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PARIS OLYMPICS GUIDE

MAP: Where will the Paralympic torch visit in France?

The Paralympic torch relay began a four-day tour of France on Sunday, August 25th, before the Games’ Opening Ceremony on Wednesday, August 28th. Here is the route it will follow.

Published: 23 August 2024 10:20 CEST
Updated: 26 August 2024 08:19 CEST
MAP: Where will the Paralympic torch visit in France?
The Paralympic logo on the Arc de Triomphe. (Photo by Ben STANSALL / AFP)

The torch was lit at Stoke Mandeville, in England, the historic birthplace of the Paralympic Games.

76 years ago – on the day of the Opening Ceremony of the London 1948 Olympic Games – neurologist Sir Ludwig Guttmann organised the first sports competition for World War Two veterans with spinal cord injuries at Stoke Mandeville Hospital. 

 

Image: Paralympic Games 2024

After being lit in Stoke Mandeville, the flame crossed the Channel via the Channel Tunnel, marking the start of a legendary relay. A total 24 British athletes will be joined halfway between the United Kingdom and France by 24 French athletes, where the flame will be handed over the flame.

Over the four days, there will be 12 separate flames converging on Paris for the Opening Ceremony in the Champs-Elysées and Place de la Concorde. You can see an interactive map of the full route here.

This will mark the first time the ceremony will be held outside the confines of a stadium for the first time in Paralympic history. 

Meanwhile, a separate flame will be lit in the capital on August 25th, as the Paralympic flame arrives at Calais, to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Liberation of Paris.

READ MORE: What to expect for the 80th Anniversary of the Liberation of Paris

Day 1, August 25

When it arrives on the French coast in Calais, the flame will light 12 separate torches that will then follow individual routes from 12 different locations in France.

One of them will begin in Lorient, home to double Paralympic sailing gold medallist Damien Seguin, and Blois, which has a sports complex named after its Paralympic champion Marie-Amélie Le Fur.

These include;

  • Calais, in the Pas-de-Calais département
  • Valenciennes, in the Nord département
  • Amnéville, in the Moselle département
  • Strasbourg, in the European Collectivity of Alsace
  • Thonon-les-Bains, in the Haute-Savoie département
  • Antibes Juan-les-Pins, in the Alpes-Maritimes département of France
  • Montpellier
  • Lourdes, in the Hautes-Pyrénées département of France
  • La Roche-sur-Yon, in the Vendéed épartement
  • Lorient, in the Morbihan département
  • Saint-Malo, in the Ille-et-Villaine département
  • Rouen, in the Seine-Maritime département

Day 2, August 26

Then the flames will start to make their way toward Paris, passing through places in France with indelible Paralympic links. 

For example, a flame will visit Châlons-en-Champagne, which has the only gymnasium in France designed to facilitate access to sport for people with learning disabilities, as well as in Chambly, which has sports facilities adapted for Para sports.

It will also go through the city of Vichy, which has been very active in para sport, having hosted an event marking the 500-day countdown to the Games, as well as introducing a ‘Club Inclusif programme’, which will help existing sporting clubs build awareness on how to include Para athletes, according to the Paralympics information page.

READ MORE: What you need to know about the Paris Paralympics

Here are the towns it will pass through on Day 2;

  • Arras (Pas-de-Calais), Amiens (Somme) and Chambly (Oise)
  • Laon (Aisne)
  • Châlons-en-Champagne (Marne)
  • Troyes (Aube)
  • Châtillon-sur-Seine (Côte d’Or)
  • Lyon
  • Vichy
  • Limoges
  • Blois (Loir-et-Cher)
  • Chartres
  • Deauville (Calvados)
  • Louviers (Eure)

Day 3, August 27

On the third day, the flames will arrive in the capital region, passing through the following towns;

  • Montfermeil, Clichy-sous-Bois, Livry-Gargan and Sevran (Seine-Saint-Denis) and Épinay-sur-Seine and Villetaneuse (Hauts-de-Seine)
  • Louvres (Val d’Oise)
  • Trilport (Seine-et-Marne)
  • Sucy-en-Brie (Val-de-Marne)
  • Valenton (Val-de-Marne)
  • CNSD de Fontainebleau (Seine-et-Marne)
  • Garches Vaucresson (Hauts-de-Seine)
  • Cergy (Val d’Oise)
  • Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (Yvelines) and Grigny (Essonne)
  • Domaine national de Saint-Cloud (Hauts-de-Seine)
  • La Roche-Guyon (Val d’Oise)
  • Houdan (Yvelines)

Day 4, August 28

As for the fourth and final day, the flames will arrive inside the city of Paris. They will pass through each of the capital’s 20 arrondissements.

