ROME -- After a spectacular and pulse raising Olympic Games in Paris ended nearly three weeks ago, the French capital re-awakens on Wednesday to do it all again with the Paralympics. The Opening Ceremony will set 12 days of competition in motion, as Italy’s biggest ever Paralympic delegation hopes to build on the success of Tokyo 2020.

 Italy will take 141 athletes to Paris to compete across 17 disciplines, a record figure in both cases for the Azzurri. Now Italy has bettered its number of representatives, the focus will be on whether the medal tally and nine-placed finish from 2021 can also be overtaken. In Tokyo, Italian athletes won 14 gold medals, 29 silvers, and 26 bronzes.

 Luca Pancalli, the President of the Italian Paralympic Committee (CIP), said record-breaking numbers pointed to the “exponential growth” of Paralympic sports.

 “[It is] an opportunity to show the wider public the values of Paralympic sport and to make so many people aware of the benefits that sport can offer, not only in terms of wellbeing but also as an extraordinary tool for culture, society, and integration.”

 According to figures from the CIP, the Italian state has invested 37 million euros into the Paralympic committee, the majority of which has been used to support athletes in training and promotion. Italy will now hope investment in Paralympic athletes can boost medal tallies.

 “We’re talking about a strong, ambitious group, full of talent, that is supported by professionals and specialists of really high profile,” Pancalli said. “We’re proud and we hope to give back to the country so much joy and emotion.”

 The Italian delegation will be led out by two already-decorated flagbearers: three-time gold medallist Luca Mazzone and current Olympic 100 metres champion Ambra Sabatini. Mazzone is a Paralympic winner in two fields, having won silver in the pool in the 50 metres and 200 metres freestyle in Sydney 2000, but decided to become a cyclist in 2011, where he has since won three golds and three silvers. Meanwhile, Paris 2024 will only be Sabatini’s second games, but she is already used to breaking records, having smashed the 100 metres world record in 2021. Now, she will be one of the faces of Italy’s Paralympic hopes.

 “When the president Luca Pancalli called me [to say I would be a flagbearer], I couldn’t believe it,” Sabatini told Vanity Fair Italia. “Then I felt lots of things: emotion, pride, but also the responsibility which has given me even more motivation to do my best.”

 Asides from Sabatini and Mazzone’s medal hopes, Italy come into the games as a major force in the pool. Stefano Raimondi claimed seven podium finishes in Tokyo, including gold in the men’s 100 metres butterfly. There is an added layer of competition for Raimondi, who will be competing with fellow swimmer and partner Giulia Terzi to see who can have the most success. Terzi will want to build on her success in Japan, when she won gold in the 100 metres freestyle and the 4x100 metres relay.

 Carlotta Gilli is also in Paris to defend her titles in the 100 metres butterfly and the women’s 200 metres individual medley. Francesco Bocciardo claimed two golds in Tokyo in the men’s 100 metres and 200 metres freestyle events.

 Wheelchair fencer Beatrice Vio also arrives in Paris as the Paralympic champion in the Women’s Individual Foil, having defended her gold medal from Rio 2016 in Tokyo. Italy have the second-most medals in the event’s history and Vio is one of the favourites to add to the tally, although she admitted to be feeling the pressure.

 “I’m frightened, because I’m scared I won’t be enough,” she wrote on Instagram on Tuesday. “Not ready enough, not concentrated enough, not committed enough.”

 “It’s my third Paralympics and everyone is expecting big things from me. But it won’t be easy at all to manage to repeat [winning gold]. But it seems everyone is taking that for granted.”

 Sara Morganti’s bronze medals in equestrian events in 2021 represented Italy’s first ever in the Paralympic events, as did Federico Mancarella’s bronze in the men’s KL2 200 metres canoe sprint. Italy will already be recording another first on Thursday, when Rosa Efomo De Marco will become the Azzurri’s first ever badminton athlete at the Paralympics.

 For Pancalli, the games will reignite Italy’s love for sport but can also play a more important role in platforming disability sports.

 “Through sport, we’re teaching [people with disabilities] to see what they have achieved, not what they have lost, putting in place equal opportunities in the expression of their abilities. If this were to happen every day, in all walks of life, we would have achieved equal opportunities – that is the clear message from the Paralympic world.”

 bq