments that will make history in the Games, we don’t want to say goodbye. But we’re in luck, because in two weeks, the Games return with 4,500 athletes ready to compete with the same wild energy.”

Meanwhile, Andrew Parsons, President of the International Paralympic Committee, didn’t hold back on his enthusiasm with his recent statement, “After a successful Games, I am more convinced than ever that Paris 2024 will host the most spectacular Paralympic Games in history. The celebration continues, and people should get ready for a sporting event that will be astonishing and impressive like never before.”

Former Ebonyi Commissioner for Youth Development and Sports,  Charles Akpuenika ,  has said that Nigeria’s dismal performance at the Paris Olympics could be a tonic to revive the nation’s sports fortunes.

Team Nigeria failed to win any medal at the just-concluded 2024 Olympics in Paris.

But in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abakaliki, Akpuenika  said there were positives to take away from the event.

 “I support those calling for a state of emergency on Nigeria’s sports but we should stop the blame game but look for solutions to return the country to its glorious sporting era.

 “The Olympics should not be the only area of focus but sports in general, especially in football and other sports.

 “The sporting authorities should be sincere in implementing policies and programmes that would address factors which prevented us from winning medals at the games.

Read Also: Tinubu hails D’Tigress’ Wakama Best Coach Paris 2024 Olympics award

 “Luckily, these authorities were in Paris, they saw other countries compete, observed the technical and organisational attributes which brought success to other countries,” he said.

He said the strides made by the D’Tigress could serve as a launching pad for the revival as the team surpassed expectations in spite of exiting at the quarter final of female basketball event.

 “The women’s basketball  team could have won a medal if it did not meet the American ladies at that stage. It still won the heart of the world with the way it battled its more fancied foes.

 “The nomination of its coach, Rena Wakama, as the best coach of the event is a pointer that the Nigerian Basketball Federation is doing something which other sporting federations are not doing,” he said.

Akpuenika called for support for the sporting authorities to enable leverage the lessons learnt from the games to make amends in the management of the sports.

“The minister for instance is only one year in office and must have surely learnt valuable lessons from the games,” he stated. “Countries such as Kenya, Botswana, South Africa among others won medals, even gold, at the Olympics and Nigeria is rated higher than these countries in many sports.”

Egyptian fencer Nada Hafez has revealed she competed at the Paris Olympics, reaching the last 16 in her event and defeating a higher-ranked rival on the way, while seven months pregnant.

Hafez, a three-time Olympian from Cairo, ranked 26th , beat American fencer Elizabeth Tartakovsky in the sabre event before succumbing to Hayoung Jeon of South Korea in the quarter finals on Monday.

 “Three times Olympian but this time carrying a little Olympian!” the 26-year-old said on Instagram late Monday. “What appears to you as two players… they were actually three! It was me, my competitor, and my yet-to-come to our world, little baby!” she wrote in English.

She previously competed in Rio in 2016 and in the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Games in 2021 in the highly demanding sabre, a slashing weapon which demands lightning speed and reflexes from competitors.

Hafez said she was proud to have secured her place in the round of 16 at the Grand Palais.

Read Also: ‘Universal Insurance ‘leading’ in bond, guaranty insurance’

 “The rollercoaster of pregnancy is tough on its own, but having to fight to keep the balance of life & sports was nothing short of strenuous, however worth it,” she wrote.

Her Instagram post has racked up more than 25,000 likes, with many praising the athlete.

 “Balancing between pregnancy and pursuing your passion is never easy, so you should be super proud of yourself regardless of the outcome,” one user said.

 “Just amazing,” added another. “But is it not cheating to fence 2 against 1?” the user joked.

But the athlete was also trolled by sexist comments from some users who suggested she should not have competed while pregnant and insinuating this had affected her performance for her country.

Hafez began fencing at age 11 in Egypt.

“I first took up swimming and gymnastics, but then I had to leave gymnastics and I joined fencing by chance,” she said in comments released by the International Fencing Federation. “I felt like I wanted to try it after seeing my friend and once I did, I loved it.”

