Paris 2024 Paralympics: top start for the Paralympic Torch Relay

Every occasion is an emotional one, and on August 24, the first lighting of the Paris 2024 version of the Paralympic Flame was no exception. In the home of the Paralympic movement, Stoke Mandeville in England, the Flame came to life before setting off on its four-day journey.

And the flame was born. On August 24, 2024, the 17th Paralympic Games came a little closer to us with the lighting of the Paralympic Flame. Like a symbol, the event took place in the birthplace of Paralympic sport. Despite fickle weather, the city of Stoke Mandeville lived up to its heritage by hosting a spirited protocol ceremony four days before the start of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.

80 years of Paralympic sport development

Who better to open the ball than Andrew Parsons? The President of the International Paralympic Committee was the first to take the podium at Stoke Mandeville, the very place where in 1944 Sir Ludwig Guttmann made sport a full-fledged activity for people with disabilities by opening a spinal cord injury treatment center to care for World War II veterans. 80 years later, the Paralympic movement in all its grandeur gathered in this north-west London town to celebrate the lighting of the Paralympic Flame. “Stoke Mandeville is sacred ground for everyone involved in the Paralympic movement. It was here, 76 years ago, that Sir Ludwig Guttmann created the Paralympic movement. By organizing a sporting event for 16 wounded veterans of the Second World War - and using para sport as a form of rehabilitation - he pioneered something special. Little did he know that what he had created in 1948 would go on to become one of the world's greatest sporting events,” points out the number 1 of the International Paralympic Committee.

“We can't wait!”

In this ceremony filled with symbols and fraternity, the presence of Tony Estanguet, President of Paris 2024, was quite natural. After a more-than-successful Olympic Games, the head of the Paris 2024 Games Organizing Committee expressed his enthusiasm at the idea of seeing this Paralympic Torch Relay begin. “What a thrill to experience the lighting of the Paralympic Flame here in Stoke Mandeville, on the home turf of the Paralympic Games! Just a few days away from the very first Paralympic Summer Games in France, the Torch Relay marks the start of an intense journey and adventure, which will see Paralympic fervor rise throughout France before reaching the Place de la Concorde, in the heart of Paris, for a grandiose Opening Ceremony. We can't wait!

Lighting the cauldron by two British representatives

It was nearly 1 p.m. when not one, but two flames ignited the cauldron. History will record that it was Helene Raynsford and Gregor Ewan, two faithful representatives of the British Paralympic movement, who started this unprecedented relay of the Paralympic Flame, which will then travel simultaneously throughout France. The two bearers of the Paralympic Flame expressed their delight at being able to take part in such an event:

Helene Raynsford: “There are no words to describe the honor I feel to have been chosen to light the Paralympic Flame alongside Gregor in the cradle of the Paralympic movement. It's a very special moment just a few days before the start of what promises to be a spectacular Paralympic Games”.

Gregor Ewan: “Stoke Mandeville is a place so representative of the birth of the Paralympic movement, I'm very happy to have been chosen for such a special occasion!”

An unprecedented relay before the start of the race!

After an initial “Torch Kiss” (as our Anglo-Saxon friends say so well), Andrew Parsons completed the first symbolic relay signifying the real kick-off of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Torch Relay. The Flame then headed for Folkestone, the last English town before entering the Channel Tunnel, to prepare for an unprecedented sequence tomorrow, Sunday August 25. Twenty-four British torchbearers, including Helene Raynsford and Gregor Ewan, will set off through the Channel Tunnel, and will be joined halfway through by a collective of twenty-four other French torchbearers for a historic “Torch Kiss”.

Once out of the tunnel at Calais, the Flame will multiply into 12 units to cover the whole of France for four days of exceptional intensity. From August 25 to 28, 1,200 Torchbearers will take turns in more than 50 towns across France. The start of the Paralympic Torch Relay, sponsored by Coca-Cola, Banque Populaire and Caisse d'Epargne, has been set, and with it, the festive spirit of the Games is about to return to France!