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.
About that DJ set. It could and probably should have been shown on TV for a little longer, in this journalist’s humble opinion.
Perhaps it wouldn’t make for the best TV but the DJ set at the closing ceremony is pretty stunning! pic.twitter.com/X5mqPyPtza
— Krishnan Guru-Murthy (@krishgm) September 8, 2024
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.
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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.
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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!
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.
The Stade de France now resembles Warehouse Project. Can someone check if Krishnan Guru-Murthy is dancing? Pretty much everyone is!
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Over to you, LA.
Paris 🤝 Los Angeles
— Paralympic Games (@Paralympics) September 8, 2024
We'll see you in four years, @la28!#Paris2024 | #LA2028 | #Paralympics pic.twitter.com/PlinxaN2Lj
Back in the Stade de France, the DJs are powering up. It’s an odyssey to French electronic music, led by Jean-Michel Jarre.
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.
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.
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USA Paralympic sprinter Blake Leeper now has the flag in hand as the American national anthem booms out.
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.”
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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.
Going to miss La Phryges so much. Easily the best Olympic and Paralympic mascot of all time. pic.twitter.com/DM4TdeLhed
— Scott Bryan (@scottygb) September 8, 2024
The six new members of the International Paralympic Committee are being introduced to the crowd.
I won’t bore you with every word of the speeches. Suffice to say, they were rousing.
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.
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.
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What an opener 🌟 #Paralympics | #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/nGDncl0Ut4
— Paralympic Games (@Paralympics) September 8, 2024
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.
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.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
On a complete sidenote, does Clare Balding ever have a day off? Her work rate is astonishing.
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!
Merci, Paris.
THANK YOU PARIS! 💙🤍❤️
— Paralympic Games (@Paralympics) September 8, 2024
With Paris 2024 drawing to a close, some of our Paralympic community wanted to say a few words to Paris and its people to say 'MERCI!'!#Paralympics | #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/dG9zbTVGiy
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.
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.
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.
Stage set, calm before storm, insert relevant cliche. (The stadium is a lot fuller now).
The stage is set for the Paralympic closing ceremony ✨
— Paris 2024 (@Paris2024) September 8, 2024
📸 Paris 2024 pic.twitter.com/oGct1ccggk
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.
Some stunning images, here. Check our gallery from the 11th and final day of the Paris Paralympics.
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.
“We should be able to see everyone for who they are and not for who we think they are.” – Birgit Skarstein sums it up perfectly as the @Paralympics come to an end. 🔥
— Rising Phoenix (@risingphxglobal) September 8, 2024
What were your favourite moments from Paris 2024? Let us know ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/xP7Yy6nCYr
How about this, then? A fine performance from the Great Britain team; more golds and more total medals than they earned in Tokyo.
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.
