PARALYMPIC TORCH RELAY ROUTE

Paris 2024 presents the route for the Paralympic Torch Relay sponsored by Coca-Cola, Banques Populaires and Caisses d’Epargne, which runned from 25 to 28 August 2024. This Relay marked the start of the encore for Paris 2024: the first Summer Paralympic Games to be held in France.

THE PARALYMPIC GAMES KICKOFF

The flame for the Paralympic Games was lit shortly after the Closing Ceremony of the Olympic Games in Stoke Mandeville, the historic birthplace of Paralympic sport. The Paralympic Torch Relay kicked off the encore and the Paralympic celebrations.

The Paris 2024 Paralympic Torch Relay was also known as the ‘Forerunners Relay’. These Forerunners are people who live and breathe sport each day, people who were invested in the Paris 2024 Games, and people who were looking forward to welcoming and experiencing them. The Forerunners rekindled the celebratory spirit of the Games and officially open the Paralympic celebrations of Paris 2024.

Over the course of four days from 25 to 28 August 2024, some 1,000 Forerunners carried the Paralympic flame to 50 cities throughout France. In doing so, they generated interest in the upcoming Paralympics with a message full of enthusiasm: ‘The Games are back!’

Founding energy: Stoke Mandeville

The Paralympic flame was lit in Stoke Mandeville, England — the historic birthplace of Paralympic sport. On 29 July 1948 — the day of the Opening Ceremony of the London 1948 Olympic Games — German neurologist Sir Ludwig Guttmann organised the first sports competition for World War II veterans with spinal cord injuries to help with their rehabilitation at Stoke Mandeville Hospital. Dr. Guttman named the contest, which consisted of a wheelchair archery competition for 16 injured service members, the Stoke Mandeville Games.

After being lit in Stoke Mandeville, the flame crossed the sea like its Olympic twin, but this time via the Channel Tunnel, marking the start of a legendary relay. 24 British athletes symbolically embarked on the journey through the tunnel and were joined halfway between the United Kingdom and France by 24 French athletes to hand over the flame and the energy of the Games.

Multiplied energy

Unlike the Olympic flame, several Paralympic flames shined alongside one another, reflecting the unique features of the Paralympic movement. When it arrived on the French coast in Calais, the flame that was ignited in Stoke Mandeville was split into 12 separate flames that journeyed to light up the whole of France. They symbolised the energy of the 12 days of the first Summer Paralympic Games to be held in France, with the cauldron lit on 28 August 2024, followed by 11 days of competition.

Communicative energy

Reflecting the unique emotions of a return match or an encore, the Paralympic Torch Relay was exceptionally intense. The 12 flames each followed their own route, passing through the heart of various regions before converging in Île-de France and becoming one again in Paris. They headed out to meet communities in all the regions across France, calling on people to get involved. All the Forerunners, who have carried the Paralympic flame at various points, symbolically united in Paris before lighting the cauldron during the Opening Ceremony of the Paralympic Games on 28 August 2024.

Paris 2024 Paralympic Torch Relay to finish with a flourish in Paris

For the first time in history, the Opening Ceremony of the Paralympic Games was held outside the confines of a stadium; instead, the celebrations took place at the heart of the French capital, from the Champs-Elysées to Place de la Concorde. Paris was transformed into a huge Para sports ground. Paris’ world-renowned sports venues and iconic monuments were the backdrop for the performances by the Paralympic athletes. Paris truly was the nerve centre of the Paralympic Games.

BUILDING THE ROUTE

The Paralympic Torch Relay highlighted communities that are committed to promoting inclusion in sport and building awareness of disabilities, communities that have a strong focus on sport and are actively engaged in the Games, and others that stand out through their unique histories.

Promoting access to universal sport

In consultation with the French Paralympic and Sports Committee (CPSF), Paris 2024 has identified cities that are committed to developing Para sports.

The flame visited places that have seen famous Para athletes grow up, such as Lorient, which is home to double Paralympic sailing gold medallist Damien Seguin, and Blois, which has a sports complex named after its Paralympic champion Marie-Amélie Le Fur.

