The 2024 Olympic Games in Paris opened on Friday after a rainy ceremony, but despite the weather, it lasted about four hours and went off smoothly.
The opening ceremony was expected to be the biggest open-air show on Earth, according to Olympic organisers. More than 300,000 people watched from the river banks and bridges as a dance show, live music and acrobatics unfolded along more than 6 kilometres of river from the Austerlitz Bridge to the Eiffel Tower. Organisers said more than 80 heads of state and government attended the show. French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte had the previous day welcomed numerous heads of state to the Elysee Palace shortly before the start of the Olympic opening ceremony on Friday.
The ceremony lasted about three hours and 45 minutes. The US singer Lady Gaga performed an iconic French cabaret number in French, accompanied by dancers shaking pink pompoms with feathers. Then three-time Olympic champions from France Marie-Josée Perec and Teddy Riner lit the Olympic flame suspended from a balloon, before Canadian Celine Dion performed Edith Piaf’s “Hymn to Love” in her first public performance in years, drawing a standing ovation from the audience.
French-Malian pop star Aya Nakamura, one of the most popular French singer in the world, performed some of her best-known hits accompanied by the French Republican Guard army choir. Nakamura’s performance drew the biggest applause at the ceremony, according to Reuters. However, some questioned her French identity, saying her music owed far more to foreign influences.
Afterwards, a 30-metre (98-foot) high balloon carrying a 7-metre diameter ring of fire rose into the air and hovered dozens of metres above the ground. Organisers said it would remain in the air from sunset until 2am local time each day. Moreover, the flotilla of barges took competitors along a 6-kilometre stretch of river along some of the French capital’s most famous landmarks while performers recreated some of the sports that will feature at the Games on floating platforms.
The Olympic Games in Paris are the first ever to be held outside a stadium, which added some challenges to the massive security operation. First, a series of sabotage attacks on the TGV high-speed rail network caused travel chaos across France in the hours before the ceremony began. Then came the weather nightmare: instead of the soft summer evening light the directors had hoped for, there was a deluge as the heavens opened with rain so relentless that forecasters said it was the equivalent of 15 days’ rainfall in six hours. The ceremony still managed to overcome the obstacles in the end.
Consequently, many of the 300,000 spectators gathered along the river left the event early because of the rain that began to fall. However, in a show of respect for the torrential rain, hundreds of dancers synchronised their dance through gutters of water in a dramatic show on the Isle of Cité, near Notre Dame.
Security for the Olympics was also at an adequate level. The ceremony had snipers on rooftops protecting the ceremony, the Seine riverbed checked for bombs, armed police patrolled the river in inflatable boats as the armada marched down the Seine, and Paris’ airspace was closed. Some 45,000 police officers and thousands of soldiers deployed in a massive security operation in Paris for the ceremony.
The maximum level of security is in place in France. Officials have reiterated repeatedly that there is no threat to the opening ceremony or the Games. However, conflicts in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip are creating a tense international environment. For example, the Israeli delegation has received some booing in the form of chanting “Palestine! Palestine! Palestine!” but also many cheers as it sailed past the spectators.
