Everyone is behind Team Ireland at this year’s Paralympics, a leading athlete has said.

The opening ceremony commences today, with 35 Irish athletes set to compete in the games, which will run in Paris until September 8th.

Last time out in Tokyo, Team Ireland returned with a haul of seven medals, including four golds across the disciplines of swimming, athletics and cycling.

On The Hard Shoulder today, Martin Gordon from Sligo, who is competing in the Men’s Pursuit B cycling event tomorrow, said the atmosphere in Paris is incredible.

“It’s finally about to kick off and it’s amazing how quickly three years go by,” he said.

“It’s not my first rodeo - I was in Tokyo three years ago, the delayed games - and here we go again in Paris three years later.

“It’s just an incredible feeling and then all of a sudden, it will be go time.”

Competition

Mr Gordon said he’s feeling good ahead of his competition.

“Physically and mentally, all the preparation has been pretty much the same,” he said.

“You’re not going to reinvent the wheel - no pun intended - but it will be a completely different games because we're here in the village, moving around with 4,500 other athletes.

“We are not restricted by COVID this time. We’re going to have full arenas; there are over two million tickets sold for the games.

“Everyone is behind us - the French, the whole world is getting behind us.”

Mr Gordon is also competing in the one-kilometre time trial on Sunday, an event he favours and hopes to “find success” in.

Republic of Ireland's Jason Smyth receives his Gold medal for the Men's 100m - T13 during the Athletics at the Olympic Stadium on day five of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games in Japan. Picture date: Sunday August 29, 2021.

Six-time Paralympic gold medallist Jason Smyth, who holds the world record in the 100m and 200m T13 classifications, plans on enjoying the Paris games as a retired athlete.

“I’m sitting here at the games, which is a great place to be and I don’t in any way want to be out on the track,” he said.

“It’s probably a sign that it was the right time [to retire], and I feel, looking back, I had a really great run of it.

"I never look back with any regrets or at anything I didn’t do and maybe that’s a piece of me being content.”

'Incredible games'

Mr Smyth said it’s going to be an “incredible games” ahead.

“For me, it really has that London 2012 vibe, which was a real move forward for Paralympics,” he said.

“I think this has that same ability to do so. It's so close to home and we're on the same time zone, which means people can watch it, tune in and get invested in people.

“The coverage is greater than it’s ever been, so for me, it has the recipe to be an incredible games.”

Mr Smyth’s PB in the 100m of 10.22 seconds is just 0.1 of a second off the current Irish record, which was set by Israel Olatunde in London last week.

You can listen back here:

Main image: 25 July 2024; Paralympics Ireland team members (back row) Mitchell McLaughlin, Eve McCrystal and Eoin Mullen; (middle row) Linda Kelly, Josephine Healion, Katie-George Dunlevy and Richael Timothy; (front row) Ronan Grimes, Juno the Dog and Damien Vereker. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile