Milan Cortina Paralympics Opening Ceremony

After a stunning Olympics Closing Ceremony, the Amphitheatre in Verona played host for the Paralympics Opening Ceremony.  The Ceremony opened with a montage about Vibes and a trio drumming performance before centre stage saw a mix of dancers both abled and disabled. An acrobatic sequence from a beating heart to a countdown from 10 followed and then a blade of light to symbolise the journey of the Paralympic movement into the future.

The Italian flag was carried into the arena and then hoisted with a superb rendition of the Italian National anthem. Next up was a journey through the 50 years of Paralympic Games dating back to the origin in Sto
ke Mandeville. This was followed by the Parade of Athletes with an electro dance musical background with a change from the Olympics being a mix of flagbearers and athletes for each nation. 

However. some also had athletes shown from the Paralympic Village and GB due to having representatives in Cortina on Day 1, didn't feature in the Verona parade but had the flagbearers of Scott Meenagh and Menna Fitzpatrick featuring in the parade. 

The next staging was the forming of the three Agitos in Red, Green and Blue before a montage on the theme of Spaces and a superb vision of this with a symbolic door in overcoming barriers in disability sport. This was followed by a nod to Optical Art and a focus on the concept of disability which was a visual spectacle as shown in the adjacent image. 

Next up was a truly unique dancing performance with a deaf performer dancing to the vibrations of the accompanying string quartet and this led to the traditional speeches from Andrew Parsons (IPC President) and Giovanni Malago (President of the Milan Cortina Organising Committee.) The official opening of the games was read out by Italian President Sergio Mattarella. 

The next theme of the Ceremony was Love with a performance tributing the story of Romeo and Juliet before the Paralympic Flag was carried into the arena which was hoisted while accompanied by a rendition of the Paralympic anthem with a slight interpretation from the traditional rendition. Then the Paralympic Flame was carried into the arena and then spread between a group of performers via WIFI enabled gloves. 

Alike the Olympics, two cauldrons were alighted in both Milan and Cortina as illustrated in the images and a feature from the International Space Station and speech from Wheelchair astronaut Michaela Benthaus which was a superb message of hope and unity.