Paris 2024, stakeholders reaffirm commitment to Paralympic integration strategy

The Phryges, modelled on phrygian caps, are unveiled as the mascots for the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games on November 10, 2022 in Paris, France. (Photo by Marc Piasecki/Getty Images)

Paris 2024

PARIS, March 31, 2023 – The Paris 2024 Board of Directors met on Thursday 30 March, at the Organising Committee’s headquarters, for an update on the Olympic and Paralympic project. With just over 500 days to go until the opening of the Paralympic Games, Paris 2024 and all its stakeholders reaffirmed their collective commitment and ambition to ensure that the first Paralympic Games ever to be held in France is a great moment of celebration that leaves a strong legacy for the inclusion of people with disabilities.

Collective commitment to ensure that the first Paralympic Games ever to be held in France is a moment of great celebration and festivity for the masses

The Paris 2024 Board of Directors received an update on the Organising Committee’s Paralympic integration strategy, which aims to create the conditions required to put on an exceptional sporting spectacle with inclusion at its heart by making sport a vehicle for social change.

The Paris 2024 organisers reiterated the three key commitments that were made during the bid phase, as well as the practical measures they have taken, with the support of all the project’s stakeholders, to ensure the Paralympic Games are a success:

Consolidation of the Paralympic Games as a top-level sporting event, with the choice of highly symbolic, spectacular competition venues that will enable Paralympic sports to be celebrated right in the heart of Paris (wheelchair fencing and para taekwondo at the Grand Palais, para archery on the Esplanade des Invalides, etc.) and the first Paralympic Games opening ceremony to be held outside a stadium, from the foot of the Champs-Elysées to the Place de la Concorde. In order to ensure the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games catch the public imagination like never before, media coverage of the event will be unprecedented, with a record 300 hours of airtime on France Télévisions and Paralympic Games awareness courses aimed at national media already underway in partnership with the French Paralympic and Sports Committee (CPSF). Finally, in order to help build and broaden the Paralympic Games fanbase, the spectator journey will be based on accessibility, a dedicated ticketing platform and an unforgettable stadium experience.

Support for the growth of Paralympic sports and showcasing of Paralympic athletes, with young people’s awareness of Paralympic sports heightened through the organisation of the Olympic and Paralympic Week (OPW). Held each year since 2016 in partnership with the Ministry of National Education and the Ministry of Higher Education, around 95% of OPW projects include a disability awareness aspect. The seventh edition, to be held later this year, will focus on the theme of inclusion.  Support for local Paralympic sport projects and initiatives is also provided through the Paris 2024 endowment fund: 10% of the projects supported are exclusively dedicated to accessibility or promoting the participation of people with disabilities in sport. They include the project to develop inclusive sports clubs in cooperation with the CPSF, the City of Paris and the Département of Seine-Saint-Denis, which the government has announced will be expanded in order to create 3,000 inclusive clubs by 2024. The staging of the Paralympic Games in France also provides an opportunity to set a new benchmark for event organisation by developing the ISO 20121 standard for accessibility and inclusion. This process was successfully launched on the inaugural Paralympic Day, when the accessibility measures taken were praised by the French standardisation association, AFNOR.

Enhancing the recognition and value of the Paralympic brand, firstly through an unprecedented integration strategy with a combined French national team, emblem and slogan. Secondly through the desire to increase the visibility of the Paralympic Movement by successfully organising the inaugural Paralympic Day at the Place de la Bastille in Paris in October 2022 and designing a Paralympic mascot with a running blade, the first Games mascot with a visible disability.

A shared desire to embrace the positive dynamic of the Games in order to promote access to sport for people with disabilities and leave a lasting legacy

Following the presentation, at the plenary session on Wednesday 29 March, of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE) on the development of para sport in France, Thierry Beaudet, CESE president, and co-rapporteurs Marie-Amélie Le Fur and Dominique Carlac’h presented the conclusions of the report on behalf of the CESE. The Paris 2024 Board of Directors, represented by its president, Tony Estanguet, and CESE president Thierry Beaudet highlighted the quality of the work carried out, which forms part of wider collaboration between Paris 2024 and the CESE aimed at making the Paris 2024 Games a vehicle for the inclusion and sustainable cohesion of all citizens.

Renewal of Paris 2024 endowment fund calls for proposals for the 2023-2024 period

The Paris 2024 Board of Directors also adopted the strategic guidelines and budget of the Paris 2024 endowment fund for the 2023-2024 period. By renewing the existing calls for proposals, Paris 2024, the French government, local authorities, the sports movement and partner companies are staying true to their ambition to strengthen the social impact of sport.

The Paris 2024 Board of Directors expressed its wish to continue supporting the winning projects from previous editions as a priority in order to maximise their impact and long-term potential. It welcomed the commitment of the co-funding bodies that are supporting the future of these projects and already beginning to leave a sustainable legacy that will last beyond the Games.

A total budget of €4.95 million was adopted to fund projects with a strong social impact during the 2023-2024 period.

AIPS