After a year of delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic, athletes will enter the National Stadium in Tokyo for the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games.
Live coverage hosted by Scott Russell and decorated wheelchair racer Sen. Chantal Petitclerc began at 6 a.m. ET on the CBC TV network, CBC Gem, the CBC Sports app and CBC Sports website.
The ceremony is set to start at 7 a.m. ET., with a prime-time broadcast airing later Tuesday at 7 p.m. local time.
CBC TV coverage is presented with closed captioning and described video, and streaming will include American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation.
Priscilla Gagné will lead Canadian athletes into the stadium after being announced as the country’s flag-bearer over the weekend. The para-judo medal contender is competing in her second Paralympic Games.
“It is incredibly honouring and humbling. It’s exciting, it’s many feelings in one,” Gagné told CBC Sports ahead of carrying the flag at the ceremony. “It’s nostalgic, it’s such a gift, not something taken lightly.”
The 35-year-old from Sarnia, Ont., now based in Montreal, is among 128 Canadians, including guides, who are in Tokyo to compete in 18 different sports.
Heading to opening ceremonies!!! pic.twitter.com/OgRH8p95cB
The aerobatics team of the Japan Air Self-Defence Force, Blue Impulse, flew across the sky in Tokyo ahead of the opening ceremony on Tuesday, leaving behind trails of red, blue and green — the colours of the Paralympic symbol.
There will be 4,400 athletes overall competing at the Games. When the competition kicks off, some countries — including Bhutan, Guyana, Maldives, Paraguay and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines — will be following the journeys of their first-ever Paralympians.
Two athletes from Afghanistan were slated to compete — para-taekwondo athlete Zakia Khudadadi and discus thrower Hossain Rasouli — but were unable to leave for Tokyo after the Taliban recently swept through and took over the country. It’s expected that Afghanistan’s flag will be displayed during the ceremony in a sign of solidarity.
This year also marks the first time the Paralympics will be aired on prime-time coverage in Canada by CBC.
There are 162 delegations at the Games, but not all will be represented at the ceremony. Paralympics New Zealand said in a statement on its website that the team wouldn’t be attending.
Paula Tesoriero, the New Zealand chef de mission, acknowledged that some may be “disappointed” that the country wouldn’t be attending. She cited rising case counts in Japan and noted that the athletes would normally be operating in bubbles.
“The exposure of team members to large groups of people from many nations is not aligned with our commitment to our COVID-19 protocols and operating procedures aimed at keeping our team as safe as possible particularly in light of the growing number of cases in Tokyo,” she said.
