France's summer date with history closes with a bang
The Straits Times|September 10, 2024
The Paralympics closed on Sept 8 with a giant music-fuelled party as chief Paris 2024 organiser Tony Estanguet said the Games and the Olympics had created a "historic summer".
France's summer date with history closes with a bang

The Paralympic flame and cauldron were extinguished before a concert featuring the best of French electronic music capped off proceedings at a packed Stade de France.

More than 4,400 athletes from 168 Paralympic delegations partied despite persistent rain.

Estanguet said the closing ceremony marked the end of six weeks of Olympic and Paralympic fervour in the City of Light.

The former Olympic gold-medal winning canoeist said that period would remain "etched in people's memories".

"This summer, France had a date with history, and the country showed up," he said.

"This summer when people talked to each other, this summer when France was happy," said Estanguet, referring to how France had been left deeply divided by snap elections just weeks before the Olympics opened.

The next Paralympics will take place in Los Angeles in 2028.

This story is from the September 10, 2024 edition of The Straits Times.

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This story is from the September 10, 2024 edition of The Straits Times.

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