The 100m of the T34 wheelchair race, at the Charléty stadium, in Paris, July 13, 2024. JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP
If the Charléty stadium (20,000 seats) has sometimes seemed to ring hollow, the organizers of the world para-athletics were pleased, Monday, July 17, to have exceeded 100,000 entries in ten days of competition. A record for a disabled sport competition (since the London Worlds in 2017) and an encouraging sign one year from the Paralympic Games in Paris (from August 28 to September 8, 2024). “Some will say it’s not a lot, but for us, 10,000 to 12,000 daily spectators: it’s huge. We are very proud of it”underlines Guislaine Westelynck, president of the French Handisport Federation.
The international competition acted as a dress rehearsal for the high mass of world sport, with a triple objective: to acculturate the general French public to disabled sport, to establish high standards of reception and to run a paying ticket office, with places between 10 and 20 euros. Operation accomplished on all levels for the organization, despite some trial and error.
To prepare the ground for the Paralympic Games, 1.2 million euros had been allocated for the organization of festive events. On the program: ten musical sessions by international artists were to motivate the crowds to push the door of the stadium. If the crackling sound of the DJs on the Charléty speakers left people rather indifferent, Yannick Noah’s concert – combined with a dense sports day – brought in a record number of spectators. Ticketing and development strategies are closely scrutinized by the Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Cojop), which will have to fill the 80,000 places at the Stade de France in the summer of 2024.
“There are still things to settle before the Games”
« In all, we published 125,000 tickets for a real of just over 105,000 visitors. Half of the invitations [gratuites] have been used “, welcomes Adrien Balduzzi, the director of operations of the world championships. The sports village has also filled up: “We did not expect to receive so many people. More than 15,000 people have tried boccia [un sport de boules] or parabasketball, explains Eloïne Guéry, head of the disability awareness village. Even more encouraging, associations have come to ask us for advice on setting up these activities in their homes. » The objective was also to set in motion all the additional service providers: airports, hoteliers and even the RATP were thus on the test bench.
While, on the whole, the reception conditions were unanimously welcomed by the delegations, “a few bad surprises” peppered the sequence. “It allowed us to see that there were still a lot of things to settle between now and the Games, where the flows will be even more massive. Airports, for example, had to adapt to deal with a volume of para-sports equipment that did not always correspond to that estimated. As for the 32 hotels mobilized, they sometimes had to readapt the rooms to make them accessible”, evokes Adrien Balduzzi. Another downside, transport has been a headache (lack of vehicles for the transport of people with reduced mobility, poor coordination with the delegations): “It held, but it was complicated”adds the manager.
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The Charléty stadium also offered several innovations for the public. While audio description has been highly appreciated in terms of use and notoriety, other initiatives have proven to be too costly for the Games, such as virtual reality headsets estimated at 16,000 euros each. The championship budget – 17 million euros – showed a deficit of 70,000 euros. A “anecdotal sum”, believes the organization, which welcomed performance indicators “more than positive”. Now it’s the turn of the Phryges, the mascots of the Paris Games, passing through Charléty, to take over. In 2024, 4,400 para-athletes will cross swords to adorn themselves with gold in the City of Light.