Together. Paralympics kicked off in Sochi

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

The XI Winter Paralympic Games successfully kicked off in Sochi the day before. At the Fisht stadium, 150 Paralympians appeared, helped by several thousand volunteers. The games, in which athletes from 45 countries will take part, will last until March 16.

The opening ceremony of the Paralympics was named "Breaking the Ice". During the theatrical performance, more than 500 young ballerinas circled the arena, gathering in patterns of snowflakes. Then 12 acrobats appeared, who moved in large transparent spheres with a diameter of almost five meters, at the same time with them ten more hovered in the air.

After that, the traditional parade of athletes took place. The teams appeared at the stadium in the order of the Russian alphabet, with the exception of the Russian team, which closed the procession as a representative of the host side. After the parade, at the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games in Sochi, the song "Together" was performed by the wheelchair singer Yulia Samoilova. The whole scene was in the atmosphere of the northern lights - the main theme of the episode.

Finally, the "ice of misunderstanding" between people, according to the director's idea, was broken by the icebreaker "Mir". From the bow of the ship, opera singer Maria Guleghina sang Mikhail Lermontov's Cossack Lullaby. And hundreds of little "pieces of ice" gave their all in the word "together."

The Paralympics flame was delivered to the stadium by the four-time Paralympic champion in athletics Alexey Ashapatov. And swimmer Olesya Vladykina and skier Sergei Shilov lit it. The flag was raised and Vladimir Putin declared the Games open.

As the media remind, the previous Paralympics were held in 2010 in Vancouver, Canada. The winner of the unofficial team event was the German national team with 13 gold medals; Russia, which won one less award of the highest dignity, took second place.