The Guardian

Paris 2024 Paralympics closing ceremony: spectacular show ends summer of sport – as it happened

By Dominic Booth,

4 hours ago

https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1tUimL_0vP6sZld00 — French athletes and a flag-bearer during the parade in the stadium. Photograph: Yoan Valat/EPA

9.45pm BST

That's a wrap

And that’s it. That’s the end of this live blog, and of our Paralympic coverage for the summer, bar one or two summary articles that will emerge in the morning. Keep an eye out for them.

But it’s been a pleasure to be involved in the summer’s Parisian sporting spectacular for The Guardian. As one cycle finishes, another starts, with all roads now leading to LA 2028. Thanks again for interacting with our content, for reading and for soaking in all the brilliant sport the past few weeks have had to offer. There’s another piece for you to enjoy via Angelique Chrisafis in Paris below.

Sport is everything. Au revoir.

9.35pm BST

About that DJ set. It could and probably should have been shown on TV for a little longer, in this journalist’s humble opinion.

9.31pm BST

The Channel4 closing montage is a real tear-jerker. So many golden moments, moments of bliss, but also agony.

We’re all going to miss having the Olympics and Paralympics to watch every day, aren’t we?

C’est fini.

Updated at 9.32pm BST

9.23pm BST

An email from Chris Page as the party goes on (and on, and on):

You know who WAS dancing? Dame Sarah Storey! She was properly ‘avin’ it! And Jean-Michel Jarre – you can’t get better than that.
Thanks to you and the team for your daily coverage. Allons-y!

Glad you’ve enjoyed, Chris, and everyone else who has tuned in tonight or over the past few weeks of Olympic and Paralympic coverage.

Updated at 9.24pm BST

9.22pm BST

It’s great to see Channel4 encouraging viewers to sign up and get involved in local sport near them. “Sport helps you physically and mentally,” says Ellie Simmonds. “It’s just the most amazing thing.”

Sport makes the world go round!

9.13pm BST

Right now. The 4,400 athletes from 168 Paralympic delegations are being treated to a PARADE of DJs and producers from the French electronic music scene. The Parisians are making a right ol’ racket as they bid farewell to the Games.

9.05pm BST

The Stade de France now resembles Warehouse Project. Can someone check if Krishnan Guru-Murthy is dancing? Pretty much everyone is!

Updated at 9.18pm BST

9.02pm BST

Over to you, LA.

Back in the Stade de France, the DJs are powering up. It’s an odyssey to French electronic music, led by Jean-Michel Jarre.

8.58pm BST

The Paralympic flame will now be extinguished in Paris. This moment has a rather melancholy feel to it. It marks the end of a four-year cycle for the French capital, and the end of spectacular summer of sport in the city. Various French athletes are teaming up to conduct this particular ceremony.

8.51pm BST

Just like we saw in the Olympics closing ceremony … it’s over to beachside in California! It’s all palm trees, skate parts and baseball caps, via Anderson Paak.

Updated at 8.52pm BST

8.45pm BST

USA Paralympic sprinter Blake Leeper now has the flag in hand as the American national anthem booms out.

8.42pm BST

Paris hands over to LA for 2028

Andrew Parsons is almost as ubiquitous as Clare Balding. He’s front and centre again, again with partner-in-crime Tony Estanguet, and the delegation from LA2028 as the formal handover from Paris to Los Angeles takes place.

“Can they do as good a job as the French have done here?” asks Rob Walker on Channel4. “It’s a tall order, it really is.”

Updated at 9.01pm BST

8.37pm BST

There’s some seriously good break dancing going on now, stuff that could match even Olympic sensation Raygun, or dare I say better her. And the DJs have fired up the decks with a remix of Édith Piaf.

By the way, what are our thoughts on the mascot? I’ve not been as sold as others.

8.30pm BST

The six new members of the International Paralympic Committee are being introduced to the crowd.

8.27pm BST

I won’t bore you with every word of the speeches. Suffice to say, they were rousing.

8.10pm BST

Next up on the agenda are speeches Andrew Parsons of the IPC and president of the Paralympic organising committee Tony Estanguet – who are most definitely not treated with boos.

“Tonight, nobody wants these Games to end, but we can make this moment one to remember for the rest of our lives.” Estanguet then encourages a huge ovation from the crowd for all the athletes. Preach.

8.03pm BST

There’s a giant conga in the middle of the Stade de France! This ceremony is living up to its name so far – and the athletes are rightly having a hoot.

Updated at 8.25pm BST

8.00pm BST

7.55pm BST

Apparently tonight’s closing ceremony will end with 24 DJs simultaneously blasting out music. I hope those in the crowd have their ear defenders with them.

Jean-Michel Jarre will be the fulcrum of that musical set-piece, by all accounts.

Lots of walking and flag-waving is still going on, by the way. Mercifully, it looks like the rain is now a little lighter. The crowd have been given Coldplay-style light-up bands.

7.47pm BST

Matt Bush and Poppy Maskill are sporting wide smiles as they appear with the Great British flag.

This is a big jamboree now. Flag waving, live music, it’s like the last night of the Proms but with loads of talented sportspeople.

