Paralympic medals have Braille on one side.
As we begin the six-month countdown to the 2024 Paris Paralympics, we've put together a guide to everything you need to know about the Olympics.
Paris will host the Paralympic Games for the first time in 2024, a festival of sport.
Approximately 4,400 athletes from around the world will take part in 22 sports and once again be cheered by spectators after the rescheduled Tokyo Games were held behind closed doors in 2021.
In addition to their performance, the competitors also aim to help change attitudes and lead the charge for social change in France and further afield.
When are the Paralympics?
The Paralympics will begin with the opening ceremony on Wednesday, August 28th.
Held for the first time outside the stadium, during the ceremony the players will parade in front of some of the French capital's most iconic landmarks, located along the route between the Champs-Elysées and Place de la Concorde.
Organizers have put inclusion at the heart of the event, and spectators will be able to watch along the roadside before the official parade takes place and ticket holders are processed in front of the Place de la Concorde.
A total of 23 gold medals will be decided on the first day of competition on Thursday, August 29th.
The final day of the competition will be Sunday, September 8th, and in addition to the closing ceremony, medal events will be held for track and field: wheelchair basketball, powerlifting, para-canoeing, and para-marathon.
Which venues will be used for the Paralympics?
Many of the venues used for the Olympics also host Paralympic competitions.
Wheelchair tennis will be held at Roland Garros, the picturesque gardens of Versailles will be the venue for para-equestrian events and the Stade de France will host a para-athletics program.
The Grand Palais, normally a venue for arts and sporting events, will host wheelchair fencing and para-taekwondo, while blind soccer competitions will be held in a specially built stadium at the foot of the iconic Eiffel Tower.
Paratriathletes then race through the center of Paris and compete in a swimming element held on the Seine.
How can I watch the Paralympics?
Channel 4 will broadcast the Olympics in the UK. There will also be extensive coverage on BBC Radio 5 Live and on the BBC Sport website.
What are the new events at the Paris Paralympics?
Unlike the previous two Games, where paratriathlon and paracanoeing (Rio) and parataekwondo and parabadminton (Tokyo) made their debuts, the program for the Paris Games does not include any new sports.
However, the badminton and taekwondo programs have expanded and women have won record numbers of medals.
How many gold medals will they win at the Paris Games?
549 gold medals will be contested in 22 events.
Who will participate in the Paralympics GB and how many medals will they win?
Paralympic GB missed out on qualification in blind soccer, goalball and sitting volleyball, but will be competing in 19 sports in Paris. Around 220 players are expected to take part, although no one has yet been officially named in the GB squad.
At the Tokyo Olympics, Great Britain won 124 medals, including 41 gold medals, ranking second behind China.
Will athletes from Russia and Belarus also participate in the Paris Paralympics?
Athletes from Russia and Belarus will be allowed to compete as neutral countries.
Both countries had been suspended from Paralympic competition since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. At the Winter Paralympic Games held in Beijing the following month, athletes from both countries were initially not allowed to participate as neutral nations due to criticism of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). They say they can.
In September 2023, the IPC resolved to lift the full ban and partially suspend the national Paralympic Committees of Russia and Belarus. This means competitors from both countries will be able to participate in Paris as neutral nations. The decision was criticized by many international federations, including Paralympic GB.
Until now, the Russian team has flown a neutral national flag at both the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, prior to being able to compete using the initials of the Russian Paralympic Committee. He was banned from participating in the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games due to suspicions of doping.
