The opening ceremony took place at the Place de la Concorde, while the athletes’ parade began at the Champs-Élysées near the Arc de Triomphe, with the athletes arriving at the Place de la Concorde at the end.
Latvia’s flag bearers were para-equestrian athlete Rihards Snikus and athlete Diāna Krūmiņa.
At the end of the ceremony, the Olympic torch relay was carried out by several para-athletes at the Concordia Square and the relay was completed by five French para-athletes Charles-Antoine Coucou, Nantenine Kate, Fabien Lamireau, Alexis Hankinken and Elodie Laurenti, who lit the Olympic flame as it rose into the air in a hot air balloon.
About 4,000 para-athletes from 186 national Paralympic committees participated in the opening ceremony.
The Paris Paralympic Games will take place from August 28 to September 8, and Latvians will compete in athletics, Paralympic dressage, cycling, swimming and shooting.
Latvia will be most widely represented in athletics, where four athletes will compete – Apinis (discus throw in F-52 class), Krūmiņa (discus throw and javelin throw in F-55 class), Dzilna (shot put in F-12 class) and Maksims (discus throw and javelin) throwing in the F-46 class).
One athlete will participate in four more sports. “King of the Dance” will compete in Paralympic equestrian dressage, Oskars Gailiš in cycling, paraswimmer Jurijs Semyonovs will participate in four swimming disciplines, and Margita Kanopka will compete in the shooting arena.
Para-athlete Edgars Berg, who had qualified for the shot put competition in the F-35 medical group, had also won a place in the Games, but he refused to start in Paris due to health reasons.
About 4,400 athletes are expected to compete in 22 sports, distributing 549 sets of medals.
Athletes from Eritrea, Kiribati and Kosovo will compete in the Paralympic Games for the first time.
After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 with the support of Belarus, athletes from both aggressor countries are allowed to participate in the games only individually. Athletes and service personnel who actively support Russia’s military operations in Ukraine may not participate in the competition. Also, athletes and representatives of service personnel who are employees of the power structures of Russia or Belarus may not compete.
Athletes must also comply with the anti-doping rules of international federations, and the flags, anthems and national symbols of these countries will not be displayed during the competition.
Three years ago in Tokyo, the Latvian delegation won five medals. The silver medal in the discus throw was won by Krūmiņas in the discus throw, as well as Snikus in the individual dressage competitions and in the freestyle discipline, while the bronze medal was won by Apinis in the discus throw and Krūmiņas in the javelin throw.
2024-08-29 18:37:14