Here are the routes;

  • Insep, place de la Nation, place de la République, place de la Bastille and Hôtel de Ville
  • Square Léon, la Grande aux Belles and le Jardin Villemin
  • La Cipale and the Père Lachaise cemetery
  • Passerelle Simone de Beauvoir and the Arènes de Lutèce
  • The Parc Monsouris and the Manufacture Nationale des Gobelins
  • UNESCO, rue Masseran and Invalides
  • Carreau du Temple and Place Pigalle
  • Cité des périchaux and the Mairie of the 15th arrondissement
  • Club France de la Villette and place des Fêtes
  • Avenue de la Grande Armée and the Parc Monceau
  • Place du Châtelet and place Saint-Sulpice
  • Lac inférieur in bois de Boulogne and the Parc Clichy-Batignolles

Who will carry the torch?

There will be 1,000 torchbearers, and 200 of them will be Paralympians themselves. 

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PARIS 2024 OLYMPICS

France bids final farewell to Olympics with Champs-Elysees parade

France bid a final and reluctant farewell to the Paris Olympics on Saturday with a parade on the Champs-Elysees followed by a concert featuring artists from the opening and closing ceremonies.

Published: 15 September 2024 09:40 CEST
France bids final farewell to Olympics with Champs-Elysees parade

The final event of an acclaimed summer of sport saw tens of thousands of fans gather on the French capital’s most famous avenue to applaud and cheer the nation’s new sporting heroes.

Around 70,000 people gathered for the parade featuring athletes, volunteers and public sector workers, which was followed by a multi-artist concert on a spectacular stage around the Arc de Triomphe.

“Saying thanks, not just to the athletes but to everyone who made these games magic, I think it’s fabulous,” said France’s most-decorated track athlete, Marie-Jose Perec, who lit the cauldron at the start of the Games on July 26.

“It’s a beautiful way of saying goodbye because everything must come to an end and tonight it will all be over,” the visibly emotional 200m and 400m triple gold medallist told reporters as she arrived.

Around 4,000 police were called out for a final test, having won almost almost unanimous praise for the way they kept around 12 million ticket holders for the Olympics and Paralympics safe.

After months of gloom and self-doubt in the run-up to the start of the Olympics, Parisians and the country at large threw themselves into the spirit of the Games once the sport began.

They embraced new champions such as triple gold medal-winning swimmer Leon Marchand while finding fresh reasons to celebrate veterans such as judoka Teddy Riner who won his fourth Olympic title.

“Thank you, thank you, it’s been incredible!” Riner shouted to the cheering crowd.

He, Marchand and Rugby Sevens star Antoine Dupont were among more than 100 French medal winners who were awarded the Legion d’Honneur, France’s highest civilian award, in a ceremony at the foot of the Arc de Triomphe led by French President Emmanuel Macron.

The French team finished the Olympics with a record medals haul of 64, including 16 golds, securing fifth place on the international table.

The Paralympic Games from August 28-September 8 were hailed as “the most spectacular ever” by the head of the International Paralympic Committee, Andrew Parsons.

Escapism

Analysts say the Games served as a form of escapism for many French people worried about the direction of the country as well as generating a rare form of national union and pride.

“Everything worked, everything functioned and French people rediscovered the virtues of national cohesion,” the head of the French Olympic Committee, David Lappartient, told reporters.

Macron is seeking to take advantage of this more positive mood, having faced widespread criticism for his decision to call snap parliamentary elections in June which blindsided Paris 2024 organisers.

The vote resulted in a hung parliament and historic gains for the far-right National Rally party.

Instead of making a speech, he recorded a poetic voiceover over images of the Olympics and Paralympics, saying it was “a summer that had already become part of French sporting legend.”

The 46-year-old was the main instigator of Saturday’s event, which was not originally part of the Olympic or Paralympic programme.

The centrist has also announced his intention to create an Olympics-inspired “national day of sport” every year on September 14.

“We need to spend time together at a day of sport, which would take place in the street, schools, in dedicated sports centres,” he told the Parisien.

Saturday night’s concert featured singer Chris, formerly of Christine & the Queens, who performed at the Paralympics opening ceremony, as well as blind Malian duo Amadou & Mariam among others.

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