The Paralympics 2024, set to begin on August 28 in Paris and running until September 8, is poised to be the most accessible Games in history.

With 22 different sports featured across 549 events, this year’s Paralympics will be a landmark in the journey towards inclusivity, designed to ensure that athletes, spectators, and participants of all abilities can fully engage in and enjoy the event.

Every aspect of the event — from transportation to venues to media coverage — has been designed with accessibility in mind.  There is a fully accessible public transport system, with 100 per cent of the metro stations, buses, trains, and taxis equipped with ramps, lifts, audio and visual announcements, and priority seats for people with disabilities.

The venues will feature accessible entrances, seating, toilets, changing rooms, signage, lighting, and sound systems, as well as assistive devices and services, such as wheelchairs, hearing loops, and sign language interpreters. 

Meanwhile, the organisers have ensured that all the official websites, apps, social media, and publications are accessible and inclusive, with options for different languages, formats, and assistive technologies. 

Broadcasters are committing to more hours of programming and coverage than ever. Channel 4, which has exclusive live TV coverage in the UK (and has done now for four years), has more than 1,300 hours of coverage scheduled.

Disability advocate Sophie Morgan, who made her name presenting Channel 4 shows (and has recently locked in a deal with Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine) will be the lead presenter, joined by a diverse and experienced team of co-hosts, analysts, and reporters. 

Sophie Morgan featured in our programme for International Women’s Day 2023. Here she is in conversation with Laura Henry Allain.

Sophie Morgan, who was paralysed from the chest down in a car accident when she was 18, credits Channel 4’s 2012 Paralympics coverage as her career catapult.

Actress and former Strictly winner Rose Ayling-Ellis will also be one of Channel 4’s hosts of the Paralympic Games, making her the first deaf person to host live sports coverage on TV.

Rose will host a daily show alongside Clare Balding, with live British Sign Language (BSL) signing, and for the opening and closing ceremonies, Clare Balding will be joined by broadcaster and former wheelchair basketball player Ade Adepitan and Paralympic swimming champion Ellie Simmonds.

Channel 4’s presenting line-up will also feature Ed Jackson, the former rugby union player, and racing driver Billy Monger.

Inspirational role models

The 2024 Paralympics will feature athletes from a record number of countries, ensuring that young people around the world can see themselves reflected in the Games. There’s no shortage of inspirational role models among the sports stars — including Alice Tai, a British Paralympic swimmer, who has overcome multiple surgeries and health challenges to become one of the top competitors in her sport.

ParalympicsGB has confirmed 215 athletes will be taking part in 2024, with only three out of the 22 sports having no British participant (blind football, goalball and sitting volleyball). Para cycling, canoe and rowing will each be taking their largest-ever squads over to Paris.

Of the UK team, 46 per cent are female, representing greater gender equality than in Tokyo 2020, and the highest proportion on record.

The swimming squad contains the highest proportion of female athletes ever (with 18 female and nine male) and includes 13-year-old Iona Winnifrith, the youngest member in the ParalympicsGB team. She is one of 14 teenagers taking part in the 2024 Paralympic Games.

54-year-old Para canoe multiple medallist Jeanette Chippington will be competing as the eldest GB athlete. This will be her eighth Paralympics since making her debut at the Seoul 1988 Games in the para swimming event.

Sarah Storey onboard float holding her four gold medals after the Paralympics 2012.

ParalympicsGB’s most decorated athlete, Dame Sarah Storey, will compete at her ninth consecutive Games. Sarah is one of nine reigning Paralympic champions in team GB’s cycling squad – and has a phenomenal medal tally of 17 golds.

Other British athletes to watch throughout the 2024 Games include Hollie Arnold, Thomas Young and Hannah Cockroft in the para athletics; Matt Bush in taekwondo; Rachel Choong in badminton, David Smith and Claire Taggart in boccia, and para table tennis star Will Bayley.

Here’s a full list of the 22 sports of the Paralympics 2024:

  • Blind football
  • Boccia
  • Goalball
  • Para-archery
  • Para-athletics
  • Para-badminton
  • Para-canoe
  • Para-cycling
  • Para-equestrian
  • Para-judo
  • Para-powerlifting
  • Para-rowing
  • Para-swimming
  • Para-table tennis
  • Para-taekwondo
  • Para-triathlon
  • Shooting Para-sport
  • Sitting volleyball
  • Wheelchair basketball
  • Wheelchair fencing
  • Wheelchair rugby
  • Wheelchair tennis

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