▶ Chaehwa from Stoke Mandeville, England, where the Paralympic Games were born
The 2024 Paris Paralympic torch was lit in Stoke Mandeville, England, the birthplace of the Paralympics.
Olympic.com reported on the 24th (local time), “Helen Rainsford and Gregor Ewan (both from the UK) lit the Paris Paralympic torch in Stoke Mandeville, the birthplace of the Paralympic Games, and began the torch relay.”
In 1948, German neurologist Ludwig Guttmann organized a sports event for ‘war wounded veterans’ in Stoke Mandeville, Aylesbury, northwest of London, England.
Although the first Paralympic Games were held in Rome in 1960, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recognizes the 1948 games in Stoke Mandeville as the ‘birthplace of the Paralympic Games’.
“At Stoke Mandeville, Guttmann created a sport and social movement that has had a profound impact on modern society,” said International Paralympic Committee (IPC) President Andrew Parsons at the torch lighting ceremony. “It was ideas that improved the lives of millions of people with disabilities around the world.”
“The flame lit today carries a powerful message of peace,” said Tony Estangue, president of the Paris Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. “We are ready to create a unique and memorable Paralympic Games.”
The main characters of the ceremony were Rainsford, the gold medalist in rowing at the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games, and Lee Wan, the bronze medalist in curling at the 2014 Sochi Winter Paralympic Games.
“We are honoured to be part of this historic moment of lighting the Olympic flame at the cradle of the Paralympic Games,” said Rainsford and Ewan.
The two began the first relay after lighting the torch.
Twenty-four people, including Rainsford and Ewan, will carry the torch through the Channel Tunnel linking Britain and France on the 25th.
24 people, including the French Paralympics, will receive the torch at the midpoint of the Channel Tunnel.
Afterwards, the torch relay is divided into 12 groups and travels across France for four days.
Olympic.com reported that “around 1,200 torch bearers will travel across France to mark the opening of the Paralympic Games.”
The Paris Paralympics will hold their opening ceremony on the 28th.
The Associated Press reported that “the torch that has illuminated France’s major historic sites will be reunited as one on the day of the opening ceremony. The ‘hot air balloon cauldron’ installed in the Tuileries Garden in the center of Paris will rise 60 meters high from sunset to 2 a.m. the next day during the Paralympic Games from the 28th to September 8th, lighting up the city of Paris.”
2024-08-25 00:48:37