A boat parade, Lady Gaga and torrential rain: The key moments of the Olympics opening ceremony


Boundary-breaking, genre-defying and unprecedented, the Paris Olympic Games opening ceremony opened on Friday with a wildly ambitious display, which took place amid heavy summer downpours.
More than 300,000 spectators lined the banks of the river, in the first time the opening ceremony has been staged outside the main stadium, making it the biggest-ever launch for an Olympic event.
Paris 2024 organiser Tony Estanguet had said the opening ceremony needed to “push the limits as far as possible”, showing from the start France’s ambition for the Games.

Here are five memorable moments:

The uninvited rain

Opening ceremony mastermind Thomas Jolly, a renowned French theatre director, had carefully choreographed every minute of the festival along the banks of the River Seine.
But there was one factor he could not plan for — the weather. The opening ceremony had the misfortune to take place amid heavy showers descending on Paris, even as forecasts showed days of hot sunny weather ahead.

Spectators, VIPs, and athletes alike found themselves drenched or huddling in transparent ponchos.

Rain did not dampen the spirits of the people attending the ceremony. Source: SIPA USA / Belga / Jasper Jacobs

Some spectators refused to let the downpour get them down. “I’ve got such an adrenaline rush. It’s very exciting,” said Selene Martinez, 42, who had travelled from Mexico for the ceremony.

But others were less stoic about the heavy rain on the parade, with some leaving the ceremony early to seek shelter.

“It’s a great idea. The performances are awesome. I just wish it wasn’t raining,” said Pauline Brett, 69, who had come from Chicago with her family.

A floating parade down the Seine

A historic boat parade down the River Seine launched the Paris Olympics with spectacular French flair, as the City of Light welcomed the world’s greatest athletes.

Led out by Greece through jets of water cascading from a bridge, accompanied by an accordion player, around 7,000 athletes cruised down a 6km stretch of the Seine to the Eiffel Tower on 85 boats.

A boat on the river Seine with people holding Greek flags.

Delegations were transported in 85 boats down a crowd-lined River Seine. Source: SIPA USA / Pasquale Golia/IPA Sport

Braving the heavy rain, some 300,000 people lined the river banks to cheer on the armada carrying competitors past the city’s iconic sights: the Eiffel Tower bearing the five Olympic rings, the Louvre and Notre Dame Cathedral.

A total of 85 boats carried the team delegations on a four-mile journey through the centre of Paris, with more than 300,000 spectators watching from the riverside and bridges.

Lady Gaga sings in French

The American singer surprised viewers by singing in French next to the River Seine during her performance, which saw her deliver a burlesque take on the French classic Mon Truc En Plume.

The 38-year-old has said it was her “supreme honour” to perform at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony.

Paris 2024 Olympic Games - Opening Ceremony

Lady Gaga rented pom poms from the Le Lido archive —a French cabaret theatre—, and collaborated with Dior to create the costumes. Source: AAP / John Walton/PA

“This song was sung by Zizi Jeanmaire, born in Paris a French ballerina, she famously sang Mon Truc en Plumes in 1961”, Gaga said.

She also studied French choreography to put a “modern twist on a French classic”.
As the ceremony moved down the river, it paid tribute to the country’s culture and history including Les Miserables. Following a sequence paying homage to the historical epic, French heavy metal band Gojira performed at the Conciergerie, a former courthouse and prison in the city.

Among the other performers were pianist Alexandre Kantorow and French-Malian singer Aya Nakamura, who sang in a golden dress paired with gladiator boots and gold jewellery.

A flying cauldron and Celine Dion’s great comeback

Zinedine Zidane, Rafael Nadal, Tony Parker, Nadia Comaneci and Carl Lewis were among the greats to shepherd the flame to its destination.

The cauldron was lit by France’s most-decorated track athlete Marie-Jose Perec and three-time Olympic gold medal-winning judoka Teddy Riner.

A huge air ballon.

The Olympic cauldron was lifted by a hot-air balloon. Source: SIPA USA / Алеев Егор

The flame then lifted 30 metres into the Parisian night sky in a hot air balloon, as Canadian singer Celine Dion sung Hymne A l’Amour under the Eiffel Tower.

Las month, Dion, who has been battling a debilitating rare neurological condition, had vowed she would fight her way back from the disease that has kept her off-stage.

A massive security operation

The unprecedented ceremony sparked a colossal security operation in a city where memories of the November 2015 Islamist attacks are still raw.

Security staff on a boat.

A massive security operation was deployed to keep the event safe. Source: SIPA USA / Bildbyran/Maxim Thore

Around 45,000 police and paramilitary officers were on duty to protect the ceremony, along with 10,000 soldiers and 22,000 private security guards.

Snipers, specialist frogmen, and AI-augmented cameras were deployed, with airspace closed and the area around the Seine virtually locked down.



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