STORY: Paris 2024 Paralympic flame lit in Stoke Mandeville, Britain
SHOOTING TIME: Aug. 24, 2024
DATELINE: Aug. 25, 2024
LENGTH: 00:02:12
LOCATION: London
CATEGORY: SPORTS

SHOTLIST:
1. various of torch-lighting ceremony for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games in Stoke Mandeville, Britain
2. various of Andrew Parsons, president of the International Paralympic Committee and Tony Estanguet, president of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Organizing Committee showing the flame lantern
3. various of National Paralympic Heritage Center in Stoke Mandeville

STORYLINE:

The Paralympic flame for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games was lit on Saturday in Stoke Mandeville, the British town where the Paralympic Movement was born.

During an hour-long event organized by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), ParalympicsGB and WheelPower, British paralympians Helene Raynsford and Gregor Ewan lit the Paralympic Flame in front of 250 invited guests.

Following the lighting of the Paralympic flame, IPC President Andrew Parsons became the first torchbearer of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games torch relay when he ran a short circuit on the Stoke Mandeville athletics track. 

Parsons then handed the torch to Tony Estanguet, president of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Organizing Committee.

The 2024 Paralympic torch relay will begin in earnest on Sunday. The flame will pass through the Channel Tunnel, which connects the UK with France. 

Twenty-four British torchbearers will embark on the journey through the tunnel. At the tunnel's halfway point, the Brits will hand over the flame to 24 French torchbearers who will carry the Paralympic flame into France.

When the Paralympic flame arrives in Calais, it will multiply into 12 separate flames symbolizing the 12-day duration of France's first Paralympic Games. These flames will be taken to the outskirts of France before no fewer than 1,200 forerunners take part in 12 simultaneous relays across about 50 towns.

The relays will converge in Paris on August 28, where the Paralympic Cauldron will be lit at the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from London.
(XHTV)