Paris Olympics organisers said they were “really sorry” if any offence was caused by their daring and quirky opening ceremony while denying any intention to “disrespect” religion after complaints from French bishops.

Some Catholic groups and French bishops have condemned what they saw as “scenes of derision and mockery of Christianity” in the parade on Friday choreographed by theatre director Thomas Jolly.

Criticism has focused on a scene involving dancers, drag queens and a DJ in poses that recalled depictions of the Last Supper, the final meal Jesus is said to have taken with his apostles.

 “Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group,” Paris 2024 spokeswoman Anne Descamps told reporters. “If people have taken any offence, we are of course really, really sorry,” she added.

Jolly, 42, denied taking inspiration from the Last Supper in his nearly four-hour production, which took place in driving rain along the River Seine.

Read Also: NFF partners Ministry of Interior over girl-child project

The scene, intended to promote tolerance of different sexual and gender identities, also featured French actor Philippe Katerine, who appeared on a silver serving dish, almost naked and painted blue.

He was meant to be Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and pleasure, who was father of Sequana, the goddess of the River Seine.

 “The idea was to do a big pagan party linked to the gods of Olympus,” Jolly told the BFM channel. “You’ll never find in my work any desire to mock or denigrate anyone. I wanted a ceremony that brings people together, that reconciles, but also a ceremony that affirms our Republican values of liberty, equality and fraternity.” 

In one of the other striking moments of the ceremony, a woman holding a bloodied severed head and intended to be executed French queen Marie-Antoinette appeared in a window of the Conciergerie, a building where she was imprisoned after the 1789 French Revolution.

She was later guillotined along with her husband Louis XVI.

 “Certainly we were not glorifying this instrument of death which is the guillotine,” Jolly added.

Reactions were mixed towards the unprecedented ceremony, the first time a Summer Olympics has opened outside of the main athletics stadium.

A poll by the survey group Harris, which was commissioned by Paris 2024 organisers, showed that 86 percent of respondents in France held positive views on the ceremony.

Quebec-born singer Celine Dion, who brought the curtain down with a solo performance from the Eiffel Tower, emerged as the most notable feature of the parade when respondents were asked what they remembered.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Saturday that the ceremony had “made our compatriots extremely proud”.

But the racially diverse cast of performers and the prominence given to women and LGBT+ performers upset some conservative critics, who dismissed it as “woke”.

A spokesman for France’s far-right National Rally party, Julien Odoul, called the ceremony “a ransacking of French culture”, while Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called it a “giant gay parade”.

American broadcaster NBC said the procession was the most-watched start to an Olympics since London in 2012, while German broadcaster ARD reported it being the most watched in 20 years, according to International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams.

Around 300,000 spectators watched from the river banks, often at a cost of hundreds, sometimes thousands, of euros.

Paris welcomed the Olympic Games with an opening ceremony like no other as athletes sailed down the River Seine to the sound of Lady Gaga and more.

Zinedine Zidane starred in a video to tee up the arrival of the Olympic flame before flares set off from the Pont d’Austerlitz Bridge formed a tricolore.

A total of 85 boats then began carrying the team delegations on a six-kilometre journey through the centre of Paris, with more than 300,000 spectators lining the banks of the river.

Smoke resembling the flag of France billows above the Pont d’Austerlitz bridge during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (John Walton/PA).

The weather did not play ball as the ceremony was hit by steady rain, but there was still a carnival atmosphere as an array of performances sought to convey the story of Paris and of France.

Read Also: Tinubu establishes SCO-PMU to manage health sector funding

Lady Gaga was the first to steal the show, bursting forth from behind a pair of out-sized pink pom-poms to deliver a burlesque take on the French classic ‘Mon truc en plume’.

The performances came in all shapes and sizes, with Gojira adding a dramatic twist of heavy metal.

British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was among those watching from the main stadium in the Jardins du Trocadero, donned in a Team GB rain jacket while others were decked out in ponchos.

Other famous faces in the stadium – aside from IOC president Thomas Bach and French president Emmanuel Macron included Ariana Grande, Serena Williams and John Legend.