The summer sporting bonanza that started under pouring rain on July 26 with a remarkable opening ceremony on the Seine River ended with the Paralympics closing ceremony at a rain-soaked Stade de France.
As the stadium was lit up in the blue, white and red colours of the French national flag on Sunday (local time), a trumpet player played the national anthem La Marseillaise and Paralympic flag-bearers made their way into the stadium carrying national flags to the sound of Chariots of Fire by Vangelis.
“Everyone can see what an inclusive world is like,” Tony Estanguet, the head of the Paris Olympics in 2024, said in his closing speech. “Now there is no turning back.”
International Paralympic Committee president Andrew Parsons said France excelled as a host in both Games.
“Paris 2024 has set a benchmark for all future Paralympic Games,” Parsons said. “For a country famous for its fashion and its food, France is now famous for its fans.”
The crowd clapped along to a breakdancing set, before Tony Award winner Ali Stroker performed the American national anthem as a part of the handover to Los Angeles.
Stroker made history in 2019 as the first person who uses a wheelchair to win a Tony Award for her turn as Ado Annie in the Broadway revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!
In another portion of the screened handover to LA, Venice Beach Skate Park transformed into a 360-degree-stage featuring skateboarders and wheelchair motocross riders.
Then, the crowd roared as famed French electronic music composer Jean-Michel Jarre began closing out the ceremony, which was again led by artistic director Thomas Jolly.
The 76-year-old Jarre was seemingly oblivious to the rain lashing down on him, with more than 20 DJs followed the trailblazer in a tribute to French electro music to the theme Journey of the Wave.
After the successful Olympics, there were doubts that the energy would keep going for the Paralympics. Those doubts were dispelled, with 4000 athletes enjoying strong support. Not all venues were sold out, but this was also because the summer holiday period was ending and children were returning to school.
A surge of enthusiasm saw 2.4 million tickets of the 2.8 million tickets sold – second only to the 2.7 million sold at the 2012 London Games.
Locals who stayed or French fans coming in from other towns and cities gave their athletes huge support over both Games.
“With the Games we rediscovered our creativity,” said Estanguet, a former Olympic canoeing champion. “The France which smiles, which loves itself.”
Australia collected 18 gold medals, 17 silver and 28 bronze at the Paralympics, with the total haul of 63 the lowest since the 1980 Games.
In the final table, the ninth-placed finish was the lowest Australia has come since the Seoul Games in 1988, when it ranked 12th.
