WATCH | Mhlongo, Swanepoel open show for Team SA at Paris Paralympics

Let the Games begin. The 2024 Paris Paralympics were officially declared open on Wednesday night.

The opening ceremony was focused on the Place de la Concorde, with the first of the 549 gold medals to be awarded on Thursday. Team SA has three codes in action on the opening day of action: archery, swimming and boccia.

The city, which has just come off a successful staging of the Olympics, will play host to 4,400 Paralympic athletes from 184 delegations as they celebrate the commencement of 11 days of competition.

Athlete Mpumelelo Mhlongo and swimmer Kat Swanepoel were joint flag-bearers for Team South Africa as the waiting — for them and for millions of observers around the world — finally came to an end.

The ceremony again took place outside the confines of a stadium, with athletes parading down the famous Champs-Elysées, culminating in a celebration and official opening of the Paralympic Games at the iconic Place de la Concorde in front of thousands of spectators.

The artistic director for the ceremonies at the Olympics and Paralympics, Thomas Jolly, said the spectacle “showcased the Paralympic athletes and the values that they embody”. He described the concept as “first and foremost a magnificent source of inspiration”.

As with the Olympics, South Africa jumped to near the front of the list of parading nations, behind Afghanistan, because its name in French is Afrique du Sud. They therefore slotted in ahead of Algeria, Germany, Angola, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba and Austria.

WHO TO WATCH: Team SA in action on Thursday

Team SA’s Paralympics programme on Thursday sees three sports in the limelight – archery, para-swimming and the new code of boccia.

In the archery, now three-time Paralympian Shaun Anderson is involved in the men’s individual ranking, before both boccia competitors Karabo Morapedi and Elanza Jordaan make their Paralympic debuts.

Swimming sees Nathan Hendricks take to the water as a potential finalist in the men’s 100m butterfly S13, depending on the outcome of his morning heats.

ARCHERY

Men’s W1 individual ranking round (9am): Shaun Anderson is one of 17 para-archers in action

BOCCIA

Men’s individual, BC3, Preliminary Pool A (2pm): Korabo Morapedi vs Daniel Michel (Aus)

Women’s individual, BC3, Preliminary Pool B (8pm): Elanza Jordaan vs Kei Yuen Ho (Kong Kong)

SWIMMING

Men’s 100m butterfly, S13 heats (11.03am): Nathan Hendricks is in the first of two heats. The fastest 8 qualifiers from the heats go to the final

Men’s 100m butterfly, S13 final: Nathan Hendricks TBD

Team SA media/Sascoc