Paris-based ECA2, an event design and production company, were appointed designer and producer of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Paralympic Games by ATHOC (Athens Organizing Committee for the Olympic and the Paralympic Games). Yves Pépin and his ECA2 team were responsible for the artistic conception, the production, realization, staging, plus the technical design for the second largest international event after the Olympic Games.
The Paralympic Games brought 4,000 athletes from 140 countries to Athens. About 10,000 participants including athletes, volunteers, singers, dancers, technicians, and logisticians participated in the opening ceremony of the show. The shows, combining dance and music with the highest technology, were a hymn to life.
Under the creative direction of Yves Pépin and Martin Arnaud as well as JC Canizares, technical and logistic director, the ceremonies organized the 17th and 28th of September in the Olympic stadium of Athens in front of 60,000 spectators paid homage to athletes and values that they share.