Under sea and over land, Paris Paralympics flame is lit before beginning exceptional journey

Two weeks after French star swimmer Leon Marchand extinguished the Olympic flame to close the Paris Olympics, the spotlight is now on its Paralympic counterpart.

British Paralympians Helene Raynsford and Gregor Ewan on Saturday lit the flame in Stoke Mandeville, a village northwest of London widely considered the birthplace of the Paralympic Games.

The flame will now travel to France under the English Channel for a four-day relay from Atlantic Ocean shores to Mediterranean beaches, from mountains in the Pyrenees to the Alps.

Its journey will end in Paris on Wednesday during the Paralympics opening ceremony — with the lighting of a unique Olympic cauldron attached to a hot-air balloon that will fly over the French capital every evening during 11 days of competition.

In the Paralympic Movement's birthplace, the Paralympic Flame was created today ahead of <a href="https://twitter.com/Paris2024?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Paris2024</a>.<br><br>In an event supported by Samsung, Paralympians Helene Raynsford and Gregor Ewan created the