On Friday, August 30, Craig Spence still couldn't believe it. The day before, the spokesman for the International Paralympic Committee confessed to having experienced "the most moving sporting moment of [his] life" at the Grand Palais, watching the exploits of Afghan Zakia Khudadadi, bronze medalist in para taekwondo in the colors of the refugee team. To hear him tell it, the prestige of the venue has a lot to do with it. "The site of the Grand Palais is truly remarkable," the Briton told the press.

Spence is not the only one to think so. The palace, with its Beaux-Arts architecture dating back to 1900, was fully booked for the para taekwondo and armchair fencing tournaments that were to follow. During the Olympic fortnight, the majestic nave, with its usually hushed atmosphere, was already buzzing with supporters shouting their delight at supporting the French athletes.

Les Invalides, the Eiffel Tower, the Château de Versailles: Like the Grand Palais, all the emblematic venues of the Paris Games are sold out for the Paralympic Games. "The magic of the venues has worked," said the organizers.

It's hard to argue with them, as the images of fencers descending the Grand Palais's Great Staircase, an Art Nouveau jewel with its iron scrolls, have traveled around the world and left an indelible impression. Like the archery in front of the golden dome of Les Invalides, the beach volleyball and blind football at the foot of the Eiffel Tower in the setting sun and the cyclists on their way up the crowded cobbled streets of Montmartre, resembling a Claude Monet painting, the competitions sublimated Parisian heritage.

The idea of transforming the capital's monuments into Olympic and Paralympic venues was born in the bid file. "The Games at the service of Seine-Saint-Denis and Paris at the service of the Games," said the organizers 10 years ago. At the time, Paris 2024 identified two key routes: the line running from the Arche de la Défense to the obelisk at La Concorde, and the Seine, with its large adjoining parks (Champ-de-Mars and Les Invalides) that could be used to host events. "We knew we were going to have these iconic sites at our disposal, so very quickly we said to ourselves, 'What can we put there?' And then, 'How can we magnify the place through sport?'" said Etienne Thobois, director general of the Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (OCOG), who has been at the heart of the project from the outset.

It's not a simple equation. And this is all the more true as Olympic disciplines always operate in pairs for reasons of scheduling and venue configuration: fencing with taekwondo, judo with wrestling, badminton with rhythmic gymnastics, for example.

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