(disponible en anglais seulement)
Opening Ceremonies
Young people audition to take part in the Opening Ceremony
The Opening Ceremony is a celebration showcasing the best of the Host Nation. It also features a parade of all competing nations and the highly anticipated entrance of the Paralympic Flame, which ignites the Cauldron and signals the start of the Games.
The London 2012 Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony will include more than 3,000 adult volunteers, a children volunteer cast of over 100, and 100-plus professionals. In a groundbreaking, inclusive staging, the Ceremony will showcase the excellence of deaf and disabled artists and will open with a fly past by Aerobility, a British charity that trains disabled people to become pilots.
Called ‘Enlightenment’, Co-Artistic Directors Jenny Sealey and Bradley Hemmings promise a spectacular celebration of the inspirational spirit of the Paralympic Games that challenges perceptions of human possibility. Fifty specialist performers are also taking part in an eight-week circus skills training programme at Circus Space in Hackney ahead of the Opening Ceremony.
Parade of Athletes
After the Host Nation's flag has been raised and the national anthem played, the spectacular Parade of Athletes will begin. Teams enter in alphabetical order, according to the language of the Host Country, apart from the team of the Host Nation (in this case ParalympicsGB), who march in last.
Speeches
Once all the nations have arrived into the Stadium, LOCOG Chair Seb Coe and President of the IPC Sir Philip Craven will address the audience. The Games will then be declared open.
Paralympic Anthem and Flag
Once the Games have been declared open, the Paralympic Flag is carried into the Stadium and hoisted into the air as the Anthem is played. The Paralympic Flag features three 'agitos' (Latin for 'I move') in red, blue and green – the colours most represented in national flags around the world.
Oaths
A participating athlete and judge from the Host Nation stand on the rostrum and, holding a corner of the IPC flag in their left hand and raising their right, take the Oath, vowing to compete and judge according to the rules of their respective sport.
The Torch and Cauldron
The big finale is the entrance of the Paralympic Flame into the Stadium. It is passed to the final Torchbearer, who will ceremoniously light the Cauldron, indicating the beginning of the Games. The Flame will continue to burn for the whole of the Games.