With the Stade de France hosting the athletics, the La Defense Arena the swimming, wheelchair tennis at Roland Garros, and the picturesque Chateau de Versailles gardens will the venue for the Para-equestrian events, the Grand Palais, normally a venue for art and sport events, is hosting wheelchair fencing and Para-taekwondo, while the blind football competition will be in a specially built stadium at the foot of the iconic Eiffel Tower.
Para-triathletes are set to compete in the centre of Paris, with the swim leg due to take place in the River Seine – with 22 sports, in total, in the Paralympic programme including: Blind football, Boccia, Goalball, Para-archery, Para-athletics, Para-badminton, Para-canoe, Para-cycling, Para-equestrian, Para-judo, Para-powerlifting, Para-rowing, Para-swimming, Para-table tennis, Para-taekwondo, Para-triathlon, Shooting Para-sport, Sitting volleyball, Wheelchair basketball, Wheelchair fencing, Wheelchair rugby and Wheelchair tennis.
The increase in the profile of Para-sport has meant a gradual rise in the number of nations participating in a Paralympic Games, featuring around 4,400 athletes from a record 168 delegations – still short of the 207 delegations who competed at the Olympics. The total includes 167 National Paralympic Committees (NPC), an eight-strong Refugee Paralympic Team (RPT) and a Neutral Paralympic Athletes (NPA) delegation from Russia and Belarus.
The previous record was 164 delegations at London 2012 while the previous highest number of athletes at a Paralympic Games was 4,393 at Tokyo 2020. Three NPCs – Eritrea, Kiribati and Kosovo – are making their Paralympic debut in the French capital.
A total of 549 gold medals are up for grabs.