During a round table dedicated to the 2024 Paralympic Games during the “Demain le Sport” festival, athletes and organizers cited the London organization in 2012 as an example.
While the OCOG of Paris 2024 voted for the organization of the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games near the Place de la Concorde, pending the validation of the IPC, this Thursday a round table was organized on the event at the festival ” Demain le sport”. With the following title: “The 2024 Paralympic Games, until the London Games? “. With a nuance provided by Craig Spence, spokesman for the IPC International Paralympic Committee): “I can say that had it not been for the pandemic, the Tokyo Games would certainly have surpassed the London Games. The government, the city, the sponsors, the broadcasters, they all realized the importance of the Paralympic Games and got involved. »
Channel 4 had invested heavily in London
For Lambis Konstantinidis, director of planning and coordination for the 2024 Paralympic Games, Paris wants to be inspired by the anticipation applied long before the 2012 edition: “The London Games were already the organizing committee’s awareness that the Paralympic Games were not a side event. To do this, they raised it long before the Games. We managed to generate excitement before and during the Games, it wasn’t the discovery, it was the party! »
A success due, in particular, to the very strong commitment of the British channel Channel 4, mainly through its “Meet the superheroes” campaign. This media weight had especially marked Pauline Déroulède, French wheelchair tennis champion: “I really remember the communication where we thanked the Paralympians. This is what I remembered from these Games, there was this unity and zero difference. Disability culture is ingrained in English society and we would like to have it in France. Through sport, I think we can send many messages. In Paris you also have to show all sports. The notion of meeting is very important, for this it is necessary, in particular, to tell stories upstream. »
Michaël Jeremiasz, spokesperson for Blues in Rio
“Anything that can unite, bring closer, we take. We have never been so close between the IOC and the IPC ahead of Paris 2024”
But also during the live broadcast of the event, with an already key agreement in France, as Lambis Konstantinidis recalled: “We want excellent broadcasting, which is why we will almost triple it compared to Tokyo thanks to a partnership with France Télévisions”.
“We heard at one point that the public was not ready to see disabled athletes, on TV or in stadiums.recalled Michaël Jeremiasz, wheelchair tennis champion and flag bearer in Rio. From London, Channel 4 has specialized in broadcasting sports for the disabled, still with audience records, but also in the BBC, which has been broadcasting Wimbledon since 2005… like any tennis. We are present during the Grand Slam tournaments, there are already events that are practiced together. In the Olympics and Paralympics, let’s use one or two very specific events, like 100m, to do that as well. Everything that can unite, bring closer, we take. We have never been so close between the IOC and the IPC heading into Paris 2024, this was not the case 30 years ago when the IOC did not want to hear from us. You have to find the angle to get people into stadiums or in front of their TV. It will gain audience if it sells well! »