French organisers and sports chiefs were on Monday basking in the praise for a Paralympic Games hailed as the new benchmark for future events.
The first Games held in France in their 64-year history ended on Sunday night with a spectacular closing ceremony in front of 70,000 spectators at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis.
On 28 August, more than 4,000 Paralympians paraded along the Champs Elysées before the opening extravaganza on the Place de la Concorde.
"It was an incredible setting," said Andrew Parsons, boss of the International Paralympic Committee, which oversees the event.
"It was a gigantic hug that the city of Paris, that the country of France was giving to the Paralympic movement, and the athletes felt embraced and supported. It set the right tone.
"In terms of the athlete experience, it has been amazing. The services to them at the Paralympic village, at the venues and the crowds have been amazing.
"Quite simply, Paris 2024 is the new benchmark for Paralympic Games in every aspect, in every single point of the organisation."
Paris seeks to make athletes' village an accessible 'paradise' for Paralympians
Medal mission complete
French sports chiefs were also satisfied. Before the event, Marie-Amélie Le Fur, the head of the French Paralympic sports committee, said its 237 Paralympians had been set a goal of 20 gold medals across the 22 sports and an eighth place finish.
France achieved the latter, but fell just shy of its gold medal target with 19. The delegation also picked up 28 silvers and 28 bronzes.
Ukraine were seventh with 22 golds in their haul of 81 medals. Paying tribute to the Ukrainian effort amid its war with Russia, French sports minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra said France would share some of its glory.
"We're not too happy about them finishing just above us," Oudéra-Castéra joked.
"We were able to provide some material needs to support that delegation and I would like to say to my counterpart in Ukraine, how proud France is to have supported Ukraine."
Italy, Netherlands and second-placed Britain finished further up the medal chain than the French, who nonetheless surpassed their medal tally from Tokyo of 55 where they finished 14th.
"What remains for us to do is to make sure that this success lasts," said Le Fur, who highlighted the haul of five medals – none gold – in track and field as an area for improvement.
The French para-cycling federation will be, by contrast, bullish. It was set a goal of between 20 and 30 medals, and the cyclists brought in 28.
Meanwhile France's swimmers collected 14 medals in total, two of them gold.
'Not just a happy ending'
Michael Jeremiasz, the French former wheelchair tennis star who won gold in Beijing along with two bronzes and a silver in Athens, Beijing and London between 2004 and 2012, struck a note of caution amid the euphoria.
"We have to make sure that it's not just a happy ending," said the 42-year-old. "That would be more serious than if we hadn't organised the Games at all.
"I hope the Paralympics will help us to look at each other more kindly and that the state and the government will feel obliged to do the job to speed up this transformation."
Amid grandstanding about ticket sales of 2.5 million and a record 165 international broadcasters covering the event, poor accessibility for people with disabilities across the Paris metro network has tempered outright self-congratulation.
Paris metro accessibility a 'weak spot' ahead of Paralympics
"Although we're now at London's level of accessibility with 56 percent, we can't be satisfied with that," said Valérie Pécresse, governor of the greater Paris region.
"And that's why I've taken advantage of these Paralympic Games to launch the idea of a metro for all."
Pécresse said the capital would open four new metro lines in the coming years. "We'll also be opening a whole series of tramway lines. What we don't have, however, is the regeneration of the old lines. That's metro lines 1 to 13."
Structural engineers say revamping the city centre stations will cost hundreds of millions of euros and potentially endanger the same historic buildings used as glittering backdrops for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
'A great adventure'
Pécresse says she wants local authorities and the government to look into a plan which she claims will be a win-win.
The progress of her campaign will be one of the salient features of the post-Paralympics landscape.
The next step of Tony Estanguet, chief of the Olympic and Paralympic organising committee, will be as intriguing.
The former Olympic canoeing champion has, as the face of the Games, consistently struck the right tone between cheerleading, concern and cajoling.
"We wanted to move the lines with the Paralympic Games," he said. "It has been obvious that they have affected people ever since the opening ceremony.
"We wanted to send out a strong message about inclusion and we've done that. It's been a great adventure and we've shown what the country is capable of."
StreetNav app plots path to accessible city travel beyond Paris Paralympics
