Paris 2024 Paralympics Opening Ceremony: Madison de Rozario ...

The Paris 2024 Paralympics will officially kick off with an Opening Ceremony on Thursday.

The Paris 2024 Paralympics Opening Ceremony at the Place de la Concorde and the Champs-Elysees will start at 4:00 AM AEST. Live streaming and broadcast will be available in Australia.

At Paris 2024, Australia will be represented by 158 athletes, including 61 debutants, co-captained by Angela Ballard and Curtis McGrath. Madison de Rozario and Brenden Hall, the Order of Australia recipients, will be the country’s flag-bearers.

Track and field star Madison de Rozario has won six medals - two gold, three silver and one bronze - at the Paralympics. Both her gold medals (800m T53 and marathon T54) came at the Tokyo Paralympic Games three years ago.

Meanwhile, Brenden Hall won 400m freestyle S9 Paralympic titles at London 2012 and Rio 2016 Games. He was also part of Australia's 4x100m freestyle team that won the gold medal at London 2012.

At the Paralympic Games, Australia have won 1,205 medals, 80 of which came from the 179-member contingent at the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games.

Paris, meanwhile, will host the Paralympics for the first time. Like the mesmerising show for the Paris 2024 Olympics, the Paralympics Opening Ceremony will also showcase a unique celebration.

Around 65,000 spectators are expected to witness the Paris 2024 Paralympics Opening Ceremony from the venue.

Thomas Jolly, a renowned French theatre director and actor, is the artistic director for the ceremonies.

The Opening Ceremony will begin at the Champs-Elysées, a monument that embodies French grandeur, with a parade that will see 4,400 Paralympians from 184 delegations take part.

The official parade will march on to the Place de la Concorde, an iconic square that represents the philosophical, literary and cultural legacy of Paris. Here the athletes and spectators will be graced with artistic performances.

The theme for the Paralympics Opening Ceremony will revolve around the idea of inclusion, to cast aside the traditional ways disabilities are looked at and modify them to build an inclusive society.

"This ceremony at the heart of the city is a strong symbol illustrating our ambition to capitalise on our country hosting its first-ever Paralympic Games to position the issue of inclusion for people with disabilities at the heart of our society," said Tony Estanguet, the president of the Paris 2024 organising committee.

The Paris 2024 Paralympics Opening Ceremony starts at 4:00 AM Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST) on Thursday, August 29.

Live streaming of the Paris 2024 Paralympics Opening Ceremony in Australia will be available on 9Now and Stan. The Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony will be broadcast live on the Network Nine TV channels in Australia.