A dream summer comes to an end.

It was singer Santa who kicked off the festivities at the Stade de France with a cover of “Vivre pour le meilleur” by Johnny Hallyday. Gold medalist in boccia and flag bearer for this closing ceremony, Aurélie Aubert, extinguished the Paralympic flame, surrounded by five medal-winning athletes from the Paralympic events. Shortly after, the Olympic and Paralympic cauldron, lit by Marie-José Perec and Teddy Riner during the opening ceremony on July 26, was also extinguished, marking the end of a historic summer in France.

Time for the show!

Imagined by Thomas Jolly and Victor Le Masne, the closing ceremony of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games not only paid beautiful tribute to para-athletes but also to French electronic music. At the end of the ceremony, French electro pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre, 76, launched the final show with a medley of his best tracks. Twenty-three other artists from the French electronic scene followed, igniting the Stade de France, transformed for the occasion into a giant nightclub. Among them were Nathalie Duchene, Kavinsky, The Avener, Chloé Caillet, and Irène Drésel. The show concluded with a performance by Martin Solveig. There’s no doubt that the audience would have loved for the party to continue into the night. But no, Paris 2024 has truly come to an end. What if this isn’t the end, but the beginning of a new era of inclusion and diversity in sports and society?