2024 Paralympic Games Flame Officially Lit
The Paralympic Flame was officially lit in Stoke Mandeville, the birthplace of the Paralympic Movement, on Saturday [August 24], just five days before the start of the seventeenth Paralympic Games.
The ceremony took place in Stoke Mandeville, a town in Buckinghamshire, England, where the Paralympic Movement was born.
The event was attended by British Paralympians Helene Raynsford and Gregor Ewan who, in the presence of Paris 2024 president Tony Estanguet, lit the flame that will travel across France in the coming days.
Bermuda will be represented by Jessica Lewis in athletics [T53 100 and 400 metres] and Yushae DeSilva-Andrade in Boccia [women's individual BC1] at the Paris Games, which start on Wednesday.
Raynsford highlighted the significance of the moment: “There are no words to describe the honour of being chosen to light the Paralympic Flame alongside Gregor in the birthplace of the Paralympic Movement. It is a very special moment ahead of a spectacular Paralympic Games”.
Ewan emphasised the symbolic importance of Stoke Mandeville in the Paralympic Movement: “Stoke Mandeville is an integral part of the fabric of the Paralympic Movement and I am delighted to have been chosen for this special occasion”.
The President of the International Paralympic Committee [IPC], Andrew Parsons, was the first torchbearer of the Paralympic Flame and started the relay on the athletics track at Stoke Mandeville.
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