The opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Paralympics took place on the evening of 28 August 2024 at the Place de la Concorde in Paris. It was the first time that a Summer Paralympic Games opening ceremony was held outside of a stadium. Like the 2024 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, this event was directed by Alexander Ekman and Thomas Jolly. The ceremony was themed around the human body and "history and its paradoxes", and featured more than 500 dancers and performers. Unlike the Olympics opening ceremony, which took place mostly under rain, the weather was clear and sunny with a view of sunset during the ceremony.
The Parade of Nations took place on the Champs-Élysées starting at the Rond-point des Champs-Élysées, and ending at Place de la Concorde. The final leg culminated with multiple torch bearers coming together, who then lit the Paralympic cauldron, a ring of 40 computerised LEDs and 200 high-pressure water aerosol spray dispensers which was topped by a 30-metre-tall helium sphere resembling a hot air balloon, rising in the air, reminiscent of the Montgolfier brothers' experiments leading to the first hot air balloon flight in 1783. Performers included French singer Christine and the Queens.
Preparations The opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Paralympics took place on the evening of 28 August 2024 at the Place de la Concorde in Paris. It was the first time that a Paralympic Games opening ceremony had been held outside of a stadium. The venue was already equipped with temporary stands installed a few weeks earlier for the Olympic skateboarding, breakdancing, BMX freestyle and 3X3 basketball events. Seating was provided for 35,000 paying and accredited spectators. Another 30,000 spectators could view the parade to the Place de la Concorde for free from along the Champs-Elysées. This was the first time in the Paralympics since the 2018 Winter Paralympics to allow international spectators following the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, after the last two Paralympics were held behind closed doors due to the pandemic.
Unlike the Olympic opening ceremony, which took place in cold weather and mostly in the rain, the skies were clear, with a view of a colourful sunset during the ceremony. It was warm, at 30°C, and somewhat humid. The stage consisted of two runways flanking the Luxor Obelisk. At the end of each were huge cylindrical video screens. The ceremony involved 500 performers. There were 1,100 accredited media present, and the event was viewed by an estimated television audience of 300 million. Security was provided by 15,000 personnel. The ceremony was themed around the human body and "history and its paradoxes", and was titled "Paradox: Form Discord to Concord". Each artistic sequence was built around the theme of working together to create a better and more inclusive society.
Producers Artistic director: Thomas Jolly Music director: Victor Le Masne Choreographer and Artistic Director: Alexander Ekman Scenography: Bruno Delavenère Costume designer: Louis-Gabriel Nouchi Lighting creation: Thomas Dechandon
Proceedings Welcome to Paris The ceremony opened with a video featuring , a French Paralympic swimmer and a member of the Athletes' Commission of the Paris Organising Committee for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Curin was the host of a show called "Théo Le Taxi" on France Télévisions, the official broadcaster of the 2024 Paralympic Games. For the opening ceremony, he arrived in a taxi provided by Toyota, one of the Games' sponsors, and decorated with hundreds of toy Phryges, the Games' ubiquitous mascot.
Official Introduction The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, and the President of the International Paralympic Committee, Andrew Parsons, were introduced.
Discord The Canadian pianist Chilly Gonzales opened the sequence with a piano performance. He was joined by 140 dancers in suits representing the "Strict Society", whose costumes symbolized rigidity, and 16 performers with disabilities representing the "Creative Gang", whose costumes symbolized freedom. The Creative Gang included Chelsie Hill, a founder of the Rollettes wheelchair dance team, and Israeli Para dancing champion Tomer Margalit and her dance partner Orel Chalaf. The interactions between both groups on stage was meant as a representation of the paradoxical relationship between persons with disabilities and wider society, with the choreography depicting inappropriate gestures, acts of exclusion, and the objectification of the Creative Gang by the Strict Society.
At the end of the segment, the two groups came together as French singer Christine and the Queens performed Edith Piaf's .
The Parade of Athletes Olympic and Paralympic Phryges danced and play acted on stage while the 168 delegations of athletes entered the Place de Concorde in French alphabetical order, except for Australia, the United States and France, which brought up the rear in that order as the host nations of the 2032, 2028 and 2024 Summer Paralympics respectively. As the French contingent entered, Joe Dassin's "Les Champs-Élysées" as well as Yann Tiersen's theme from the film Amélie were played, and the crowd chanted "".
Countries and flag bearers The following is a list of all parading countries with their respective flag bearer, sorted in the order they appeared in the parade. This is sortable by country name under which they entered, the flag bearer's name, or the flag bearer's sport.