Paralympic Torch Relay: Paris route details

A thousand torchbearers, fifty cities and four days of relay will bring the Paralympic flames to Paris. The Paralympic Torch Relay will kick-off the second round of competitive sports after the Olympic Games. The start of the Paralympic Games means the party starts all over again!

For the Paralympic Torch Relay, twelve different teams will make their way to the capital simultaneously. Torchbearers will carry eleven flames to twenty-two different locations and through all the arrondissements, while the main torch from Great Britain will pass through the Place de la Nation, the 11th arrondissement town hall, the Place de la République, the Place de la Bastille and the square in front of the Hôtel de Ville.

Twelve flames to symbolize twelve days of competition! Each flame highlighting iconic sites across the capital.

The Paralympic movement was born in 1948 in Stoke Mandeville in the UK. The aim was to speed up the recovery of paraplegic patients through sport. Initially reserved for British athletes, competitions gradually opened up until the first Paralympic Games were held in Rome in 1960.

Since 1988 and the first Paralympic Torch Relay, the torch lighting ceremony has taken place in Stoke Mandeville.

This will also be the case on August 25th when the Paris Paralympic Games torch will be lit in this symbolic location. Once the flame arrives in Calais via the Channel Tunnel, other torches will be lit simultaneously throughout France, converging on Paris on Wednesday, August 28th. The torch relay will also be part of the Liberation of Paris's 80th anniversary commemoration, on August 25th, 2024.

The celebrations will then continue for another two weeks until the Paralympic Games Closing Ceremony on September 8th, 2024.

"The Paralympic Torch Relay is a symbolic moment for para-sports, " says Mona Francis, European para-triathlon champion and relay captain alongside Dimitri Pavadé, silver medalist at the Tokyo Paralympic Games in the long jump.

"The Paralympic Torch Relay will mobilize the whole of France in the run-up to the Paralympic Games! The torchbearers will rekindle the festive spirit ahead of the competition. I've always been impressed by para-athletes. The competition level promises to be exceptional," says Florent Manaudou, Olympic swimming champion and torch relay captain.

Get all the news on disruptions and opportunities related to the Games with the Paris Infos Jeux 2024 newsletter.

To create the Olympic and Paralympic torch, French designer Mathieu Lehanneur, a former winner of the Grand Prix de la Création de la Ville de Paris, drew inspiration from three decisive elements: the perfect symmetry of its design, evokes equality; a ripple and lighting effect mirrors water; the purity of its shape and rounded edges are soothing.

As with both the Paris 2024 emblem and its mascots, the Olympic and Paralympic Games will share the same torch design, made of recycled steel in France.

In detail :