Prosthetic leg of Noriko Ito of Japan during her para-badminton match against Halime Yildiz of Turkey in Paris on Aug. 29. (Jennifer Lorenzini/Reuters)
The 2024 Paralympic Games kicked off in Paris this week with Team USA dominating Spain in men’s wheelchair basketball on Thursday, 66-56.
Since then, more than 4,000 athletes from countries such as Germany, Japan, Rwanda, Italy and India have competed for gold in 22 sports including para-table tennis, para-swimming, para-badminton, sitting volleyball, track cycling, para-archery, para-rowing and wheelchair rugby, among others.
By Friday, Great Britain and the People's Republic of China were dominating the leaderboard on gold medals and medals overall. The U.S. has also racked up its share of silver medals.
ADVERTISEMENT
Advertisement
International Paralympic Committee President Andrew Parsons said during Wednesday’s opening ceremony that he hopes these games spark an "inclusion revolution."
"The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games will show persons with disabilities what they can achieve at the highest level," Parsons said. "The fact that these opportunities largely exist only in sport in the year 2024 is shocking. It is proof that we can and must do more to advance disability."
Athletes will go for the gold through Sept. 8.
Here’s a look at some of this week’s events.
Gizele Maria da Costa Dias of Brazil competes with Claudine Murebwayire of Rwanda in sitting volleyball in Villepinte, France, on Aug. 29. (Maria Abranches/Reuters)
Toni Shaw of Britain in action during the women's 400m freestyle in Nanterre, France, on Aug. 29. (Andrew Couldridge/Reuters)
Ricardo Ten Argiles of Spain celebrates after winning bronze in the men's 3000m track cycling event in Montigny-le-Bretonneux, France, on Aug. 29. (Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters)
Team USA and Team Spain face off in wheelchair basketball in Paris on Aug. 29. (Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters)
Rosa de Marco of Italy holds a shuttle during her para-badminton match with Thulasimathi Murugesan of India in Paris on Aug. 29. (Jennifer Lorenzini/Reuters)
Fabian Blum of Switzerland competes in the men's 400m event in Paris on Aug. 30. (Emilio Morenatti/AP)
Stephanie Grebe of Germany in action during her table tennis match against Norway in Paris on Aug. 29. (Kacper Pempel /Reuters)
Fabiola Ramirez of Mexico takes the start in the women's 100m backstroke competition in Paris on Aug. 29. (Emilio Morenatti/AP)
Ricardo Ten Argiles of Spain rides during the men's 3000m event in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines on Aug. 29. (Thibault Camus/AP)
Andrew Edmondson and Ryley Batt of Australia compete against Stuart Robinson of Great Britain during the wheelchair rugby match in Paris on Aug. 29. (Michel Euler/AP)
France's rowers Laurent Cadot and Guylaine Marchand compete in Vaires-sur-Marne, France, on Aug. 30. (Bertrand Guay/AFP via Getty Images)
British archer Victoria Kingstone and competitors take part in para-archery in Paris on Aug. 29. (Ian Rice/AFP via Getty Images)
Rina Marlina and Subhan Subhan of Indonesia celebrate after their para-badminton match win against Naili Lin and Fengmei Li of China in Paris on Aug. 29. (Jennifer Lorenzini/Reuters)
China coach Branko Ivankovic was under pressure Wednesday to quit after less than seven months in the job with their hopes of reaching the 2026 World Cup in danger.China have reached the World Cup only once, in 2002, suggesting problems run deeper than the coach.
Arsenal have been dealt a huge blow ahead of the north London derby after captain Martin Odegaard was carried off the pitch in tears after suffering an ankle injury.
Martin Odegaard, the Arsenal captain, was visibly distraught after suffering an ankle injury on international duty with Norway on Monday night. The playmaker hobbled off the pitch after horribly twisting his ankle in a Nations League match against Austria.
Paris is to honour murdered Ugandan Olympic runner Rebecca Cheptegei by naming a sports venue after her, according to the French capital's Mayor Anne Hidalgo. Cheptegei, who competed in the women's marathon during the Paris Olympics last month, succumbed to severe burns on Thursday after being doused with petrol and set on fire by her boyfriend at her home in Kenya. At the weekend, Hidalgo told reporters: "She dazzled us here in Paris. We saw her. Her beauty, her strength, her freedom, and it wa
The Chinese Football Association has banned for life 38 footballers and five club officials after a two-year investigation into match-fixing and gambling
England 2-0 Finland: It’s early days but Lee Carsley’s team are already producing a Premier League dynamism that the Three Lions struggled to find under Gareth Southgate
Time is running out for appeals to be filed in the case that exonerated U.S. Open champion Jannik Sinner from doping. The World Anti-Doping Agency and Nado Italia, Italy’s anti-doping agency, likely have only a few more days to challenge the decision announced by the International Tennis Integrity Agency on Aug. 20. Sinner tested positive twice for an anabolic steroid in March but was not suspended because the ITIA determined the banned performance-enhancer entered his system unintentionally through a massage from his physiotherapist.
Australia football head coach Graham Arnold said his side were "extremely disappointed" after their goal-drought continued into a second World Cup qualifier, this time leading to a 0-0 draw with Indonesia in Jakarta.Australia again failed to score following their shock 1-0 defeat at home to Bahrain last week in their opening qualifier.
U.S. Open men's runner-up Taylor Fritz returned to the top 10 in the ATP rankings at No. 7 on Monday, and women's runner-up Jessica Pegula rose to No. 3 in the WTA list, while semifinalist Emma Navarro climbed to a career-best No. 8. Men's champion Jannik Sinner nearly doubled his lead as the ATP's No. 1 — a spot he's held since June — a day after defeating Fritz 6-3, 6-4, 7-5, and women's champion Aryna Sabalenka stayed at No. 2 in the WTA behind Iga Swiatek, who lost to Pegula in the quarterfinals.
Japan's Panasonic Holdings said on Tuesday it would end its 37-year contract as a top sponsor for the Olympics following the end of the Paris Games. The Osaka-based company first became an official partner of the Olympic Games in 1987 and expanded its partnership to the Paralympics from 2014. Toyota Motor, another top sponsor, is also ending its sponsorship of the Olympics this year as its 10-year contract expires.
China’s Football Association has banned 43 people for life over allegations of match-fixing and other forms of corruption in the latest effort to weed out graft in the country’s notoriously underperforming team sport. The official Xinhua News Agency on Tuesday reported that Zhang Xiaopeng, a top police official, attended a news conference at Dalian to release details of a “two-year investigation that uncovered a series of online gambling, match-fixing and bribery cases.” Xinhua said 120 matches in domestic leagues, 128 criminal suspects, and 41 clubs were implicated in the investigation.
Kevin De Bruyne’s international future is in doubt after he criticised Belgium’s tactics and footage emerged of his frustration when talking to technical director Frank Vercauteren.
