00:00DWS correspondent Rosie Burchard told us more about the atmosphere at that opening ceremony.
00:05There is a real buzz about Paris as the City of Light welcomes the Paralympic torch.
00:11We saw thousands of Paralympians parading down the Champs-Élysées, that famous Paris
00:16street, representing more than 160 delegations.
00:21And already on Thursday, the first medals are up for grabs in sports including para-taekwondo,
00:27para-table tennis and para-swimming.
00:29Now, the arrival of this Paralympic torch, the beginning of the Games, is also putting
00:35a spotlight on the question of accessibility in Paris and in fact the mastermind behind
00:40the opening ceremony said for him it was also all about the idea of paradox, this idea that
00:45Paris, as a city, is hosting the Paralympic Games.
00:49It's put plenty of funding into trying to adapt to make the city more accessible but
00:54key things like the metro still really remain out of reach, especially for anyone with any
00:59sort of reduced mobility.
01:01Now, there are still tickets on sale for the Paralympics, there have been about two million
01:07of them sold so far and still about 500,000 to go.
01:11They're going for as little as 15 euros or less than 17 US dollars.
01:15Some of them will be going to school kids because it's right ready to go into back-to-school
01:19season now here in France and it would usually be also the season for a new political cycle.
01:26However, there is a political impasse rumbling on here in France after snap elections last
01:32month produced no clear winner and there's a real danger that to some extent that kind
01:37of political crisis could distract from these Games.
01:41You can be sure that President Emmanuel Macron will be trying to keep the focus on the sport
01:45and letting the Paralympics begin.
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