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Paralympic torch reaches Paris via the Eurotunnel
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Paralympic torch reaches Paris via the Eurotunnel

Image from the opening of the Olympic Games in Paris, showing the great burning cauldron and the Eiffel Tower in the background.

The torch relay ends in the Paris cauldron, as at the Olympic Games (Getty Images)

In the run-up to the 2024 Summer Paralympics, the torch will be transported across the sea through the Eurotunnel on Sunday.

After being lit in Stoke Mandeville, the birthplace of the Paralympic movement, the flame begins its journey to Paris to mark the start of the Games.

In the relay, 24 British athletes will run through the tunnel from Folkestone and will be joined halfway by 24 French athletes who will hand them the flame.

When it arrives on the French coast in Calais, the flame is divided into twelve individual flames that begin their journey across France.

Helene Raynsford from Guildford Rowing Club lit the Paralympic flame together with Gregor Ewan.

Ms Raynsford was the first Paralympic champion in para-rowing when the sport made its debut in Beijing in 2008, while Mr Ewan is a three-time Paralympic competitor in wheelchair curling.

Among other places, the Flames will visit Lyon, which will host 11 football matches during the Games, and Lorient, home of two-time Paralympic sailing gold medalist Damien Seguin.

The cauldron in Paris will be lit when all 12 flames return to the city on August 28, followed by 11 days of competition.

The Games will run until September 8 and will feature over 4,000 athletes from around the world competing for medals in 549 events in 22 sports.

Stoke Mandeville is the permanent lighting point for all Paralympic torches, just as the Olympic flame is lit in Olympia, Greece.

In 1948, Sir Ludwig Guttmann organized the Stoke Mandeville Games, a competition for wheelchair athletes that took place on the same day as the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in London.

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