The Torch Relay offered opportunities to highlight the investments made in innovative infrastructures, such as Châlons-en-Champagne, which has the only gymnasium in France designed to facilitate access to sport for people with intellectual disabilities. Highly active in this field, the city of Vichy hosted the event marking the 500-day countdown to the Paralympic Games and the Virtus Global Games in June 2023 for high-level athletes with physical or mental disabilities.

Vichy, like the city of Laon, rolled out the Club Inclusif programme, enabling several of its clubs to benefit from sessions to build awareness of how to welcome Para athletes. Bobigny in Seine Saint-Denis and its future Para sports hub PRISME was also in the spotlight.

The Relay stopped in the cities that actively support participation in sport for all. Rouen, Chartres, and Troyes offer a wide range of disciplines, from sledge hockey to Para tennis, Para triathlon, adapted baseball and Para climbing.

Promoting the commitment made by cities to sport and the Games

The flame enjoyed a brief stay in Lyon, which hosted 11 football matches during the Games, and at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome, which also was a Paris 2024 competition venue, as well as in Chambly, which has three outstanding sports facilities adapted for Para sports and was one of the Pre-Games training camp locations alongside Deauville and Antibes. Antibes is the only French city to be twinned with Olympia, the ancient birthplace of the Olympic Games.

The Relay also made a stop in Montpellier, known as the city of urban sports and the host of the third annual Terre de Jeux forum. Set up in 2019, this programme offers opportunities for communities throughout France to get involved in the organisation of Paris 2024 and is relaunching the focus on sport across the country. The buzz generated from the Relay reached all the way to Moselle and Amnéville, which joined in the celebrations with its dedicated Club 2024 Games celebration venue.

Promoting the memory of history and heritage

The Torch Relay route included many of the exceptional panoramas that France is renowned for. It amplified historic architectural masterpieces such as the Napoleonic city of La Roche-sur-Yon; Arras’ Grand Place, surrounded by majestic Baroque and Flemish facades; and the Cathedral districts in Limoges and Chartres. Often referred to as the ‘Capital of Europe’, Strasbourg was also in the limelight.

The Relay ended its journey in central Paris, making sure to feature the City of Lights’ historical treasures, including the Nation-République-Bastille-Hôtel de Ville corridor, Invalides, and the Manufacture des Gobelins.

To pay tribute to the history of France, a flame was lit in the capital at the start of the Relay on 25 August, to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Liberation of Paris during World War II.

TEAM RELAYS

To celebrate the different aspects of Para sports throughout France

Around 200 of the 1,000 Paralympic torchbearers took part in six team relays, each of which promoted one aspect of Para sports.

Each relay involved 24 people: a relay made up of key volunteers from the Paralympic federations, a relay of young Para athletes, two relays with former Paralympians, a relay of people involved in innovative actions, such as the programmes deployed or supported with the CPSF (Impact 2024), and a relay bringing together people who dedicate their lives to others with disabilities and people who work each day in the non-profit sector to help advance the rights of carers.

• The “Paralympic Movement Volunteers” Relay: Made up of key volunteers from the Paralympic federations.
• The “Young Para Athletes” Relay: They are the future of the French Paralympic team.
• The “Former Paralympians” Relay: To pay tribute to their achievements in the world of sport and ensure their visibility.
• The “Innovative Actions” Relay: To display the people and structures that are involved in innovative actions, such as the programmes deployed or supported with the CPSF (Impact 2024).
• The “Associations and Caregivers” Relay: made up of people who dedicate their lives to others with disabilities and people who work each day in the non-profit sector to help advance the rights of carers.

The Official Sponsors — Coca-Cola and the BPCE Group — also helped select participants for the Team Relays.

THE TORCHBEARER UNIFORM

The 11,000 torchbearers (10,000 Olympic torchbearers and 1,000 Paralympic torchbearers) wore the same uniform designed by Decathlon, an Official Partner of Paris 2024. The only difference was the rings on the uniforms of the Olympic torchbearers and the agitos on those of the Paralympic torchbearers. The uniforms was unisex and white, symbolising peace, unity, and fraternity among nations, which are core values of both Olympism and Paralympism.