The London Paralympic Games will take place 17 days after the closing of the Olympic Games, from Wednesday, August 29 to Sunday, September 9, 2012. A record 4,200 athletes from 174 countries are expected for 11 days of competition and 503 gold medals will be awarded.
The Paralympic torch relay will be held from August 24 to 29, 2012, following the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games. After passing through Belfast, Edinburgh, and Cardiff, the flame will finish its journey at Stoke Mandeville. A total of 332 people will participate in the relay.
The Queen of England will be present at the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games on Wednesday, August 29 at the Olympic Stadium.
THE FRENCH PARALYMPICS IN BRIEF…
Led by Gérard Masson, Head of the London 2012 Paralympic Delegation, President of the French Paralympic & Sports Committee, and by Jean-Paul Moreau, Chef de Mission, the French delegation will consist of 270 people, including 154 disabled athletes, accompanied by 9 able-bodied athletes: 3 guides (athletics), 3 pilots (cycling), 1 coxswain (rowing), and 2 sighted goalkeepers (blind football). Notably, three new categories are open to athletes with intellectual disabilities who are making their return to the Paralympic Games in athletics, table tennis, and swimming.
Damien Seguin (sailing) will be the flag bearer for the French Delegation during the Opening Ceremony on Wednesday, August 29. He succeeds partially sighted athlete Assia El’Hannouni, who led the French team in Beijing in 2008.
France will compete in 16 of the 20 sports in the London Paralympic program, including three team sports: athletics, rowing, cycling (road and track), equestrian, fencing, powerlifting, judo, swimming, tennis, table tennis, archery, shooting, sailing, women’s wheelchair basketball, five-a-side football (blind football), and wheelchair rugby.
The French Paralympic Delegation aims for 9th place in the nation rankings. To achieve this goal, French athletes aim to win 16 gold medals.
Above France, China, Great Britain, Ukraine, and the USA are expected to be unbeatable. The French will also face challenges competing with some emerging nations like Russia and especially Brazil, which is preparing for its 2016 Games.
In Beijing 2008, France finished 12th in the nations ranking, with 52 medals including 12 gold, 21 silver, and 19 bronze.
20 sports are listed in the Paralympic program, for more than 485 podiums: Athletics, Rowing, Wheelchair Basketball, Boccia, Blind Football (Five-a-side Football), Cycling (Road and Track), Equestrian, Wheelchair Fencing, 7-a-side Football, Goalball, Powerlifting, Judo, Swimming, Wheelchair Rugby, Tennis, Table Tennis, Archery, Shooting, Sailing, Sitting Volleyball.
The Paralympic Games represent the second largest sporting event in the world, after the Olympic Games. The Olympics and Paralympics are organized by one and the same Organizing Committee, LOCOG, chaired by Sebastian Coe, under the auspices of the IOC for the Olympics and the IPC for the Paralympics.
These 14th Paralympic Games mark a return to the roots of Paralympism, following the movement’s beginnings in 1948 at Stoke Mandeville, north of London. Indeed, Sir Ludwig Guttman, a physician, had the visionary idea of having injured British air force war veterans play wheelchair basketball as part of their rehabilitation.
London 2012 will also be an opportunity to celebrate the significant return of intellectually disabled athletes to the Paralympic stage after their exclusion in Sydney 2000.
Athletes with intellectual disabilities will be represented in three sports: athletics, swimming, table tennis.
The slogan of the London Paralympic Games is “Inspire a Generation,” and its emblem features the number 2012 marked by three “agitos” or waves, symbols of the IPC.
