First medals up for grabs as Paralympics gets underway
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00:00It is the first day of the Paralympic Games here in Paris, after last night's opening ceremony in the heart of the capital.
00:08Medals are already up for grabs today in the track cycling, the swimming, table tennis and in taekwondo.
00:14Over 4,000 competitors representing over 160 countries are to take part.
00:21And let's kick off our coverage this afternoon by talking to our sports reporter James Vecina.
00:26He is at Porte de Versailles this afternoon. That's where the goalball competition is getting underway.
00:33James, good to speak to you today. I know this is one of the sports that's unique to the Paralympics. Tell us a bit about it.
00:42It is, Nadja. There's actually 22 sports within the Paralympics.
00:46Most of them are pretty much the same or equivalent of what we've been seeing over the last few weeks,
00:51whether that's tennis, whether it's the equestrian or plenty of other sports in athletics.
00:56So pretty much the same, but just adapted. But there are two exceptions to that.
01:00And one of those exceptions is indeed goalball. Goalball that is exclusive then to the Paralympics.
01:06Now, what the aim is, is that on the field inside the stadium here in the south of Paris, you have two teams going head to head.
01:13And the aim is quite simply to roll the ball and to throw it into the opponent's goal.
01:18The goal, which is pretty wide, but it's made tough by blindfolding every single opponent.
01:23Now, this means that every athlete is competing on the same level, no matter their visibility.
01:27And it means that you cannot use, of course, any of your eyesight. You've got to use your other senses.
01:32Other senses mean that you've got to listen for the ball rolling.
01:35But on top of that, also, there are bells inside that cling as the ball is thrown towards the other side.
01:40And it's quite tough for the other opponents to try and catch that ball before it gets into the net.
01:46But on top of that, well, the professionals managed to put other ways of trying to mask, trying to hide some of those sounds,
01:52sometimes in the jumps that you see them do ahead of those throws.
01:56And all of that getting underway there here this afternoon in the south.
02:00We're going to watch France on the women's side face off against Canada.
02:04And after that tonight on the men's side, well, France have to face off against Brazil.
02:08Brazil, who are the defending champions, twice defending champions in the Paralympics.
02:13So big, big day for either side to come for the women's.
02:16It's the first time they're actually taking part in the Paralympics event.
02:20Those to come tonight. But it is still the group stage, which means that there's still not so much pressure, of course, started.
02:26But there's still quite a bit of way to go before getting out of that group, before trying to go on to those finals,
02:31to try and lift any medals and trophies here in Paris.
02:35So this happening here in the south and later on today, as you mentioned,
02:39still more medals to come from the first days after yesterday's opening ceremony.
02:43The first medals to come, including in the swimming, which we'll be heading over to later on.
02:47That swimming taking place at La Défense, the swimming arena specially created for these games
02:53and which is being used just the same way as the Olympics.
02:56And actually, there are so many competitions.
02:58And while there are less sports in a way, there are just more medals coming up because of all the categories
03:03that are divided into for every single sport in a way, which means there are more medals to come.
03:08Plenty of excitement to come over the next few weeks.
03:10And it's all kicking today and day one of the Paralympics.