Paris 2024: “Everything we dreamed of happened” says IPC President

“My message to fans is a huge, enormous ‘merci beaucoup’ because after the athletes, they were the big stars of the Games,” - International Paralympic Committee President Andrew Parsons 08 Sep 2024

IPC President Andrew Parsons has been thrilled by the atmosphere and athletes at Paris 2024

ⒸGetty Images

By IPC

Ahead of the Closing Ceremony, we caught up with International Paralympic Committee President Andrew Parsons about the Paris 2024 Paralympics, which featured over 4,000 athletes from around the world. 

The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games are coming to an end after 11 days of amazing action. What are your thoughts just hours before the Closing Ceremony? 

I think these Games brought us to a completely new level. It’s the most spectacular Games ever – just the quality of sport and the quality of venues, while the enthusiasm and the atmosphere that the crowd provided was just insane.  

I think athletes were happy, the National Paralympic Committees are happy, the International Federations are happy. I think it was a complete success. What’s in my mind now is what’s the next step after we have come so, so, so far prior to Milano Cortina (2026) and LA (2028). 

Can you share your three favourite moments from the Games?  

I think the first one was the first medal for the Refugee Paralympic Team. Zakia (Khudadadi) won bronze in Para taekwondo.  

Zakia Khudadadi winning the Refugee Paralympic Team's first medal © Alexandre Battibugli/IPC

A moment that I really liked was when I was watching blind football at the Eiffel Tower Stadium. I was at the venue, and I saw the silent Mexican wave because it’s blind football, so it needs to be silent while they were playing. This showed me how the French spectators understood what we’re here for. It was their engagement, their involvement with sport.  

In that moment, the fans were having fun, of course, but it was something that clearly told me, ‘Look, they know what they do here. They know what they’re watching. You will know what we stand for as a Movement and they love it. Above all, I think they were just fantastic.  

The Opening Ceremony was fantastic. It was great to see the ceremony outside of a stadium. Paris and Parisians embraced the Paralympic Movement. We said before the ceremony it would be a symbolic hug of the Paralympic Movement.  

The Opening Ceremony was one of Parsons' highlights of Paris 2024 © Getty Images

I think everything we had anticipated, predicted and even dreamed of happened during the Games.  

What did you think of the level of sport in Paris? 

The sport was absolutely fantastic. It was at the next level – it has been better than ever before. There were world records while team sports here were incredible. We saw incredible results, and some new athletes and some new countries.  

It was just fantastic to see Mauritius, Moldova and Nepal win their first ever medal. We have been working with these countries. It’s great to see that the athletes are responding, and it’s paying off.

It shows the growth of the Paralympic Movement, more countries than ever before, and more countries winning medals. It shows that sport is growing in different parts of the world. 

What kind of role did the crowd play in Paris? Do you have a message for all the fans who came to watch the Games?  

My message to them is a huge, enormous 'merci beaucoup' because after the athletes, they were the big stars of the Games. No doubt about it, they provided an incredible atmosphere. They cheer for the athletes from all nations, so of course, when French athletes were competing, we can understand.

Parsons paid tribute to the fans who attended the Paris 2024 Paralympics © Getty Images

The French population were going crazy, like last night at the blind football final, they cheered for every athlete. They understood what the Paralympic Movement is. This is just fantastic.  

The fans were an important part and a fundamental part of the Paris 2024 Games. It was a combination of the sport performances, the great venues, very smooth operations, but certainly the participation of the Parisians or the spectators in the stands that made these Games so spectacular. 

There were also so many friendly volunteers working behind the scenes. 

If the athletes are at the heart of the Games, the volunteers are probably the muscles. They are the ones making sure that things happen and that the athletes have what they need. 

I saw so many beautiful smiles and I interacted with so many volunteers here from different parts of the world. It was just very touching to see how proud they were. They will leave this experience for the rest of their lives, no doubt about it. 

The Games were also broadcast in more places than ever before. What kind of impact do you see from this? 

This is what we want. When we have a vision to make a more inclusive world through Para sport, it's not only about the people, the spectators at the venues. It's about the people watching it at home in the four corners of the world. 

When we have numbers of broadcasting as the ones we have here, it shows that we are expanding the reach of the Paralympic Movement, and this means impact. First of all, they understand that if we can remove barriers and allow athletes with disabilities to excel at a global stage, as we do in the Games, we can do it everywhere in society. And this is the strongest message.

And again, going through the four corners of the world, more countries watching basically every single person on this planet had a chance to watch a little bit of the Paralympics. This is very strong. 

As you said, Paris 2024 raised the bar for future host cities..... 

They really raised the bar here and I think it's good. We had that in Barcelona, we had that in Beijing, we had that in London, and now we have it in Paris.  

By raising the bar, it showed our friends in Milano Cortina (2026), LA (2028), French Alps (2030), Brisbane (2032), Salt Lake City Utah (2034) that this is the benchmark now, and they had to deliver against that.  

We are moving this Movement forward and making sure that also these organising committees, they see the potential. It's not only about raising the bar, but also allowing the other organisers, host cities and host nations understand the potential of what we saw here.  

2.5 million tickets were sold – they were not given. The number of broadcasts is higher than ever before, and this shows commercial value. So, let's say, this gives them a few challenges, but many opportunities. 

Lastly, can you share a message for all the athletes who competed in Paris? 

You are my heroes. It's just incredible to see how far they came in this three-year cycle (since Tokyo 2020), which, of course, brings a lot of challenges. They needed first to qualify and to be in good shape. But the performance they put here was astonishing. 

My message to the athletes is again, thank you for your performances. Thank you for putting the Paralympic Movement so high. Now enjoy the Closing Ceremony. Have some rest, because we have a lot to do in the lead up to LA because we need to put this Movement to an even higher level.