Starting on August 28, the games will last for a week and a half and will see around 4,400 athletes competing in different sports according to each athlete’s sporting needs.
As has been the case since 1988, most of the venues where the Olympic Games were held will be used to host the Paralympic Games.
The games, which began in 1960, aim to open up sports competition for people with physical disabilities.
Over the years, we have seen great sporting achievements such as the 55 medals won by the American swimmer Trischa Zorn or the feat of the Italian fencer Beba Vio, who won the gold medal in her discipline despite having neither legs nor arms.
Latin America has also had memorable performances. Mexico stands out with more than 300 medals, of which 104 are gold.
Timothee Adolphe (France)
He is France’s big hope for the Paralympic Games, especially in the 100m T11 event (events are divided according to the type of disability athletes have).
Adolphe, 34, who was blind since birth, won a silver medal at Tokyo 2020 and hopes to win his first gold medal in the competition’s top speed event at Paris 2024.
The sprinter is also known for his music career. He is a well-known rapper on the French scene and released his debut album in 2020, a year before the Tokyo Paralympics.
Teresa Perales (Spain)
She is a legend of adapted swimming. In total, the Spanish swimmer has won 27 medals, seven of which are gold.
After losing mobility from the waist down in 1995 due to neuropathy, Perales – who has also been a politician – decided to devote herself to swimming.
Her debut in Sydney 2000 was masterful: five medals. But it was in Athens 2004 where she really shone with six medals, two of them gold.
Due to his achievements, he has become one of the most well-known faces of Paralympic sport in his country and hopes to continue this work in Paris 2024.
“15 days to keep dreaming. 15 days to keep working very hard with a single objective, to give the best of ourselves and hope that this comes with a medal. Let’s go,” he wrote on his X account before traveling.
Carlos Serrano (Colombia)
The 24-year-old Colombian is one of the biggest Paralympian stars on the continent.
He was able to establish himself as one of the top Paralympic swimmers in Latin America and the nation, despite being born in Bucaramanga, which is located roughly 350 kilometers north of Bogota.
His bones didn’t grow to their full potential due to hypochondroplasia, a condition that was identified in childhood. He nevertheless managed to win seven Paralympic medals in spite of that.
three in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and four in Tokyo in 2020. Among those medals, two are gold.
His accomplishments earned him the title of greatest Paralympic swimmer in the world in 2022.
Noemi Alphonse (Mauritius)
She is in the T54 category (paraplegics or people with lower limb disabilities who can use their hands to propel a wheelchair) of speed and middle distance events in athletics.
Alphonse is the first African to compete in an athletics event final at the Paralympic Games, having qualified for the 100m, 400m and 1,500m finals at Tokyo 2020.
She now hopes to win a medal, which would be the first for an African country in track and field events.
Ezra Frech (USA)
He is one of Paralympic athletics’ greatest innovators.
Frech, who is 19 and was born without part of his left leg and some of his fingers, has set a number of records that led him to become the first to win a T63 high jump medal.
Last year he set a world record with a jump of 1.95m at the Paralympic Athletics World Championships.
Frech is also a motivational speaker, particularly on the subject of pursuing a sport despite physical obstacles.