Paris 2024 Paralympics: From The Silver Bullet and Norway's Dancing Queen to Brazil's undefeated blind football squad - Top stars at the Games
The Paris 2024 Games have come to an end for Olympic champions Leon Marchand, Zheng Qinwen, Antoine Dupont, Lee Kiefer, Cassandre Beaugrand, and Simone Biles.
Enter Simone Barlaam, Diede de Groot, Ryley Batt, Bebe Vio, Alexis Hanquinquant, and Oksana Masters.
Eleven spectacular days of sporting action lie ahead at the Paralympic Games Paris 2024 with 4,500 athletes set to compete across 22 sports.
With just one week to go until the Opening Ceremony on 28 August, Olympics.com previews some of the stars who could shine at the Games.
Alexis Hanquinquant, Para triathlon – A hero for the home Games
French Para triathlete Alexis Hanquinquant was one of three Paralympians who were among the last Olympic torchbearers at the Opening Ceremony on 26 July. At the end of their route, the flame passed to French judoka Teddy Riner and retired sprinter Marie-Jose Perec, who lit the cauldron together.
Riner went on to win two gold medals at Paris 2024 in front of exuberant home crowds. The spotlight will now be on the men's PTS4 defending champion Hanquinquant to give the local fans more reason to cheer in the heart of the nation's capital.
Diede de Groot, wheelchair tennis – Heir to the Dutch golden tradition
Fighting for points on the clay Roland-Garros courts will be a familiar feeling for Diede de Groot. The Dutch ace won five French Open titles at the Paris 2024 venue, to go with the additional 18 titles she won at the other Grand Slams.
A Tokyo 2020 champion, de Groot was undefeated in 145 matches on the way to the Paris 2024 Games. While that streak was broken in May, she returned to her winning ways at Wimbledon and now looks to continue the legacy of her Dutch female predecessors. Her compatriots have won every women's wheelchair tournament since the sport was included in the Paralympic programme in 1988.
Diede de Groot won her career's sixth Wimbledon title on the eve of the Paralympic Games Paris 2024.
Sumit Antil, Para athletics – India's javelin king
Sumit Antil is a man who needs no introductions in India. One of the country's most famous Paralympians, the 26-year-old comes to Paris 2024 as the defending Paralympic champion and two-time defending world champion in the men's javelin F64.
In addition to his quest for another Paralympic gold medal, Antil will be aiming to break his own world record of 73.29 metres in the French capital.
Oksana Masters, Para cycling – A force on water, snow and asphalt
It is hard to find an athlete as versatile – and as successful in her pursuits – as USA's Oksana Masters. The six-time Paralympian has 17 medals across four sports: Para rowing, Para cross-country skiing, Para biathlon and Para cycling. Seven of these medals are gold, including the two back-to-back golds she won in Para cycling at Tokyo 2020.
From surviving the radiation aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster to becoming the USA's most successful Winter Paralympian, a book author and advocate for persons with disabilities, Masters has come a long way in her 35 years, and she is still far from finished.
Simone Barlaam, Para swimming – Adieu Leon, Ciao Simone
Leon Marchand got the spectators at Paris La Defense Arena cheering louder than in a football match as he made his golden Olympic debut. Simone Barlaam will make sure those cheers fill the 15,000-capacity venue once again when he dives into the pool on the first day of Paralympic competition.
The Italian sprinter introduced himself to the sports world by winning four medals at his first Paralympic Games, in 2021, including gold in the men's 50m freestyle S9. As it turned out, this was only the beginning. Barlaam's next results catapulted him into swimming superstardom: six gold medals and a 10th career world record at the 2022 world championships and another six world titles the following year.
Brazil, blind football – Undefeated champions of the beautiful game
There are few teams who boast a winning record to rival that of the Brazilian blind football squad at the Paralympic Games.
Brazil have won the gold medal in every tournament since the sport made its Paralympic debut at Athens 2004. In doing so, they have fended off top medal contenders Argentina who have shared every podium with their South American neighbours except at London 2012. The solo goal that Brazil's Raimundo 'Nonato' Mendes scored to win Brazil their fifth Paralympic title was the perfect touch to silence their long-time rivals at Tokyo 2020... at least until Paris 2024.
Sugiura Keiko, Para cycling – Japan's ageless champion
If 'consistency' is the mot du jour for the Brazilian football side, 'longevity' is that word for Sugiura Keiko.
The road and track cyclist became the oldest Japanese athlete to win a gold medal at Tokyo 2020 when she outraced the field in the women's time trial and road race C1-3. The home Games were Sugiura's Paralympic debut. Fifty at the time, she is now looking to return to the podium in Paris at the age of 53.
Ezra Frech, Para athletics – Child prodigy makes senior splash
On the opposite end of the age spectrum from Sugiura is USA's Ezra Frech who received his first prosthetic leg at 11 months old and started competing in Para sports when he was eight. After having an "out-of-body" experience while watching the Rio 2016 Paralympics, Frech made a promise to compete at Tokyo 2020.
He did, finishing just off the podium in the men's high jump and long jump T63.
It has been an upwards journey for him ever since. Frech broke the world record to win high jump gold at the 2023 world championships and took silver at the 2024 edition. Now 19 years old, he is in prime form to challenge for the Paralympic title – and reclaim his world record – at Paris 2024.
Amalia Perez, Para powerlifting – Power on the bench and empowerment for women
Three decades, six Paralympic medals, four gold. Para powerlifter Amalia Perez knows the value of stacking up numbers and the ones from her sporting biography certainly do.
