The Paralympic Games Paris 2024 or Summer Paralympics 2024 were held in France from 28 August to 8 September, 2024.
- Paris 2024 was the 17th Summer Paralympic Games. It was an international multi-sport parasports event governed by the International Paralympic Committee.
- Paralympic Games Paris 2024 featured 549 medal events across 22 sports.
Host Nation:
France hosted the summer Paralympic Games for the first time in history. On 13 September 2017, Paris, France was elected as the host city for the 2024 Summer Olympics at the 131st IOC Session in Lima, Peru.
Paralympic Games Paris 2024 Mascot
Mascot: The Phryges
The Paris 2024 Organizing Committee revealed the designs of the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games mascots, The Phryges, on 14 November 2022. These mascots are two little Phrygian caps that embody the French spirit, French values and are a strong symbol of France. The Phrygian cap was a symbol of freedom during the French Revolution. The Paris 2024 mascots aim to lead a revolution through sport. Their mission: to get the world moving in the run up to the Games and beyond.
Top 3 Nations in the Medal Table:
- The People’s Republic of China topped the medal table for the sixth consecutive Paralympic Games with a total of 220 medals (94 gold, 76 silver, 50 bronze).
- Great Britain finished second for the tenth time with a total of 124 medals (49 gold, 44 silver, 31 bronze).
- The United States finished third with a total of 105 medals (36 gold, 42 silver, 27 bronze).
» Mauritius, Nepal, and the Refugee Paralympic Team won their first-ever Paralympic medals.
Paralympic Games Paris 2024: Performance of India
Indian Contingent:
A record 84 para-athletes represented India at the Paris Paralympics 2024.
Sports:
India competed across 12 disciplines, three more than at Tokyo 2020. Indian para-athletes participated in three new sports at Paris 2024—Para Cycling, Para Rowing, and Blind Judo.
Flag-bearer:
- Indian para athletes Sumit Antil and Bhagyashri Jadhav were the joint flag-bearers for the Paris 2024 Paralympics Opening Ceremony held on 28 August.
- Archer Harvinder Singh and Sprinter Preethi Pal were India’s flag-bearers at the Paris 2024 Paralympics Closing Ceremony.
India’s position in the ranking table:
India stood 18th in the ranking table. India won a total of 29 medals including seven (7) gold, nine (9) silver and thirteen (13) bronze medals at the Paralympic Games Paris 2024.
- India achieved its highest ever medal haul at the Paralympic Games. The achievement surpasses Tokyo 2020’s haul of 19 medals, which included five gold.
Details of Medalists:
» Para Archery: (Total Medals- 2; 1 Gold, 1 Bronze)
Gold medal:
- Harvinder SINGH – Men’s Individual Recurve Open – Gold medal
Bronze medal:
- India Team [Sheetal Devi; Rakesh Kumar] – Mixed Team Compound Open – Bronze medal
» Para Athletics: (Total Medals- 17; 4 Gold, 6 Silver, 7 Bronze)
Gold medal:
- Praveen Kumar – Men’s High Jump – T64 – Gold medal
- Navdeep – Men’s Javelin Throw – F41 – Gold medal
- Sumit – Men’s Javelin Throw – F64 – Gold medal
- Dharambir – Men’s Club Throw – F51 – Gold medal
Silver medal:
- Nishad Kumar – Men’s High Jump – T47 – Silver medal
- Sharad Kumar – Men’s High Jump – T63 – Silver medal
- Sachin Sarjerao Khilari – Men’s Shot Put – F46 – Silver medal
- Yogesh Kathuniya – Men’s Discus Throw – F56 – Silver medal
- Ajeet Singh – Men’s Javelin Throw – F46 – Silver medal
- Pranav Soorma – Men’s Club Throw – F51 – Silver medal
Bronze medal:
- Mariyappan Thangavelu – Men’s High Jump – T63 – Bronze medal
- Hokato Hotozhe Sema – Men’s Shot Put – F57 – Bronze medal
- Sundar Singh Gurjar – Men’s Javelin Throw – F46 – Bronze medal
- Preethi Pal – Women’s 100m – T35 – Bronze medal
- Simran – Women’s 200m – T12 – Bronze medal
- Preethi Pal – Women’s 200m – T35 – Bronze medal
- Deepthi Jeevanji – Women’s 400m – T20 – Bronze medal
» Para Badminton: (Total- 5 Medals; 1 Gold, 2 Silver, 2 Bronze)
Gold medal:
- Nitesh Kumar – Men’s Singles SL3
Silver medal:
- Suhas L.Y. – Men’s Singles SL4
- Thulasimathi Murugesan – Women’s Singles SU5
Bronze medal:
- Manisha Ramadass – Women’s Singles SU5
- Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan – Women’s Singles SH6
» Para Judo: (Total 1 Bronze medal)
Bronze medal:
- Kapil Parmar – Men’s -60 kg J1
» Shooting Para Sport: Total- 4 medals; 1 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze)
Gold medal:
- Avani Lekhara – R2 – Women’s 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1
Silver medal:
- Manish Narwal – P1 – Men’s 10m Air Pistol SH1
Bronze medal:
- Rubina Francis – P2 – Women’s 10m Air Pistol SH1
- Mona Agarwal – R2 – Women’s 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1
Paralympic Games Paris 2024: India Records
- Avani Lekhara became the first Indian woman to win two gold medals at the Paralympic Games, retaining her title with a world record score in the women’s 10m air rifle standing SH1 shooting event.
- India recorded a one-two in athletics for the first time, with Dharambir and Parnav Soorma clinching gold and silver, respectively, in the men’s club throw F51 event. Dharambir also set a new Asian record of 34.92m.
- Praveen Kumar created an Asian record to win the high jump T64 title and give India its sixth gold medal.
- Javelin ace Sumit Antil made history as the first Indian man to defend his title at the Paralympics, winning gold in the men’s javelin throw F64 with a stunning throw of 70.59m. This is a new Paralympic record.
- Mariyappan Thangavelu won the bronze medal in the high jump T42 class. With this he became the first Indian to win medals at three consecutive Paralympics. He won the gold medal at Rio 2016 and silver at Tokyo 2020.
- Preethi Pal secured her bronze in the women’s 100m T35 race with a personal best time. The 23-year-old became the first Indian athlete to win a track medal at the Paralympics.
- Preethi Pal also won a bronze medal in the T35 category of the women’s 200m race. Her bronze in the 200m made her India’s most successful athlete at the Games, as she was the only one to secure two medals.
- Deepthi Jeevanji became the first intellectually impaired Indian athlete to win a Paralympic medal with a bronze in the women’s 400m T20 category.
- Aged 33, Harvinder Singh became the first Indian archer to win a gold medal at the Paralympics. India found their first-ever Paralympic archery champion in Harvinder Singh.
Next Summer Paralympics Games:
Los Angeles in the United States has been selected as the host city for the 2028 Summer Paralympics.