A three-hour sound and light extravaganza highlighting social contradictions involving 4,400 competitors from 160 countries will launch the 17th Paralympic Games on Wednesday night on the Champs Elysées and Place de la Concorde in central Paris.
An estimated worldwide TV audience of 300 million people will watch the launch show for the first Paralympic Games in Paris since their inception in Rome in 1960 and the first to take place away from the main Olympic stadium.