The Mexican athlete has not missed a Paralympics podium since women's Para powerlifting events were introduced at Sydney 2000. After a perfect golden streak in her last four Games appearances, Perez is now set to compete at her seventh Paralympics almost a quarter of a century after winning her first Paralympic medal.
More than an accomplished athlete, Perez is also an advocate for women's sport and has helped to grow women's Para powerlifting worldwide.
Avani Lekhara, shooting Para sport – Perfect aim into India's history books
Nineteen-year-old Avani Lekhara celebrated two milestones with her victory in the R2 women's 10m air rifle standing SH1 event at Tokyo 2020. She won India's first gold medal of those Games and also became the first Indian woman in history to win Paralympic gold. A second medal, bronze in the R8 women's 50m rifle 3 positions SH1, made Tokyo 2020 an even more unforgettable Paralympic debut.
For Lekhara, however, medals are not the most important gains along her journey. She started the sport as a summer hobby three years after a car accident that left her with paraplegia and credits shooting for transforming her from an introverted, shy girl to the confident young woman she is today.
David Smith, boccia – Putting the spark in boccia
Boccia became a viral hit at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, and Great Britain's David Smith can take part of the credit.
The four-time Paralympian is known for his enthusiastic celebrations on the field of play as well as his ever-changing, colourful mohawk. It was dyed a patriotic red-and-blue for Tokyo 2020, blue for Rio 2016, and red for London 2012 and Beijing 2008.
While Smith's hair has changed colour multiple times, what has not changed is his golden touch in the sport. Smith won a Paralympic medal in each of his Games appearances, including three gold. The two questions that remain to be answered at Paris 2024 are, what colour will his medal – and hair – be this time?
Bebe Vio, wheelchair fencing - Phoenix rising over Paris
Beatrice 'Bebe' Vio is one of the best-recognised Paralympic athletes with a fame that transcends beyond Italy's borders. Those who might have missed her gold medal performance at Rio 2016 and the media flurry that followed were not likely to forget the 27-year-old's story after getting a behind-the-scenes look at her life in Netflix's Rising Phoenix documentary.
The film chronicled the journeys of Vio and other Paralympians ahead of Tokyo 2020, where Vio won her second gold medal in the women's foil individual category B. She will be aiming to make it a hat-trick of gold at Paris 2024.
Birgit Skarstein, Para rowing – Dancing with an oar
There are few things Birgit Skarstein has tried and not succeeded in. The Norwegian dual sports athlete won Paralympic and world titles in the PR1 women’s single sculls, as well as World Cups in Para cross-country skiing. She also made it to the final rounds of a reality TV dance competition, Skal Vi Danse, despite not having any prior dance experience.
Never one to hesitate, Skarstein took on the most daring dance moves, including being suspended from the ceiling on ropes.
Should a dance celebration be needed on a podium at Paris 2024, Skarstein – who went undefeated in Para rowing in 2023 – will be ready.
Sherif Osman, Para powerlifting – The man with a plan
Egypt's Sherif Osman knows the value of setting ambitious goals. Having once declared that he wants to win six Paralympic gold medals, he has not let any setback, including a silver at Tokyo 2020, break his focus.
His current tally counts three gold medals across four Paralympic Games and two weight classes. A well-respected figure in the Para powerlifting world and a mentor for up-and-coming athletes, expect loud cheers from fellow Paralympians if Osman manages to make it one gold medal closer to his career goal.
Omara Durand, Para athletics – The Cuban sprint queen chasing her own world records
Finding out when Omara Durand last lost a Paralympic race requires a lot of scrolling. The Cuban sprinter was uncatchable at every Paralympic Games, as well as world championships, since her injury-marred Paralympic debut at Beijing 2008.
Her current medal tally adds up to eight gold medals, including hat-tricks in the 100m, 200m, and 400m at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020. At Paris 2024, Durand will be racing for another clean sweep in her signature distances and also trying to improve on the world records she currently holds in these events.
Australia, mixed wheelchair rugby team – Recovering a broken streak
A sport nicknamed 'murderball' is bound to bring on some painful moments. But as Australia's seasoned wheelchair rugby team discovered at Tokyo 2020, the physical roughness of the matches was not the worst thing they could face.
Bruised and battered in their 60-52 loss against Japan in the bronze medal match, the Australian players found themselves off the Paralympic podium for the first time since Athens 2004. Just over a year later, however, the team gathered at the 2022 world championships and won that tournament in style, fuelling new hopes for a France-timed Renaissance with five-time Paralympian and sport icon Ryley Batt at the helm.
Hug won four gold medals at Tokyo 2020, including in the men's T54 marathon.
Marcel Hug, Para athletics - The Silver Bullet on a golden path
The final day of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics saw Marcel Hug blaze to his second consecutive gold in the men's marathon T54, raindrops streaking his signature silver helmet, his opponents nowhere in sight. It was the last medal in a perfect four out of four sweep for the Swiss wheelchair racer in Japan. And he has not stopped since.
Just under three months later, also in Japan, Hug broke a 22-year-old world record in the men's marathon to complement his world records in the half-marathon, 10,000m and 1,500m as well as his course records in several major marathons.
Is there anything else the man revered around the world as 'The Silver Bullet' still wants to accomplish? Yes, he says, solidify his legacy at Paris 2024... and learn to play electric guitar.