Former dressage rider Anne d'Ieteren to carry Paralympic flame
Anne d'Ieteren, former dressage rider and honorary chair of the Belgian Paralympic Committee, will carry the Paralympic flame on Monday, two days ahead of the event's opening ceremony in Paris on 28 August. The flame will be lit on Saturday in England.
The flame will be ignited in Stoke Mandeville, northwest of London, where the Paralympic movement was born after the Second World War. It will then travel to France under the English Channel for a four-day relay.
About 1,000 torchbearers will carry the flame. Among them will be former Paralympians, young para-athletes, volunteers from Paralympic federations, innovators of advanced technological support, people who support others with impairments and people who work in the non-profit sector to support carers.
'A great honour'
One of the torchbearers is d'Ieteren. She will walk a few hundred metres with the torch in Chambly, north of Paris. This is “a great honour for a grande dame who has contributed so much to the Paralympic movement, particularly in the field of para-dressage, in Belgium and beyond”, the Equestrian League Wallonia Brussels said.
From 29 August, the flame can be seen in the Jardin des Tuileries in Paris. The closing ceremony takes place on 8 September.
The Belgian Paralympic delegation comprises 29 athletes. Athletes will be competing in disciplines including athletics, archery, road and track cycling, badminton, dressage and tennis. The team is aiming to do better than at the 2021 Tokyo Games, where they won 15 medals.
For the first time, the Paralympic team and supporters will also have their own site, the Lotto Paralympic Belgium House, in a historic Art Nouveau-style building on the Champs-Élysées.
© BELGA PHOTO LAURIE DIEFFEMBACQ
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