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Paralympics opening ceremony: Athletes from 180 countries to parade through Paris
The Paris Paralympics opening ceremony kicks off on tonight, with thousands of athletes taking part in a parade through the French capital’s iconic landmarks.
An estimated 65,000 spectators will be watching the athletes from more than 180 countries march along the Champs-Elysees to Place de la Concorde before the competitions start on Thursday.
It is the first time in the history of the Paralympics that the opening ceremony, which starts at 7pm local time (6pm in the UK) takes place outside a stadium.
About 4,400 athletes from more than 180 nations will be taking part in the parade, with paralympic champions Lucy Shuker and Terry Bywater being selected as ParalympicsGB’s flagbearers.
The ceremony ends at 10pm, before competitions kick off the next day in sports including track cycling, swimming, taekwondo and table tennis.
This year’s British flagbearers Terry Bywater and Lucy Shuker. Pic: ParalympicsGB
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While there are 28 Paralympic sports in total, only 22 are part of the Paris Games. The contests will be spread across 18 venues and two weeks, with the closing ceremony set for 8 September.
The Paralympics flame was lit last Saturday by British Paralympians Helene Raynsford and Gregor Ewan in Stoke Mandeville, a village northwest of London widely considered the birthplace of the Games.
The flame then travelled to France under the English Channel for a four-day relay from Atlantic Ocean shores to Mediterranean beaches, from mountains in the Pyrenees to the Alps.
Its journey will end in Paris on Wednesday during the opening ceremony – with the lighting of a unique Olympic cauldron attached to a hot-air balloon that will fly over the French capital every evening during 11 days of competition.
During the Tokyo Paralympic Games in 2020, GB won 124 podium places, including 41 gold medals, 38 silver and 45 bronze, according to Sky Sports.
The number of sports medals expected to be claimed by ParalympicsGB during the Games in Paris is between 100 and 140, UK Sport says.
There are 549 gold medals up for grabs across the Paralympic Games.