Michaël Aloïsio, spokesperson for Paris 2024, is convinced: "The Paralympic Games [JP, from August 28 to September 8, 2024] will change the country: we will never be exposed to disability on this scale. There is no question of waiting for the actual holding of the event to "move the lines".
After sport for the climate and the environment, in 2022, it is therefore the theme of the inclusion of people with disabilities through sport that has been chosen for the seventh edition of Olympic and Paralympic Week (SOP ), from Monday 3 to Saturday 8 April, with the ambition to raise awareness "on a large scale" on this subject.
The SOP is "one of the highlights for building a legacy," insists Mr. Aloïsio. Objective of this meeting, organized every year since 2017: to promote the practice of sport among young people and to bring the Paris 2024 Games to life in communities.
For this 2023 edition, seven thousand establishments (schools, colleges, high schools, higher education establishments or even medico-social establishments and services) are mobilized in mainland France and overseas; a total of one million students – up from 750,000 last year. More than three thousand projects have been submitted, 95% of them on the theme of inclusion.
"Thanks to the dynamics of the Games, we are helping an entire generation to change their perception of the situation of disability", welcomes Elie Patrigeon, director general of the French Paralympic and Sports Committee (CPSF). Among the activities offered: meetings between able-bodied and disabled people around a sports practice, initiation to Paralympic sports or exchanges with a Paralympic athlete.
Concern of associations
For the occasion, the organizers of the Games have also created an SOP dance, a fun way to promote physical education among the youngest. "It's all the more important for people with disabilities for whom the benefits are multiplied," insists Marie Barsacq, Impact and Legacy Director of Paris 2024. A tutorial of the choreography, signed Fauve Hautot, is available so that children can learn it.
Specific content has also been developed with the help of Jamy Gourmaud, made famous by his educational program "C'est pas sorcier" (1993-2014), on France 3. The journalist and host has produced videos to discover the Paralympic athletes or the disabled sports disciplines. "They will help change people's view of disability and move towards difference," explains Jean-Marc Serfaty, Olympic and Paralympic Games referent at the Ministry of National Education.
Some one hundred and twenty para-athletes will come to meet students throughout France. "It's extraordinary that there is such a mobilization, rejoices kayaker Nélia Barbosa, silver medalist at the JP 2020 in Tokyo - which was held in the summer of 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. There is a barrier that is breaking down. »
As the "J-500" of the Paralympic Games approaches, however, several associations are sounding the alarm: the organizers' desire to make Paris 2024 inclusive games could come up against the principle of reality, because today, the account is still not there in terms of accessibility, both in public transport and in public places.
