Paris, the City of Lights, transformed into a grand sports stadium on the night of the Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony. The River Seine served as the track, with its quays acting as spectator stands, and historic landmarks along the way witnessing a vibrant celebration full of flags, feathers, and raindrops.
For the first time in Olympic Games history, the ceremony was taken outside its traditional stadium setting, inviting everyone to participate in the four-hour extravaganza created by artistic director Thomas Jolly. Athletes jumped on boat decks in pouring rain, spectators lined the quays and bridges, and ballet dancers performed pirouettes on rooftops. Parisians stepped out onto their balconies to cheer on delegations from 206 National Olympic Committees (NOC).
The river parade and artistic performances weaved through the heart of Paris towards the Trocadero, where the world came together to hear the magic words from International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach: "I declare the Paris Olympic Games open."
Emerging from behind a row of pink feathered fans and dressed fit for a cabaret, singer-songwriter Angèle kicked off the evening with a performance of the iconic French revue song, "La Vie en Rose." The athletes were ready to heed the call as the Parade of Nations flotilla began its six-kilometer journey west along the Seine, passing world-renowned landmarks such as the Louvre Museum, Notre-Dame Cathedral, and the Musée d'Orsay.
Unity was the mood of the night as athletes from different countries celebrated on shared boats. Even French Polynesia joined in the festivities via video link from Tahiti, dressed in ceremony wear and holding traditional wooden surfboards.
As the athletes traveled along the river through central Paris, history came alive around them. Split into 12 artistic tableaux and featuring 1,500 artists, the show invited spectators to the most iconic sites of Paris and brought them to life. The past and present came together seamlessly, as in the Liberty chapter where an operatic scene from the French Revolution flowed into a celebration of Parisian lovers in all their diversity.
The performance of the French national anthem was a particularly poignant moment. Mezzo-soprano Marianne Crebassa sang standing on the rooftop of the Palais Garnier, draped in a Dior-made dress that resembled the host country's flag, while statues of Marianne rose up next to the Palais Bourbon – a seat of power previously decorated only with statues of male changemakers.
Reflecting that change, Paris 2024 will see full gender equality on the field of play for the first time in the history of the Olympic Games.
From solemn to jubilant, the Opening Ceremony next switched focus to a bold fashion show where a table top at a costume banquet served as the runway. The party was still on, with more athlete boats coming and spectators as enthusiastic as ever despite the falling rain.
The historic significance of the moment was further amplified as images chronicling the past 100 years of sport were shown on screens, tracking the progress humanity has made in the century since the 1924 Paris Games.
As the athletes made their way to Trocadero, the Olympic flame was also making progress to its ultimate destination - Jardin des Tuileries. It began the night’s journey with a trip to the French metro in the hands of French football legend Zinedine Zidane. Handed over to a masked torchbearer, it then flitted across Parisian rooftops and snaked through the empty halls of the Louvre Museum, until making its way back to the World Cup winner who carried the flame into the Trocadero.
After clapping hands with some of the lucky fans in the stands, Zidane passed the flame to Spanish tennis ace Rafael Nadal, who has marked his own spot in French history with a 14-time winning record at Roland Garros. A boat packed with international sports superstars then carried the flame to the Louvre, from where it continued its trip to the Jardin des Tuileries in the company of 18 Olympians and Paralympians.
French sporting heroes Marie-José Pérec and Teddy Riner picked up the Olympic flame for the walk up to the cauldron - a ring of flames attached to a hot air balloon, a nod to the first hydrogen-powered balloon flight from the same location in 1783. Once lit, the balloon rose into the sky as the first notes of Edith Piaf's "La Vie en Rose" rang out and global singing star Celine Dion appeared on a balcony to salute Paris and the Olympic Games in her first live performance since announcing her diagnosis with illness.
A roar of cheers rose from the stands along the Seine, in the Trocadero, and around the French capital as Dion, ethereal in a white glittering dress, stretched out her arms from the city's most famous landmark, the Olympic flame soaring ever higher into the night sky.
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