We are counting down the most important numbers behind the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games as we celebrate the 500 days to go until the most transformational event on earth.
What's in a number?
As we mark 500
days to go until the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, we took this opportunity to
look at the other numbers behind the world's third largest sporting event.
Here we have
athletes and venues, certainly, but also some numbers we bet you didn't know
about the host city welcoming its first ever Summer Paralympics. Join us in
discovering the Paris 2024 numbers, and remember that with every second, we are
getting closer to lighting that Paralympic cauldron!
4,400 – The maximum
number of athletes that will compete at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
Additionally, there will be 278 guides who compete alongside athletes with
vision impairments.
2024 – Next year will
be a big one! This is when the French capital hosts the Games.
1838– Souriez! The
first ever photograph of a human was taken 185 years ago. Louis Daguerre made
the historic snap on the Boulevard du Temple in central Paris. Countless
photographs have been taken since. How many more will be added at Paris 2024?
1676– The historic
complex known as Les Invalides was completed this year. Made up of numerous
museums and monuments, this venue will host the Para archery competition during
the 2024 Paralympic Games. It is one of the oldest venues to be used during the
Games, along with the Grand Palais, set to host wheelchair fencing and Para
taekwondo, and the regal Chateau de Versailles, which will be the venue for
Para equestrian events.
1345– The year when
the Notre-Dame Cathedral was completed. It is considered point zero of Paris,
which means all distances in the city are measured from it.
1,093- Medals that
France won at the Summer Paralympics since taking part in the first edition of
the Games in 1960.
987– Paris was not
always the capital of France. This was the year when it got the coveted status.
Home to more than 2 million residents, Paris is also the largest city in the
country and one of the oldest cities in Europe.
549- Medal events at
the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, including a record 236 medal events for women.
330- The height of
the Eiffel Tower in meters. This iconic landmark will cast a hefty shadow over
the blind football competition, to be staged in the park at the foot of the
tower.
300– Hours of live
broadcasts, which marks a new milestone in terms of Paralympic coverage. Paris
2024 will be the first time that all Para sports are filmed and broadcast live.
Time to start making plans for the most epic watch parties!
184– National
Paralympic Committees will be represented at the Games.
130– Museums in
Paris. Figuring out what to do between the morning Para athletics heats and the
finals in the evening? Got a short break between wheelchair rugby action? Leave
Catherine Debrunner and Ryley Blatt to prepare for their next athletic feats
without curious eyewitnesses and hang out with the Mona Lisa and at the Bal du
Moulin de la Galette instead.
128– Dancers in the
handover video by Paris 2024. The video of dancers with different abilities
moving in perfect unison under the direction of well-known French choreographer
Sadeck Waff was shown at the Tokyo 2020 Closing Ceremony to celebrate the next
host of the Paralympic Games. If you missed it the first time, check it out
here (as we have done countless times).
42– Kilometres, length of the Marathon
Pour Tous route. Ordinary Parisians and city guests will have an opportunity to
complete the marathon course of the 2024 Paralympic Games, either as the full
42km distance or the shortened 10km. This will be the first time when an
Olympics and Paralympics marathon route is open to the public, so get your race
gear on and start training.
38– Million tourists visited Paris
in 2019, the last reference year before the Covid-19 pandemic. The city is one
of the world’s most popular tourism destinations and given the variety of
things to do there, it is easy to guess why.
35 – Bridges across the Seine in
Paris, including the famous Pont Alexandre III, Pont Neuf and Pont des Arts.
Which one would you choose for a romantic rendez-vous?
28– Mark your calendars
for 28 August 2024. This is the date of the Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony. And
the number 28 has even more significance for the Paralympic Movement. It was on
28 July 1948 when the first Stoke Mandeville Games were held under the
leadership of pioneering neurologist Sir Ludwig Guttman, marking the birth of
the Paralympic Games.
22- Sports will be
contested at the 2024 Paralympic Games. To compare, the ninth International
Stoke Mandeville Games, which took place in Rome in 1960 and are considered the
first Paralympic Games, had athletes taking part in eight sports. It was not
until 2016, at the Games in Rio de Janeiro, that the Paralympic programme
expanded to 22 sports for the first time.
20 – Competition
venues. Indoor or outdoor, modern or historic – the arenas where athletes will
battle it out for medals are sure to dazzle spectators and leave lasting
memories of one of the world’s most beautiful cities.
15 – Kilograms
minimum is how much an athlete's wheelchair weighed during the early editions
of the Paralympic Games. There were no specialised sports wheelchairs until the
early 1980s, so athletes first raced in chairs they also used for everyday
activities. Present-day race wheelchairs are made of aluminium, have carbon
wheels, and weight around 7 kilograms.
12 – Days packed
with sports, celebrations and artistic performances! Expect to be amazed as the
Paralympic Games take over the French capital for almost two weeks in the
summer of 2024.
11 – Gold medals
French athletes won at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, their biggest haul
since Beijing 2008. Can they surpass that number on home turf?
3.4 – Million
spectators are expected at the 2024 Paralympic Games, which would break the
record for ticket sales. London 2012 holds the standing record with 2.7 million
tickets sold.
3 - Symbols
featured in the Paris 2024 emblem, which is shared by the Paralympic and
Olympic Games for the first time in history. The symbol features a gold medal,
a flame and Marianne – a representation of France as a nation.
2 – Kilometres is
the length of the Champs-Elysees along the Opening Ceremony route, which
stretches from the Arc de Triomphe to the Place de la Concorde.
1 – Paris 2024 is
the first time that the French capital is hosting a Summer Paralympic Games.
France has hosted a Winter Games before, in Tignes and Albertville in 1992, as
well as two editions of the Summer Olympics, but next year's Games will mark
the first time that the country is hosting a summer edition of the Paralympics.