7.44pm BST

Many of the Paralympians are already inside the stadium, but many more are now arriving in the official parade, serenaded by the strains of Chariots of Fire and other French and international tunes.

Updated at 8.25pm BST

7.41pm BST

Macron booed by French crowd

After a montage to end all montages on the big screen that gets-in-yer-head Paris 2024 jingle returns as a backdrop to events in the stadium tonight. Emmanuel Macron is joined on stage by the President of the International Paralympic committee, Andrew Parsons.

Some boos for Macron there, as he awkwardly waved to the crowd. Interesting. Now a lone trumpeter will play La Marseillaise.

Updated at 8.02pm BST

7.35pm BST

That big fiery Parisian cauldron is coming down for the final time. The flame will be carried to the Stade de France later tonight, as LA takes up the mantle for four years’ time.

Updated at 7.41pm BST

7.31pm BST

We're under way

The closing ceremony, titled ‘Paris is a party’ has officially started.

Perhaps it’s rather apt, given how the Olympics opening ceremony was drenched in rain, that the summer in Paris finishes in similar fashion, weather-wise. Santa, the French singer not the Christmas man, steps out to get us going with a song.

7.23pm BST

On a complete sidenote, does Clare Balding ever have a day off? Her work rate is astonishing.

7.18pm BST

A couple of lovely emails have just dropped:

Kurt Perleberg says: “To everybody at The Guardian & The Observer, from writers & columnists & photographers in Paris to editors in London & live bloggers around the world & to all of the readers in the USA the UK & Australia & across to world who have been reading these live blogs since July 21st, thank you for bringing the magic of the Olympic & Paralympic Games Paris 2024 home to us wherever it may be.”

Pierre Margerie says: “ On a saturday morning train yesterday from Toulouse to Paris, we were joined by part of the Danish shooting team at the Chateauroux station. As the announcement was made that we had on board a bronze medalist all the passengers (or at least the majority, it was noisy) cheered. Could not have imagined something similar in my usually grumpy France a month ago, and grateful for that.”

Thanks both!

7.13pm BST

Merci, Paris.

7.06pm BST

Nothing happens quickly in these ceremonies, but we’re edging towards something of note actually occurring. It’s teeming with rain and the waterproofs are out in force.

6.53pm BST

Matt Bush and Poppy Maskill are interviewed on Channel4 ahead of their flag-bearing duties tonight:

“It’s a massive honour to be a flag-bearer,” says Bush, the taekwondo gold medallist. “The whole system has been awesome, ParalympicsGB have been great and the French have put on a crazy show here.”

Swimmer Maskill is asked about being the most decorated GB athlete of these Games – with five medals (three gold, two silver). “It’s pretty cool,” she says. And on bearing that flag: “It’s pretty amazing”. Finally … what is she most excited about this evening? Pizza.

She’s a cool customer.

6.50pm BST

Just to point you in the direction of some other sport we’re covering this evening. The Test match has just concluded with Sri Lanka in line for a victory against the odds, while it’s a tall order for Scotland who travel to Portugal in the Nations League tonight. Oh, and there’s the small matter of the men’s US Open final. Who needs the Premier League, eh.

6.47pm BST

Stage set, calm before storm, insert relevant cliche. (The stadium is a lot fuller now).

6.41pm BST

Just to let you know that things will get under way from 7pm (BST) and Matt Bush (taekwondo) and Poppy Maskill (swimming) have been named as the ParalympicsGB flagbearers for the closing ceremony. A very proud moment for them and their families.

Here’s a reminder of exactly how the final medal table looks/looked. Nearly 100 golds for China is astonishing. They rule the roost when it comes to the Paralympics.

6.26pm BST

Some stunning images, here. Check our gallery from the 11th and final day of the Paris Paralympics.

6.15pm BST

Favourite moment of these Games? Dame Sarah Storey’s incredible sprint finish, at the age of 46, to claim a 19th Paralympic gold, gets the award for me. Other options are available.

6.10pm BST

How about this, then? A fine performance from the Great Britain team; more golds and more total medals than they earned in Tokyo.

6.00pm BST

Preamble

Hello, good evening and welcome to this live blog, as the curtain comes down on a thoroughly entertaining Paralympic Games. After 12 days in Tokyo three years ago, the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games have taken place over 11 densely-packed days, meaning we were never short of action. The crowds have been strong in Paris, the viewing figures (in the UK, anyway) have been very healthy indeed and the Paras continue to go from strength to strength.

Tonight will be all about handing over the baton to Los Angeles as they take their turn as hosts in 2028: whether we get Snoop Dogg, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Tom Cruise et al like we did for the Olympics closing ceremony last month remains to be seen. I’m sure we’ll get plenty of sparkle, glitz and glamour, plus the usual pomp and circumstance which is de rigueur with these ceremonies.

The closing ceremony will begin at 7pm BST, so do stay tuned. And feel free to drop me an email with your general thoughts on the past 11 days. For now, though, enjoy the Guardian’s main editorial on the Paris Paralympic Games as a whole.