With exploding fireworks, laser beams, breakdancing and a thumping performance from some of France's electronica giants, France said goodbye to the Paralympics on Sunday night with the biggest party in the country's history.
A heartwarming summer of sporting achievement in Paris that roared crowds and forever changed the nation's attitude towards sport and disability, and now Parisians are bitterly sad to say goodbye to it all.
But France wanted one last night of wild celebration, and the Stade de France stadium in Saint-Denis was transformed into a massive electronica dance party with the world's best elite para-athletes congaing around the stadium on the athletics track where records had been broken just a few days earlier.
Paris organisers said they wanted the Paralympics closing ceremony to “show that we know how to party” – as if anyone still doubted the French capital's penchant for a laid-back atmosphere.
Jean-Michel Jarre, France's godfather of synthesizers and stadium laser shows, led a frenetic showcase of French electro-dance amid a flashing light show, hundreds of intersecting laser beams and a wall of flame onstage. The “French Touch” celebration culminated with star DJ Martin Solveig playing Daft Punk's “One More Time,” amid a stage filled with dancing Para-athletes, giant mascots in sequined skirts and hundreds of fireworks.
Earlier, the French Republican Guard military band blared Gloria Gaynor's “I Will Survive” as the para-athletes marched under the flags of their countries.
Paris embraced the controversial decision to introduce breakdancing to the Olympics, closing out the Games with an incredible breakdancing performance by a number of dancers with disabilities, to the amazement of the para-athletes in attendance.
The biggest surprise of the evening, and one of the best musical performances, was the blind Malian singers Amadou and Mariam's stunning rendition of Serge Gainsbourg's Farewell Hymn. J Switzerland Venutte Dire Que J Men Weissstanding at its base just before the balloon-borne Paralympic flame was extinguished. Another spine-chilling moment was the new interpretation of the French national anthem. Of the many versions of La Marseillaise that have been performed since the Olympics began in July, Sunday night's performance was arguably the most moving: a solo musical interpretation by André Feydi, the acclaimed disabled French trumpeter.
“These have been the greatest Paralympic Games ever,” International Paralympic Committee President Andrew Parsons said at the end of 12 days of action in Paris in which China took the lead in the medal tally, with Great Britain second and the United States third, as the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games move to Los Angeles.
With a record number of participating countries, a record 169 delegations, more women and greater global coverage, Parsons said Paris 2024 has set a new standard for the Paralympic Games. He thanked the French crowd for their large turnout and enthusiastic support. “A country famous for its fashion and cuisine, France is now also famous for its fans,” he said to the raucous roar of more than 60,000 spectators at the Stade de France. Now is the time, he said, for “thanks and applause to be followed by acceptance and action.” It's time to break down barriers in society beyond the playing field, from education to employment, government and entertainment.
For French organizers of the Games, the celebrations are all the more joyous given the final ticket figures. Paris 2024 will see a record 12 million tickets sold for the Olympic and Paralympic Games combined, beating the previous Games record set by London 2012. This includes 9.5 million tickets sold for the Paris Olympic Games and 2.5 million for the Paris Paralympics. In 2012, London organizers set a ticket sales record of 2.7 million for the Paralympics, but only 8.2 million for the Olympics.
Just as torrential rain drenched the Olympic opening ceremony along the Seine in July, the skies opened up at the end of the Paralympics, leaving the athletes drenched as they danced bravely to the music while flames shot endlessly into the air from the stage, heating the venue.
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The decades-spanning showcase of French dance music and electronica, one of France's greatest cultural exports, featured a wide range of artists, from Etienne de Crécy to Kavinsky and Kitan. and Kungs Thousands of spectators danced in their seats, a fitting send-off for Paris' efforts to attract a younger audience to the Paralympics.
Ali Stroker, the first actor to appear on a Broadway stage in a wheelchair, sang the U.S. national anthem during the handover of the 2028 Olympic Games from Paris to Los Angeles.
Tony Estanguet, a Paris Olympics organizer and three-time Olympic gold medalist in canoeing, said the Paris Paralympics “have made us better people”.
He said the Paralympics were a “special encounter that will be remembered forever” and that no one in France wanted them to end.
He told the Paralympic athletes gathered in the stadium: “Thanks to you, we can all see what an inclusive world looks like. You have started a Paralympic revolution and there's no turning back.”
