French president Emmanuel Macron declared the Paralympic Games open after a glorious ceremony in which competitors were celebrated by joyful volunteers and spectators on a sweet summer night.
The event on the Champs Elysees and the Place de la Concorde was the first Paralympics curtain-raiser to be held outside a stadium.
Security was tight, with some 15,000 law enforcement officers on site, but there was a light summer feeling to the evening as the sun slowly set on the French capital.
Table-tennis player Colin Judge and sprinter Orla Comerford were the Irish flagbearers, but with 18 athletes in action over the first two days, less than half of the 35-strong team were part of the official parade.
The two Dubliners led an Irish team that rightly has big ambitions for the days ahead.
Swimmers Róisín Ní Ríain, Ellen Keane and Nicole Turner along with tandem cyclist Katie George Dunleavy are all genuine medal contenders.
Team Ireland have been introduced to the crowd at the opening ceremony at the Paralympic Games. #Paralympics #Paris2024 #RTESport pic.twitter.com/AFCTa0wvQM
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 28, 2024
"Dear athletes, welcome to the country of love and revolution. Rest assured, tonight, no storming of the Bastille, no guillotine, because tonight the most beautiful revolution starts - the paralympic revolution," Paris 2024 president Tony Estanguet said in his speech.
"It's a sweet revolution that will change all of us deeply."
The live show started at the foot of the obelisk in Place de la Concorde with Canadian musician, songwriter, and producer Chilly Gonzales on the piano.
Artists with disabilities and impairments screamed a countdown and French singer Christine and the Queens delivered a pop rendition of Edith Piaf's 'Je ne regrette rien'.
The event, directed by Swedish choreographer Alexander Ekman and featuring 500 artists, was named "Paradox, from discord to concord", in a thinly-veiled reference to the Place de la Concorde, where the sold-out ceremony ended in front of more than 50,000 spectators.
The 168-delegation athletes' parade started from the bottom of the Champs Elysees in a festive atmosphere with volunteers cheering and dancing.
As the French, who closed the parade, reached the square, Yann Tiersen's theme of Amelie was played on the loudspeaker before the crowd chanted 'Allez Les Bleus' with the scintillating Eiffel Tower in the background.
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