“I am extremely happy and honoured to have carried the flame,” Simon told Inside The Games at the gate of The Carreau Du Temple in the heart of Paris. “It has been a wonderful experience to be here in Paris with my friends and family in front of the press core and city officials and being able to share this feeling with everybody. I feel truly blessed.”

Simon, who is tetraplegic and walks with the aid of an Exo skeleton electrical-powered device designed by his brother Nicolas, was accompanied on the relay by Handisport para official Westelynck, as well asrecent Olympic silver medallist Clouvel, who came in second in the modern pentathlon event at the 2024 Games which ended over two weeks ago in the French capital.

As Paris hopes to replicate the good vibes of the Olympics with the Paralympics scheduled to kick off competition on Thursday, the torch relay got a chance to get emotions moving though the cobbled streets of the City of Light, as deputy mayor in charge of the Games Pierre Rabadan watched on from a few meters away at the Paris Media Centre.

“This was truly special, seeing Thibault with his walking skeleton, which is expected to be the next revolution for people who have been confined to a wheelchair for so many years. It was very moving to watch him be able to do that,” he told Inside The Games. “We hope, obviously, to democratise the use of the skeleton with public financing so that it’s available to those who need it. It’s about € 40,000 ($ 44,500) so about the price of a car. Part of the Paralympic Games is to help shed light on such matters”.

It was quite the scene at the Carreau du Temple: as Simon took the flame from Westelynck, he walked over 20 meters with the Wandercraft prototype, which Simon tried out for a few months before taking on the relay challenge. “We have been working in this for quite some time now and we have other versions in Spain with the Gutman Institute in Barcelona and Gencat, the regional government,” Nicolas explained while escorting his brother, who attended media requests and proudly posed for pictures with family members, unable to contain his emotion on such a special ocasion.

Westelynck herself didn’t mince words when describing how she felt as a former athlete and now Paralympics promoter. “For me, it’s the culmination of a sporting career,” she underlined. “It’s an acknowledgement of what has been done on all fronts: as a sportswoman, a trainer and an official now. I am truly delighted.”

Rabadan valued the fact that Olympic athletes like Clouvel were able to share the spotlight with the protagonists of the Paralympics, most significantly on the torch relay. “Elodie told me that she had been unable to participate in the event for the 2024 Games because she was in training, preparing for the modern pentathlon. So, she was just super happy today to be able to partake in this public celebration of the Olympic spirit,” he shared. “We have tried to reinforce this link between athletes and para athletes throughout the proceedings, and that is why you will see Cyréna Samba-Mayela light the cauldron later tonight in the opening ceremony.”

Samba-Mayela, a silver medallist in the 100 meter hurdles three weeks ago, will also get her chance to step back into the spotlight in the anticipated show, which will replicate the effort of an outside-the-stadium ceremony that artistic director Thomas Jolly put together for the Olympics. As was the case on 26 July, it will be a landmark first for the Paralympics as well.

As the countdown is set, Rabadan, Simon, Clouvel and Westelynck emphasised the importance of a group effort to make the Paralympics stand out on their own.  “May everyone enjoy themselves and realise the beauty of sport. I'd like the public to focus more on the athlete and his or her performance than on the disabled person. That they finally see them as people in their own right,” Westelynck stressed.

As for a shining moment on Wednesday? Well, it was as obvious as can be. “Carrying the flame, of course,” Westelynck answered. “How can one not remember that forever?”