The French capital hosts 11 days of elite competition that will produce new stars at a range of landmark venues
Eleven days of elite competition across 22 sports. With no fewer than 549 medals at stake, 4,400 athletes will be taking part from 128 different nations, each of them with a physical or cognitive disability.The opening ceremony for the 17th summer Paralympic Games will take place in Paris on Wednesday 28 August from 7pm UK time.
Of the 215 athletes that form the ParalympicsGB team this year there are 81 debutants, meaning a great chance for new heroes to be made. Among those fresh names, look out for 19-year-old cyclist Archie Atkinson , the 13-year-old swimming prodigy Iona Winnifrith and Rachel Choong, world champion in para-badminton who is making her debut at the Games after her classification was finally included in competition.Photograph: Ed Sykes/SWpix.
Classification can be the cause of huge disappointment, with athletes sometimes being excluded from competition because their impairment is not judged to be great enough. It is also a political issue, with a debate over whether there should be more classifications in order to allow more inclusion, or fewer to enhance competitiveness.There are still as many as 500,000 tickets available for the Games, with particular availability in track and field at the 80,000 capacity Stade de France.
In the UK, Channel 4 is promising its most extensive coverage yet, with over 1,300 hours of live broadcasting and up to 18 concurrent live streams running on its YouTube channel.; with subtitles for every broadcast and closed audio description on Channel 4 at primetime, while live sport on More4 and Channel 4 Streaming on weekday afternoons will include British sign language live signing. The BBC, meanwhile, will be providing radio coverage.
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