© Stade de France ®
Macary, Zublena et Regembal
Costantini - Architects
ADAGP - Paris - 2002
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NEWS  ORGANISATION |
 PARIS PASSES BATON TO HELSINKI
Paris 2003 Saint-Denis
The Paris Saint-Denis World Championships opened to the brilliance of stars, and closed on Sunday evening in perfect symmetry.
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| Vandystadt |
The Closing Ceremony began at the end of the men's 4x400m, shortly after 20:00. In the first act of the show, a stream of actors arranged themselves in stars against a musical backdrop, before spelling out ‘PARIS’, the host city for these 9th World Championships in Athletics.
This colourful spectacle was brought to an end by the IAAF anthem, before the closing address and acknowledgements from Jean Dussourd, President of the Local Organising Committee of Paris 2003 Saint-Denis, and Lamine Diack, President of the IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations).
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| Vandystadt |
The festivities resumed after the ceremony, as 'PARIS' quickly became 'HELSINKI', host city for the next World Championships in 2005. A short film introduced the Finnish capital, where the European championships were held in 1994.
Then, it was the turn of the athletes who lit up the Stade de France over the 9 days of competition to take to the track for the traditional lap of honour. The 'stars' dispersed before the French delegation finally drew proceedings to a close beneath a beautiful shower of confetti.
And Paris and Saint-Denis turned the page on a hugely successful festival of sport.
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