Empathy, inclusivity, humility… Once again Paris is ready for the Games
Paris for the 2024 Paralympic Games is how will the city get ready to welcome close to 300,000 people with special abilities who will be here to watch 4,400 athletes contesting across 23 disciplines spread over the next two weeks.
Paris, unlike many other European cities, isn’t really friendly to the specially abled. To give a basic example, most metro stations still don’t have elevators, and some don’t have ramps and even toilets for the specially abled. Some of the venues—like the one used for beach volleyball, right in front of the Eiffel Tower—wasn’t meant for the specially abled during the Olympics that ended on August 11. However, its transformation has been amazing. The venue, which will now host blind football, looks completely different, having gone through a makeover.
Adding to the comfort of the paraathletes, there are a lot more volunteers at the metro stations and ramps have come up at certain places.
The amenities at the Games village are top notch. “This is one of the best villages I have seen”, said an Indian athlete who was there at the 2021 Tokyo Games too.
Can Indian para-athletes achieve historic five gold medals at Paris Paralympics?
Birgit Skarstien, Tokyo Paralympics gold medallist in para rowing, summed it up perfectly, “I simply love the atmosphere in the village. Here, you feel connected to the world, you see flags everywhere. Everyone is open to others. And, at the same time, the world suddenly seems so small because we’re all here together, for real! To sum up,
Read more on economictimes.indiatimes.com
