Aiming For A Record, Paris Targets To Sell 3 Million Paralympic Tickets In 2024

Paralympics Illustration (Twitter @paris2024)

JAKARTA - Organizers of the 2024 Paralympics have set a target of selling three million tickets for the event which is expected to help raise awareness around disability and promote a more inclusive society.

If tickets for the Paris 2024 Paralympics, which are scheduled to take place from August 28 to September 8, are sold out, the Games will break the 2012 London Olympics record when 2.7 million tickets were sold.

"There are three million tickets for sale. We are very ambitious in terms of tickets for the Olympics and Paralympics," said Tony Estanguet, head of the Paris Olympic and Paralympic organizing committee.

"I know very well that this is a little-known event that I have to place in the top three sporting tournaments in the world. Ticket sales will have the same approach as the Olympics. We want everything to sell out and be a good experience."

Estanguet said about nine million tickets would be sold for the Olympics, which will take place from July 6 to August 11. According to him, the difference between the two events is only in the sport and the arena.

"For example, there is no football stadium at the Paralympics," said Estanguet.

The French Olympic and Paralympic teams have become a unit to promote athletes with disabilities.

"We have to educate people, it's our mission. Paralympic rights holders need to work on that ahead of the Olympics, that's part of what we ask for," said Estanguet, a three-time Olympic canoe champion.

In 2020, some 200 Paralympic and Olympic athletes visited more than 3,000 schools in France to share experiences with more than 500,000 students.

"Disability is a bit of a taboo, but when you see an athlete like Theo Curin, whose arm and leg have been amputated, share with children what he's been doing, it puts them at ease," says Estanguet.

"This is the model we want for our society -- more inclusive and inspiring."

"We also want to develop the Paralympic sport in France. We are holding a project with our own money to help this development. We want to shake things up."