More than 650 athletes, 50 years and some controversy. Countdown to the start of the Winter Paralympics in Milan Cortina. About ten days after the end of the Winter Games, the Verona Arena will return tonight as the protagonist of another ceremony: the opening of the Paralympics, for the first time in history in a UNESCO site, on the occasion of its 50th edition.
THE NUMBERS
The 655 athletes (ever so many) from all over the world will compete for Paralympic titles in 79 medal events (39 men’s, 35 women’s and 5 mixed) divided into six different sports. The most participated sport will be para Nordic skiing with 168 athletes, followed by para alpine skiing with 164, then para ice hockey with 135, para biathlon with 107, para snowboard with 77 and wheelchair curling with 66.
The delegations from China are very numerous with 70 athletes and the United States with 68. Canada is present with 46 athletes, Japan with 44. Italy has called up 42 athletes. Germany’s contingent consists of 40 units. The Ukrainian team registered 25 athletes. Russia will be present with 6 athletes and Belarus with 4. At the Paralympics there will also be an athlete from Iran, Aboulfazl Khatibi Mianaei, 23 years old, a Nordic skiing athlete originally from Fereydunkenar on the shores of the Caspian Sea.
In a world dominated by increasingly marked tensions from a geopolitical point of view, there is no shortage of controversy. In the aftermath of the IPC’s (the International Paralympic Committee) decision to rehabilitate Russia and Belarus, Ukraine announced a boycott of the inaugural ceremony, followed in solidarity by a dozen other countries.
THE OPENING CEREMONY
Following the opening ceremony there will also be the Head of State Sergio Mattarella and the Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. It will be a ceremony dedicated to inclusiveness which will see, among others, the performance of DJ Miky Bionic, aka Michele Specchiale, the first DJ in the world to perform with a “bionic hand”, an advanced myoelectric prosthesis installed after losing his left arm in a serious accident at a very young age.
Equally special will be the “inclusive flyover” that will accompany the celebration, carried out by Wefly pilots! Team (Alessandro Paleri and Marco Cherubini with Walter Mondani) and Ali Per Tutti (Paolo Pocobelli), the only air patrol in the world in which almost all the pilots are made up of quadriplegic or paraplegic people.
The theme of the opening ceremony will be «Life in Motion», a show that will celebrate change, resilience and evolution, three concepts more than familiar to Paralympic athletes. All divided into three languages: Music, Dance and Art. Created in collaboration with Filmmaster, a company that has already successfully contributed to the recent Veronese ceremony dedicated to the Olympic closing, the show is configured as an immersive experience in which contemporary languages, performance and innovation describe a dynamic and inclusive Italy. Finally, the ceremony will be closed by the global “chain song” on the notes of “Nel blu dipinto di blu”, the famous and iconic song by Domenico Modugno, reinterpreted with contributions from all over the world.
THE FLAG-BEARERS
To make the edition even more special there is also the fact that at the opening ceremony the 46 flags of the nations present at the ceremony (57 countries in total competing) will be carried by just as many volunteers. In short, there will not be the standard-bearers that have always characterized the Olympics and Paralympics. A decision, it was explained by the IPC, linked to the fact that many athletes begin their first competitions today, in venues far from Verona.
THE CLUSTERS
The competitions will be hosted in three clusters: the city cluster of Milan and the two mountain clusters of Cortina and Val di Fiemme. The Ceremonies will be held in two different cities: the Opening Ceremony will be hosted at the Verona Arena, while the Closing Ceremony will take place in Cortina, at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium, on 15 March.
The Paralympic Villages will be located in Milan, Cortina and Predazzo.
HALF A CENTURY OF PARALYMPICS
It will undoubtedly be a historic edition. In addition to the many records already set by the Milan Cortina Games (the first widespread Games, the first with two braziers, the first with an opening ceremony in a UNESCO venue,…) there is also the fact that it is the 50th anniversary of the first Paralympic Winter Games, held in 1976 in Ornskoldsvik, Sweden, and the 20th anniversary of Turin 2006. It is therefore not surprising if the Committee International Paralympic (IPC) looks at this edition as an event destined to be the best ever from a sporting point of view and among the most evocative from a scenographic point of view, thanks to the beauty of the territories that will host the Games.