Six Filipino athletes will raise our flag in archery, athletics, swimming, and taekwondo in the Paralympics.
Just when you thought the Olympics fever is over, we’re actually just taking a break. Yep, the 2024 Summer Paralympic Games is opening in a few days.
This will be the 17th Summer Paralympics, and the first time Paris will host the Paralympics in its history. France hosted the Winter Paralympic Games in 1992, with the French communes Tignes and Albertville as joint hosts.
If you’re still suffering from sepanx with the Summer Olympics closing a little over a week ago, then this is great news as we will be back in Paris (even if only through our screens) for more thrilling sports action.
The Paralympics will run from August 28 to September 8, and here’s what we know so far.
Do we have a Paralympic delegation?
We have six Filipino Paralympians competing in Paris. There’s track competitor Jerrold Mangliwan, taekwondoin Allain Ganapin, archer Agustina Bantiloc, javelin thrower Cendy Asusano, and swimmers Ernie Gawilan and Angel Otom. This will be the third Paralympics for Gawilan and Mangliwan.
And of course, they have their parade uniforms, too! If our Olympians had their “Sinag” barong by Francis Libiran, our Paralympians would be wearing ethnic-inspired outfits designed by Ditta Sandico and assisted by Janinna Santos.
The female athletes—Asusano, Bantiloc, and Otom—will don Philippine flag-inspired wraps using locally handwoven sustainable ‘banaca’ fabric (blend of banana and abaca fibers), as per Sandico in an Instagram post.
For the male Paralympians—Ganapin, Gawilan, and Mangliwan—Sandico crafted black jackets made from “one-of-a-kind handwoven and hand-embroidered fabrics by Mangyans.” No two jackets have the same embroidery pattern.
Sandico describes her designs as a “fusion of cultures and creativity.”
The Philippines made its Paralympic Games debut at the 1988 Summer Paralympics in Seoul and has been fielding athletes since then. So far, our country has won two bronze medals courtesy of two female athletes: Adeline Dumapong in powerlifting (2000) and Josephine Medina in table tennis (2016).
What are the events?
Twenty-two sports will feature at this year’s Paralympic Games across 23 disciplines (with para cycling including two disciplines—track and road). There are 549 events in total, distributed across 269 sessions. The Paralympics will take place over 11 days, a few days shorter than the recently concluded Summer Games.
What are the venues?
Fans had an enjoyable time watching the Olympic competitions thanks in no small part to all the stunning event venues in Paris. The great news is, most of the breathtakingly beautiful locations that hosted the Olympic competitions will serve as backdrops once again for the Paralympics.
There’s the Eiffel Tower stadium, of course, which served as the venue for beach volleyball. For the Paralympics, this iconic spot will be the home of blind football. Like tennis in the Olympics, Roland Garros will also host the wheelchair tennis tournament.
The imposing Invalides will host the archery events, while Bercy Arena, which was the site of the men’s and women’s Olympic basketball finals, will host wheelchair basketball. At South Paris Arena, fans can witness three Paralympic disciplines: boccia, para table tennis, and goalball.
The Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines velodrome will host the very first medal event, para cycling track, on August 29. The Grand Palais will be the home of para taekwondo, and para swimming will take place at Paris La Défense Arena in Nanterre.
Para badminton, which made its debut at the Tokyo 2020 Games, will be held at the Porte de La Chapelle Arena. Once again, the breathtaking Palace of Versailles will host equestrian jumping and dressage competitions.
Will there be an opening ceremony?
Of course! But not much is known about the program yet, except for Thomas Jolly, the artistic director for the Olympic opening and closing ceremonies, returning to oversee the Paralympic ceremonies.
The heart of Paris will also serve as the open-air stage for the Paralympics opening ceremony. This time, however, the Seine will have to take the backseat as the 4,400 athletes from approximately 184 Paralympic delegations will parade through the Avenue des Champs-Elysees to Place de la Concorde. An expected 65,000 spectators will get to witness another historic moment in sports.
Will the medals be similar to the ones from the Summer Olympics?
Yes and no. The Paralympic medals also have that little bit of iron from the Eiffel Tower and were created in collaboration with the French jeweler Chaumet.
What makes them different is that they include engravings and braille. To enable the three medals – gold, silver, and bronze – to be distinguished by touch, lines are engraved on the edge of the medals. Universal braille is also engraved, which is also a homage to its French inventor Louis Braille, as per the Olympics website.
The full competition schedule for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games can be found here.
