It has been a spectacular summer of sport and here comes Paralympics Paris 2024
Wednesday: Paralympics Paris 2024: Opening Ceremony (Channel 4, from 6.30pm)
Arguably the most inspiring event of the lot, the Paralympic Games, are arriving in Paris, and across the next 11 days, more than 4,000 athletes will compete across 549 events in 22 sports, aiming to fulfil their competitive dreams and take some hardware home from the French capital.
The Games kick off tonight with the opening ceremony, as the Place de la Concorde and the Champs-Elysées stage a groundbreaking celebration in the heart of the French capital.
Once again, the innovative project will be led by Thomas Jolly, Artistic Director for the Paralympic and Olympic Ceremonies. He says: “From the Champs-Elysées to Place de la Concorde, I look forward to creating this spectacle that will transform the heart of Paris, with performances that have never been seen before.
“A spectacle that will showcase the Paralympic athletes and the values that they embody.”
Following the opening ceremony, the Games begin in earnest tomorrow, with medals handed out in swimming, track cycling, table tennis and taekwondo.
Then, over the next week and a half, Team GB’s athletes will be looking to build on their success at Tokyo 2020, when they finished second in the medal table behind China, with a remarkable 124 medals, including 41 golds.
Among the British stars to watch over the next week and a half will be javelin-thrower Hollie Arnold, who clinched her sixth straight world title earlier this year in the F46 class.
Meanwhile, Matt Bush became the first GB taekwondo male to win a Para or non-disabled world gold medal in 2019, and Ellie Challis was just just 17 when she became Great Britain’s youngest medallist at Tokyo 2020, claiming silver in the women’s S3 50m backstroke.
Liverpool-born Rachel Choong will be looking to add her first Paralympic badminton medal to her ever-growing tally (she has 12 World Championship medals and 10 European titles).
And finally, Yorkshire-born wheelchair racer Hannah Cockroft is no stranger to being the top of the podium.
With seven Paralympic medals and 16 world titles ‘Hurricane Hannah’ will be odds-on favourite to bring home the gold when she competes in the T34 classification at her fourth Paralympic games.
The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games will be the biggest ever broadcast on Channel 4 with over 1,300 hours of live sport airing across its channels, streaming platform and YouTube.
The broadcaster’s elite team of presenters sees stalwart Clare Balding joined by Ade Adepitan, Ellie Simmonds and Rose Ayling-Ellis, while Arthur Williams leads More4’s coverage of team sports, alongside Kate Ager and Rachael Latham.
Also on the reporting team are Billy Monger, JJ Chalmers, Ed Jackson, Josh Pugh, Vick Hope, Lee McKenzie, Fats Timbo, Jodie Ounsley, Ellie Robinson, Lenny Rush, Milly Pickles, Gaz Choudhry, Jordan Jarrett-Bryan and George Robinson.
And there will be expert punditry and analysis from Baroness Tanni Grey Thompson, Libby Clegg, Steve Brown, Danny Crates, Louise Hunt and Jayant Mistry.
Alex Mahon, CEO at Channel 4, said: “Every Paralympic Games we see the transformative power of sport on display. At Channel 4 we are thrilled to be bringing the Paralympics back, bigger and better than ever before.”