Tokyo (AFP)
Quantified inventory of the Tokyo Paralympic Games before the opening ceremony on Tuesday, postponed for a year by the pandemic.
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4,400 athletes
The number of participants is a record according to the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).
Delegations, on the other hand, are down from the maximum reached in London (164) in 2012.
They will be less than 160. The fault in particular to the impossibility for the Afghan delegation to join the archipelago since the seizure of power by the Taliban.
But also to the defections of several countries of the Pacific Islands which could not afford two weeks of quarantine in Australia on the way to and from Japan.
By way of comparison, in 1964, only 378 athletes had competed in Tokyo, which this year became the first city to host the Paralympic Games for a second time.
Refugee Paralympic team at opening ceremony at Tokyo Olympic Stadium on August 24, 2021 Philip FONG AFP
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22 sports
From athletics to sitting volleyball: medals are to be won in 22 sports, including two new this year, taekwondo and badminton.
While most sports have an Olympic equivalent, two of them do not: goalball, a team ball sport for athletes with visual impairments, and boccia, which is similar to petanque.
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21 sites
The range of Paralympic venues includes the Olympic Stadium in central Tokyo, the historic Nippon Budokan, and the brand new Tokyo Aquatic Center, which will once again host athletics, judo and swimming events.
The Ariake gymnastics center will receive the boccia.
The Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, July 21, 2021 Franck FIFE AFP / Archives
Most of the venues are in and around the capital, with the exception of the cycling events, located near Mount Fuji, southwest of Tokyo.
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107 positive cases for Covid
Until Saturday, the organizers had identified 101 cases of Covid-19 linked to the Paralympic Games, including two athletes.
Six other cases were reported by local communities hosting teams for training camps.
Japan is facing a record spate of infections, and most of the cases reported by Tokyo 2020 are in people residing in the country.
According to the organizers, 88% of people in the Paralympic Village are vaccinated.
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4 billion viewers
"We believe we will reach over four billion people," IPC chairman Andrew Parsons told AFP, hoping for a huge television audience.
In the absence of spectators due to the almost generalized closed session decreed in the face of the health situation.
A record 4.1 billion cumulative viewers watched the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, according to the IPC.
Spectators around the Tokyo Olympic Stadium during the Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony, August 24, 2021 Kazuhiro NOGI AFP
This year, unencrypted coverage in 49 territories of sub-Saharan Africa, aims to increase the global audience and fight against the stigma of disability.
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539 Olympic titles at stake
With the system of categories grouping athletes according to the impact of their handicap on their performance, 539 Olympic titles are to be won in Tokyo (339 Olympic events in comparison).
Taking into account team sports, around 5,000 Paralympic medals in gold, silver and bronze were produced in total for the Games, with the words "Tokyo 2020" written in Braille.
Since 2004, China has dominated the ranking of gold medals in each edition.
© 2021 AFP