2023-08-28 11:02:41
Athletes during the mixed relay of the paratriathlon “test event” on the site of the Paris Games, August 19, 2023. EMMANUEL DUNAND / AFP
Same places, same codes, same symbols, same emblems. The Paris 2024 Organizing Committee (Cojop) keeps repeating it: the Paralympic Games (August 28 to September 8, 2024) have the “same project and same ambition” than the Olympic Games (from July 26 to August 11, 2024) without being a copy-paste. “Sports and athletes will be different but they share a common history by carrying the same flag”argues Julie Matikhine.
To illustrate her point, the director of the Paris 2024 brand talks about “return match of the Olympics”, a sort of second round that will complete the great story that began a month earlier. With its singularity but just as many sporting emotions. “It’s a call to the public, we want there to be a communion behind the athletes”abounds Michaël Aloïsio, deputy general manager of Cojop.
Beyond making the event a success, the organizing committee wants to create momentum, raise awareness in the country and mobilize public actors on the subjects of inclusion. While Monday, August 28 marks the “D − 1 year” of the start of the Paralympic Games, where are we?
On public transport, a delay to be filled
Up to 2,500 spectators in wheelchairs are expected on each day of the Paralympic Games at the competition sites – a figure which rises to 4,000 for the Olympic Games. But “France is lagging behind” in terms of accessibility, warned in April Patrice Tripoteau, deputy director general of the APF France handicap.
Starting with public transport. While 100% of Parisian trams and buses are accessible to people with disabilities, only 9% of metro lines are. In the summer of 2024, 14% of them should be, just like 93% of the Parisian rail network (66% currently) and 89% (against 75% today) of the Ile-de-France rail network.
Read also: Disability: the accessibility of buildings, a constantly postponed requirement
In addition, Paris 2024 provides car parks reserved for users in wheelchairs (UFR) so that they can use their own adapted car as well as accessible taxis. Specific shuttles, with a capacity of three to four people with their guide and reservable after the purchase of a UFR ticket, will also be available. They will depart from major Parisian stations and transport users to the entrance to the site.
Para-athletes will also have an adapted system with specific lines, some of which with transformed buses that can accommodate six people in wheelchairs. About a thousand drivers will be mobilized to ensure their transport and two hundred and fifty transformed vehicles will be mobilized for the opening ceremony.
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