Brazilian athletes who will participate in the next edition of the Paralympic Games have already begun arriving in France. One example is the Brazilian athletics team, which is already in the city of Troyes (which is about 160 kilometers from Paris) to acclimatize for the mega sporting event, which will be held between August 28 and September 8.
Brazil will be represented in the sport by 71 athletes with disabilities and 18 guide athletes, totaling 89 competitors. This number is a record, even surpassing the team that participated in the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, when the Brazilian Paralympic Committee (CPB) called up 61 athletes and 18 guide athletes for the sport.
It’s great to have athletics here in Troyes for the acclimatization for Paris 2024! 🇫🇷 🫶
Only 9 more days until the Paralympic Games start! 💛💚#ParalympicBrazil #Paris2024 #ParalympicGames pic.twitter.com/lPQWaYO0hl
— Brazilian Paralympic Committee (@BraParalimpico) August 19, 2024
“The maximum number of athletes per country in athletics is 73 competitors. We have almost reached it. Perhaps only China has reached this number,” declared the CPB athletics coordinator, João Paulo da Cunha, who explained that this is the result of work carried out by the entity several years ago, also taking into account previous cycles.
One of the team’s standouts is sprinter Petrúcio Ferreira, 27. Four-time world champion in the 100 meters in the T47 class (upper limb disability), with two titles won this cycle, the athlete arrives at the Paris Games seeking his third Paralympic championship. “This will be my third time at the Paralympic Games and I’m even more excited than the first. Now I’m already known and I know what the pressure is like, but I came here to have fun and try to win another title for our country,” said the athlete, who will run in the 100 meters and 400 meters in Paris.
The athletics team is in Troyes along with the badminton, goalball, swimming, rowing, taekwondo, wheelchair tennis and table tennis teams. The canoeing and blind football athletes will arrive next Tuesday (20). In total, Brazil will be represented at the Paris Games by 280 athletes, 255 of whom are disabled, in 20 sports.
