by 
Baroness Grey-Thompson, who won 11 Paralympic gold medals for Britain and competed at every Summer Games from 1988 to 2004, was part of the Radio 5 Live team in Paris.
The Paris Paralympic Games were incredible with sold out stadiums, intense competition, great performances and the event showed the world what sport can do.
There were ups and downs as expected, tears of happiness and disappointment: what more could you ask for from a sporting event?
But it is difficult not to think, as we leave these places, of the legacy we will leave behind from the Games.
Legacy is a word that took hold in Barcelona long after the 1992 Games, when it finally figured out how to use the expensive venues built for the Games. Many cities that followed have struggled.
London must have been aware not only of the public nature of the costs and the desire to avoid white elephants, but also of the promises made to inspire a generation.
Paris took the sustainability approach further. They used many existing venues and then built a Paralympic facility on top of them, but that meant lots of steps, lifting platforms, viewing platforms that weren’t always suitable and a frequent sense of frustration that while disabled people were competing, it wasn’t always as easy for them to come and watch.
Public transportation was another problem, as it always will be in an old city like Paris.
The buses have been renovated to make them accessible, which is a start, but the metro system has not and the head of the Paris transport network said before the Games that it remained a weak point for disabled travellers, so it will be interesting to see what happens after the Games.
I didn’t try the transport, partly because I didn’t need it, and being lucky enough to be accredited by the media gives you access to places that spectators don’t have access to.
We travelled around the city using the Games-only lanes and got from the underground car parks to the venues without difficulty, but I know the day-to-day experience outside of Games time will be significantly different.
Having visited Paris several times before, the biggest change I have noticed is the attitude towards disabled people. People are generally more helpful and for getting around there are more things like lowered kerbs, although the cobblestones, of which there are many, are a challenge for a wheelchair user.
How did GB behave?
The medal table is binary. The medal target set by UK Sport was 100-140 and it was achieved with two days to go, but there will be plenty of debate in the coming weeks about what success looks like and each sport will be looked at for the next cycle.
The number of gold, silver and bronze medals, as well as near-medals, will be analysed. ParalympicsGB is also proud of the breadth of performances, but there are some things beyond its control for Los Angeles 2028, such as what other countries do and how they are funded.
The British swimmers were phenomenal and their multi-medallists like Poppy Maskill, Alice Tai and William Ellard were superb, as were the cyclists with Sarah Storey again winning medals, as she did when we were together in the GB team.
However, the athletics team probably did not perform as well as they would have liked with six gold medals and 18 medals in total, their lowest total since Beijing in 2008, and it shows how quickly the world can change in some disciplines.
France, once a track and field powerhouse, has won only five medals in track and field and no gold. Had it won, the atmosphere at the Stade de France would have been different, although it was still electric every time a local athlete competed.
ParalympicsGB are unable to challenge China for top spot, but are fairly confident of second place against strong competition from the USA.
But with the Games only just over, every sport will now be looking at where the next generation of ‘talent’ will come from – whether that means transferring talent from other sports, improving the existing talent pool or finding new athletes.
What can we expect from Los Angeles?
While everyone was excited about Paris, the next Games in Los Angeles in 2028 were in the back of everyone’s minds.
NBC broadcasters were out in force and it will be interesting to see how the coverage of the Games went in the United States.
Unfortunately, they didn’t get Snoop Dogg like they did for the Olympics. Maybe they should have paid him more to come here – it would have been really cool to have him here!
In terms of competition, I think the US Paralympic Committee could take inspiration from what Great Britain has achieved here and in Tokyo and work towards a wider distribution of medals across all sports because they have huge potential.
They also need to get their athletes known and get Americans interested in them.
We now have a Paralympic champion in Hunter Woodhall, married to an Olympic champion in Tara Davis-Woodhall, and they could do things to really put para-sport on the map.
Overall, the Games were incredible and perhaps France’s sporting legacy will come in 2028, but we feel like we’re leaving a city that will have embraced the Games and maybe think a little differently about disability, and a Paralympic movement that has taken another step forward.
