PARIS– While Paris is in the global spotlight for the Olympic Games, technological innovations are allowing visually impaired people to experience the city.

Each Olympic venue is a mosaic of unique stories, from the athletes to the spectators. Even before the Paralympics begin later this month, Paris 2024 organizers are striving to make the Olympics more accessible.

“For these Games, we wanted to listen carefully to the ecosystem of people with disabilities,” said Ludivine Munos, a former Paralympic medalist in swimming who is responsible for accessibility integration on the Organizing Committee of the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris.

“Our goal is to provide an experience with as few barriers as possible. People with disabilities have special needs and sometimes find it difficult to understand what is happening on the field,” she said.

A standout innovation is the Vision Pad, a tactile tablet that provides another level of interaction for the visually impaired. It features a moving magnetic ball that represents the ball in play on a court or field. Users slide their fingers across the tablet to track the ball’s movement.

With an entire basketball court within reach, Olympic enthusiast Zoé Thierry described her first experience with the pad at the Bercy Arena during the Greece-Germany quarter-final on Tuesday: “This time we are really immersed in the action, we can really follow the ball.”

“In addition to the great atmosphere, of course, because I could always feel that. But it’s a great addition to the game,” she adds.

A total of 45 tablets are available, which can currently only cover ball games. At the Olympic Games it is used for basketball, football and rugby, and at the Paralympics for four sports. “It would be good if we had it for individual sports too,” said Thierry.

Other new technologies are also geared towards the visually impaired. An app helps the visually impaired find their seat on the train. Another example is the Low-Vision Helmet, which allows users to zoom in on an athlete, race or action. Visually impaired people wear it on their eyes like a VR headset. It is connected to the broadcast feed from the venues, allowing users to switch between live action and television coverage, Munos explains.

In France’s largest stadium, the Stade de France – where the thrill is greatest but the athletes look smallest – the low-vision helmet comes into its own.

French visitor Florian Trichaud, who is visually impaired and considers sport his “drug”, wore the helmet on Thursday at an athletics final at the Stade de France. A huge football fan, he normally likes to go to sporting events “just for the atmosphere and the fan culture”.

“This headset allowed me to experience things visually. It’s hard to realize, but being able to see the elements and feel included makes a real difference for us,” he said.

However, Trichaud noted a few limitations: “The resolution still needs improvement and the headset can be quite tiring for the eyes.”

The products were developed by companies such as GiveVision, Touch2See and Ezymob, who worked with the Paris 2024 Organising Committee to introduce the technologies in the Olympic area.

Another important technology for visually impaired people is audio description.

“The goal is to describe everything that happens in the stadium in every detail – movement, atmosphere, colors, action,” said Adrien Izard-Le Calvé, a French audio describer.

Sitting next to his colleague Joana Wexsteen, the two are the eyes of the Stade de France. Audio description is covering around 15 sports at the Paris Olympics. While the technology was available at the opening and closing ceremonies of the Tokyo 2021 Olympics, this is the first time it will be used at Olympic sporting events, she said.

“Being able to help people with visual impairments is incredible. What we are witnessing is extraordinary and it is crucial to help these people feel as included as everyone else,” Wexsteen said.

Those with visual impairments can connect to the audio description of the “Paris2024 Olympics” app and follow the game through headphones.

Organizers made an effort to inform people about the availability of the technology and to facilitate access to it, “sending emails and communicating with all ticket holders, including people with disabilities, to inform them of everything that is available during the games,” Munos said.

There is still a lot of work to be done to ensure that everyone can enjoy the spectacle of buzzer beaters, 6.25-meter pole vaults, aces, knockouts, sprints and butterfly swimming, but Paris organizers are trying to set a precedent for inclusivity and accessibility at major sporting events.

“I think it’s vital for the legacy to continue in future games. One of the biggest disappointments would be if we made progress in these games only to fall back again afterwards,” Wexsteen says.

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For more coverage of the Paris Olympics, visit https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games.