'We don't want the party to end' – Paralympics president

If the Olympics brought joy to Paris, here's some more good news: the party isn't over.

The Paralympics run from Wednesday August 28 to Sunday September 8 – and they'll bring yet more fun and amazing sporting stories. So says Andrew Parsons, the president of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). 

"Here in Paris, the level of excitement around the Paralympics is really high," Parsons tells CGTN. "We had a very successful Olympic Games here – the atmosphere was incredible, not only inside the venues, but throughout the city – and I think the feeling right now is that we don't want the party to come to an end."

While the Paralympics follow on from the Olympics, Parsons is keen to play down comparisons. 

"We would like people to really experience the Paralympics, understand our sports and get to know our athletes, without comparing with other sport events," he says. "Of course, when you're part of the same event – which is Paris 2024, most of the venues are the same – there is a tendency to compare. 

"What we want is that people who have never experienced the Paralympic Games before, they will understand why this is the third-largest sport event on the planet. Above all, we have a very strong sense of purpose in our movement. We are a sport movement, but a movement that changes the lives of 1.3 billion persons on a daily basis. It's this combination of excitement with purpose that makes our movement so special."

A key feature of hosting the Paralympics is making the city accessible not just to athletes but also spectators – and while transforming the venerable old city of Paris hasn't always been easy, Parsons applauds the efforts made.  

"The city really understood the challenges of organizing the Paralympics, but also they understood the opportunities," he says. "If you compare where Paris is now and where they were in terms of accessibility seven years ago when they were elected to host the Games, it's absolutely a revolution when it comes to accessibility. 

"We do understand there are some frustrations, for example with the Metro system that was not made accessible [for] the Games. But if you think that now Paris has 100 percent of its bus fleet accessible, it's incredible to think that that was not the case seven years ago."

Comparisons to London

France and Britain have spent centuries comparing against each other, but there's an particularly interesting dynamic at play here. London 2012 was widely acknowledged to have taken the Paralympics to a new level; can Paris raise the game again? As befits his international role, Parsons is diplomatic.

"By some metrics, other Games could be considered more successful than London – but overall London is still the benchmark," he agrees. "It took the Paralympic movement to its next level of development, of relevance, of knowledge around the world. 

"What we have been doing since London is try to build on the success of those games to guarantee a long-term development of the Paralympic movement – from a sport development, from a commercial development. 

"For example, here in Paris, we will have more countries than ever before watching the games on TV across more than 165 countries and territories. It's the first time ever that we have had to implement quotas for media representatives at the Paralympic Games."

The coverage will show amazing athletes with astonishing back stories – but Parsons is keen for spectators to see the sport, not the disability. 

"Sport shows the potential of the individuals," he says. "The invitation here at the Paralympic Games is to ask the spectators and viewers around the world to see beyond the disability, to not see an amputee – to see first the athlete, then the human being."

Parsons is proud that the Paralympics are a vital platform to promote the understanding of, and provisions for, people with disabilities. But he's also well aware that improving infrastructure worldwide is a complicated, and ongoing, process.

"The reality is different in different parts of the world, and it depends on your country, depends on the legislation, it depends on multiple factors," he says. "What we provide is the platform – the opportunity every two years with the Summer and Winter Games, and then it's up to the societies in each and every nation to use that opportunity, to maximize its effects, its impact."

Subscribe to Storyboard: A weekly newsletter bringing you the best of CGTN every Friday