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Paralympic Games: Tokyo passes the torch to Paris during the closing ceremony

2021-09-05T13:21:18.763Z


Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo received the Paralympic flag from the President of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Andrew Parsons during the closing ceremony of the Games on Sunday in Tokyo.


The Tokyo chapter is now definitively finished, up to the next one, in Paris in 2024. This symbolic relay transmission between the two capitals is marked by a handover party in the French city which will host the 17th edition of the Paralympic Summer Games in three years (August 28-September 8, 2024), a first in France.

Precisely four weeks after the close of the Olympics, Sunday's ceremony turns the page in the thwarted history of the Tokyo Games postponed for a year and threatened to the end by the Covid-19 pandemic.

These Games weren't just historic, they were fantastic,

” said Andrew Parsons praising the “

athletes who broke records and won hearts

”.

To discover

  • The results of the 2020 Olympics

  • The Olympic medal table

At the end of this final day of competition, 539 gold medals were awarded in twelve days, including 96 to China, which dominates the medal table as in every edition since 2004. More than numbers, images and strong emotions will have marked these Games organized in unprecedented conditions.

Those of the Paralympic coronations of the Italian fencer "

Bebe

" Vio or the German jumper Markus Rehm, nicknamed "

Blade Jumper

", rejected from the Olympic Games because of his carbon blades of prostheses.

Under the last gleams of the Paralympic flame before it went out, the flags of the 163 delegations marched through the National Stadium.

Read also Paralympic Games: France will aim for 60 medals in 2024 in Paris (CPSF)

Trapped until the last moment in Kabul fallen to the hands of the Taliban and deprived of the opening ceremony, the two Afghan athletes carried that of their country, one hand each on the mast. The conclusion of their journey having marked these Games, from their escape in extremis to the surprise announcement of their arrival in Japan to participate in the competition. Between delegation members, officials, guests and the media, around 5,000 people gathered in the stadium. A motley and colorful show, staging an organized disorder, was offered in the middle of a setting evoking the urban landscape of Tokyo, "

a city where differences shine

", according to the theme of the ceremony, of which no spectator is present. was able to take advantage.

It is a special moment because we understand that it is our turn.

Etienne Thobois

The latest epidemic wave to hit Japan got the better of the public, in Paralympic venues, like Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, whose popularity collapsed, for his management of the health crisis as well as for his stubbornness in organizing the Games. A small crowd, on the other hand, attended the ceremony in Paris in the gardens of the Trocadéro where the Marseillaise in "

song-sign

", a mix composed with the eyes and a choreography were offered in the presence of Paralympic medalists returned from Tokyo. "

There will be a particular emotion with the handover of the flag (Paralympic, editor's note)

", described in a press conference during the day the general manager of Paris 2024 Etienne Thobois. "

It is a special moment because we understand that it is our turn.

We do it with a little apprehension but a lot of determination.

"

Three years from the deadline, the president of its organizing committee considers Paris 2024 ready.

"

The CIP is for the moment very positive

", assured AFP Tony Estanguet, during his visit to Tokyo.

"

As soon as we pass a course, as during the Olympic handover between Tokyo and Paris, they tell us that we are a step above, that we are proposing new things

".

Source: lefigaro

All sports articles on 2021-09-05

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