Wheelchair Tennis at the heart of Paralympic Games opening ceremony

Five wheelchair tennis players were their nation’s flagbearers as the Paris 2024 Paralympics Games were inaugurated by an opening ceremony in the heart of the city.

Thousands of athletes paraded down the Champs-Elysees to Place de la Concorde as French President Emmanuel Macron officially declared the 2024 Paralympics open.

As the ceremony concluded, the Paralympic torch was carried by Paris-born Michael Jeremiasz, who competed in four Paralympic Wheelchair Tennis Events, winning men’s doubles gold in Beijing in 2008.

Prior to this, Great Britain’s Lucy Shuker, Joachim Gerard of Belgium, Morocco’s Najwa Awane, Adam Berdichevsky of Israel and Chile’s Francisco Cayulef all proudly carried their nation’s flags.

“To have that honour to lead ParalympicsGB out is incredible and something that I never thought I would do,” said Shuker.

“To qualify for my first Paralympics in Beijing was an achievement in itself – but to come to my fifth Paralympics and now be a flagbearer is a real dream come true.”

Gerard, who suffered a cardiac arrest during Tokyo 2020, added: “Even for an oldie like me, this remains something unbelievable. Being at the head of the Belgian delegation means a lot to me.”

The whole occasion proved a fitting opening to what promises to be a wonderful Paralympic Games and indeed Paralympic Wheelchair Tennis Event – the first to be held at a Grand Slam venue in Roland Garros.  

The Paris 2024 Paralympic Wheelchair Tennis Event gets underway on Friday 30 August.