TThe competitive spirit in the city of love continues as the Paralympic Games kick off on Wednesday. More than 4,000 athletes from 184 countries will compete in the 11-day sporting event in Paris.

“This ceremony in the heart of the city is a powerful symbol of our ambition to benefit from the very first Paralympic Games in our country and to put the issue of disability inclusion at the heart of our society,” said Tony Estanguet, President of the Paris 2024 Organising Committee.

The Paralympic Games originally began in 1948 as the Stoke Mandeville Games in London, but became what they are today in 1960, when 400 athletes gathered in Rome to compete against each other.

This year, the opening ceremony will take place on the Champs-Élysées, a main street in Paris, as the athletes walk to the Place de la Concorde in front of a crowd of enthusiasts.

This is what you need to know about the Paralympic Games.

How to watch the Paralympic Games

Viewers can watch the Paralympics on Peacock, which will cover the event live. NBC will have three time slots to show highlights of the Games on August 30 at 9 p.m. Eastern, September 1 at 7 p.m. Eastern, and September 6 at 9 p.m. USA Network will also air several events, starting with Para swimming, wheelchair basketball, wheelchair rugby, and more, on Thursday.

People can also watch the Games on the official Paralympic Games YouTube channel.

When are the opening and closing ceremonies?

The opening ceremony will take place on Wednesday at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

The closing ceremony, scheduled for Sept. 8 at the Stade de France, will feature more than 20 of France’s biggest electro artists. The three-hour party begins at 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time and will include a parade and the passing of the flag from Paris to Los Angeles, where the next Summer Paralympics will be held in 2028.

Who are the athletes?

About 4,400 athletes will compete in the Paralympic Games this summer. Team USA will have 225 athletes, including the women’s wheelchair basketball team, which won gold at the 2023 Santiago Parapan American Games. Jessica Long, who has won 29 Paralympic medals, and Tatyana McFadden, who could become the most decorated U.S. Paralympic athlete, will also compete this year. The men’s wheelchair basketball team will also try to defend its title and win its third gold medal.

Paralympic events differ from the Olympic Games in that athletes participating in each sporting event must have a similar disability. In order to assess the impact of their disability, medical and technical experts must evaluate the impact on their disability.

For example, for athletes competing in Para-badminton there is category WH1, for athletes who use a wheelchair with ‘severely limited leg and trunk function’, SL3, for athletes who can compete while standing but also have lower limb limitations and balance problems when walking and running, and more.

Are there still tickets available?

Tickets for the Paralympics are still on sale. There is also an official resale site here. There are also some deals where people can buy 2 child tickets for €10 when you buy 2 standard tickets. There is also the Pass Découverte, which allows fans to watch multiple Paralympic sports in one day for €24.

What sporting events are there?

Athletes can win a medal in one of 22 sports, including paracanoeing, wheelchair basketball, wheelchair fencing, paraarchery, parapowerlifting and many more.

There are two sports, boccia and goalball, that do not have a similar event at the Olympics. Goalball, invented in 1946, is a sport originally created to help blind war veterans rehabilitate. It is still played exclusively by athletes with visual impairments. Boccia, on the other hand, is played by athletes with motor disabilities. To play, athletes must throw balls at a white target ball, or “jack.” To win, they must get as many balls as possible near the jack.