The Paralympics

Between August 8 and August 20, 2023, 1,500 competitors compete in 10 parasports at the European Para Championships.

Following a grand opening ceremony, the first-ever European Para Championships have begun in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The first multi-Para sport European Championships will feature 1,500 Para athletes from 45 nations. 

Rotterdam Ahoy hosted the Opening Ceremony, which included musical and dance acts as well as movies highlighting each Para sport.

 Athletes will compete in 10 sports over the course of the 13-day competitions, including wheelchair basketball, wheelchair tennis, wheelchair badminton, wheelchair judo, and wheelchair cycling.

Para judo will host the opening finals on the first day of competition (Tuesday, August 8). 208 gold medals will be awarded in total before the competitions are over on August 20. 

The Paralympic Games in Paris will take place in just over a year, and the Rotterdam championships are a crucial stop on the way there. 

Famous Paralympians in Rotterdam

The competition features some of Europe's best athletes and Paralympic medalists, including Paralympic winners in boccia and badminton in David Smith and Lucas Mazur.

With a star-studded roster, the Netherlands is attempting to put on a spectacle for its home crowd. Only two months have passed since the women's basketball team's victory at the Dubai World Championships.

a year before Paris 2024, making history

Every four years, a major European city will play home to the European Para Championships, which will take place the year before the Paralympic Games. 

This year, five of the ten Paralympic sports played in Rotterdam offer a chance to qualify for the Paralympics.

Top-ranked individuals or teams can reserve qualification positions for their National Paralympic Committees in wheelchair basketball, shooting para sport, boccia, and para archery. The champions of the wheelchair tennis men's and women's singles tournaments will receive travel vouchers to Paris in 2024.

 President of the International Paralympic Committee Andrew Parsons emphasized the significance of the Dutch city hosting the first-ever European Championships in his statement at the Opening Ceremony.

 You are writing a new chapter in Rotterdam's illustrious 800-year history by hosting the first multi-Para sport European Championships, he remarked. You never know where being a pioneer will lead you, which is one of its wonderful aspects.

1,500 Para athletes from 45 nations participating in 10 sports here in Rotterdam for the title of European champions. The third-largest sports event in the world, the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, will include 4,400 competitors from 180 nations competing in 22 disciplines.