Seven riders were among the athletes chosen as flag bearers for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games opening ceremony last night (28 August).
Both Danish flag bearers are riders – Tobias Thorning Joergensen and Katrine Kristensen were given the honour.
Pepo Puch carried the Austrian flag, Manon Clays was selected for Belgium, Laura Kangasniemi for Finland, Latvia chose Rihards Snikus, and Louise Etzner Jakobsson carried the flag for Sweden.
Manon Claeys (pictured, waving) was among the flag bearers at the Paris 2024 Paralympic opening ceremony. Credit: Belga News Agency/Alamy Live News.
International Paralympic Committee president Andrew Parsons called for freedom, inclusion and equality in his speech at the opening ceremony.
“At a time of growing global conflict, increasing hate, and rising exclusion, let sport be the social glue that brings us together,” he said.
“Here at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, we will celebrate what makes us different, show there is strength in difference, beauty in difference, and that difference serves as a powerful force for good.”
He added: “As we prepare for Games Wide Open [the Paris 2024 slogan], let us open our minds wide.
“For what you will witness from Paralympic athletes are abilities and skills that surprise you, levels of resilience and determination that energise you, and camaraderie that will inspire you.
“Paralympic athletes are not here to participate. They’re not playing games. They are here to compete, win, and smash world records.
“Paralympians are also here to achieve something far greater than personal glory. They want equality and inclusion for themselves and for the world’s 1.3 billion persons with disabilities.
“Through their performances Paralympic athletes will challenge stigma, alter attitudes, and redefine the limits of what you think is possible.
“The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games will show what persons with disabilities can achieve at the highest level when the barriers to succeed are removed.
“The fact these opportunities largely exist only in sport in the year 2024 is shocking. It is proof we can and must do more to advance disability inclusion – whether on the field of play, in the classroom, concert hall or in the boardroom.
“That is why 225 years on from when Place de la Concorde was central to the French Revolution, I hope Paris 2024 starts a Paralympic revolution, the inclusion revolution.”
More than two million tickets have now been sold for this year’s Paralympics, and the para dressage competitions at Versailles have sold out.
Britain’s horses travelled to France today (29 August) with the equestrian competition set to start on Tuesday (3 September).
Before the equestrian action gets under way, Suzanna Hext – a multiple medallist both on a horse and in the swimming pool – will be in action in the S5 100m freestyle at the Paris La Défense Arena tomorrow (Friday, 30 August).
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