Should Paris become the host city for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, the Opening Ceremony will be held on August 29 and the Closing Ceremony on September 9, 2012.
In order to learn more about the event, a team of leading officials from Paris 2012, headed by Jean Francois Lamour, French Minister of Sport, Youth and Associations, is returning to Athens for the Paralympic Games.
Lamour believes that the 2012 Paralympic Games would leave a lasting and priceless legacy to the whole country.
He said, “we hope that the Paris 2012 team is able to learn as much as possible from the Athens 2004 Paralympics in order to ensure that the Paris 2012 Paralympics would be the best yet”.
The Paralympic Village will be located in the Batignolles Quarter of Paris and will host athletes, their staff and trainers, judges and umpires from the International Federations.
It will be divided into three areas – one set aside to accommodate more than 8,000 beds, some of which can be accessed by people in wheelchairs; an international area containing the administrative services, catering reception rooms, press rooms, places of prayer, stores and many entertainment areas; and an area set aside to accommodate the umpires – (1,000 beds independent from the athletes’ area).
The urban and architectural concept on which the village is based gives priority to accessibility and allows those in wheelchairs to move around freely. Special fittings will help the visually or intellectually impaired to find their way and move around more easily.
The services set up for the Olympic Games – security, catering healthcare, etc. – will be maintained for the Paralympic Games.
A repair and maintenance centre for orthopaedic equipment, artificial limbs and wheelchairs will be open to the Paralympic Family.
Meanwhile, Madrid’s plans for the 2012 Paralympics, should it become the host city of the 2012 Summer Games, include eliminating architectural barriers in the city and the Olympic facilities, making it easier for the disabled to take part, and creating comfortable and easy access to facilities and services, both for competitors and for spectators.
Access will be improved for competition, training, housing, services, transport, recreation and health.
Madrid’s Paralympic Games would be held from the 12th to the 23rd of September 2012 in the same venue used for the 2012 Olympic Games.
