Paralympic Games opening ceremony starts the final chapter on a long summer of sport in Paris

AP Sports Writer

PARIS (AP) — Just weeks after hosting the Olympics the summer of sports in Paris has begun its final chapter with the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games. Against the backdrop of a setting sun thousands of athletes paraded down the famed Champs-Elysées avenue to Place de la Concorde in central Paris. About 50,000 people watched the ceremony in stands built around the iconic square. It is the biggest in Paris and is visible from afar because of its ancient Egyptian Obelisk. Accessibility for athletes in wheelchairs was facilitated with strips of asphalt laid along the avenue and placed over the square.