2024-08-22 22:04:26
The Paralympic Games are approaching! In Paris, 11 of the 15 Olympic Games venues will be used again for the Paralympic Games, which require some adaptations, such as in the Champ-De-Mars. At the foot of the Eiffel Tower, the ephemeral playground where the beach volleyball events are held is being converted to host blind ball competitions.
On the Olympic grounds, the five rings give way to the Agitos, these three commas being the symbol of the International Paralympic Committee. And for ten days, about forty workers were busy in the stadium at the foot of the Eiffel Tower. Dedicated to beach soccer during the Olympic Games, it will be used as a soccer field for blind soccer – blind restriction, visually impaired, and soccer. And there is a lot of work to be done.
The first change: sand gives way to bright blue synthetic grass. ” It seems very complicated to remove the 400 tons of sand that is the beach volleyball area, said Gautier Jourdet, infrastructure manager of the Eiffel Tower stadium, and so we came to add earth on top of the sand. That means leveling it just enough to land so it doesn’t go away, of course. »
The Agitos, these three commas that are the symbol of the International Paralympic Committee, have already appeared on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, in anticipation of the 2024 Paralympic Games. © Dimitar Dilkoff / AFP
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Acoustics are important in blind football
The blind ball field will rest on 80 cm of sand: « You have to imagine : When you see Paralympic blind athletes on the field practicing their sport, they will literally be on top of the sandbox. », continued Gautier Jourdet. Configuration which is of particular interest according to the infrastructure manager: “ Finally, putting a blind ball field on sand is also technically important for acoustics, acoustics is obviously a very important issue for blind ball. » Since, it is blind football, it is with the sounds that athletes find their way: the bells in the football allow them to be on the field and to make passes, the players announce themselves by shouting “yes”.
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Blind soccer is a very exciting Olympic discipline and, contrary to what one might think, collisions are rather rare. ” With the sound of things that travel through the air, [les joueurs] manage to understand a place. We call it the sixth sense. It’s like bats in fact, they have the intelligence of the masses, Explains Rémi Garranger, coach of the blind soccer team France Espoirs, There are players who are able to go five centimeters from a barrier and go without touching. They feel it. They told me they felt like a spider web in their eyes. And there are some who even manage to smell another. »
For the first match, almost 10,000 spectators are expected to see the blind ball, the world’s first!
► The plan and schedule for the Paralympic Games can be consulted here.
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