PARIS (AFP) – A historic boat parade down the River Seine launched the Paris Olympics with spectacular French flair Friday, as the City of Light welcomed the world’s greatest athletes for a sporting extravaganza.
A show-stopping performance by Celine Dion, a flaming Olympic cauldron lifted into the night sky by hot-air balloon, and a dazzling Eiffel Tower light show brought the curtain down on a four-hour celebration of French culture, history and art.
Braving torrential rain, some 300,000 people had 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.
The wildly ambitious display was the first time the Olympic opening ceremony has been staged outside the main stadium, making it the biggest-ever launch for the “Greatest Show on Earth”.
But that gamble also made the ceremony hostage to the weather, with spectators, VIPs, and athletes alike drenched or huddling in transparent ponchos.
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.
In the City of Love, the ceremony stressed togetherness and unity in a world that has suffered wars, massacres, and political upheaval since the Covid-delayed Tokyo Olympics.
Four jets from the French air force display team drew a large pink heart in the Paris sky to set the tone.
For just over a fortnight, organisers hope the superhuman performances of stars like gymnast Simone Biles, tennis champion Novak Djokovic or sprinter Noah Lyles will provide the world with much-needed distraction.
Beach volleyball at the Eiffel Tower, breakdancing in Place de la Concorde, equestrian sport at the Palace of Versailles: 100 years since Paris last staged the Olympics, the city will provide a stunning backdrop to the sport.
“I declare open the Games of Paris celebrating the 33rd Olympiad of the modern era,” said President Emmanuel Macron.
In a symbol of the Games’ message of gender parity, French track legend Marie-Jose Perec and three-time Olympic judo champion Teddy Riner lit the Olympic cauldron together.
Dion closed the show from the first level of the Eiffel Tower, with her first public performance since revealing she was suffering from a rare illness.
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.
And from Moulin Rouge performers doing the cancan to a video showing dancers on the scaffolding of fire-damaged Notre Dame, it was a colourful festival of all things French.
Led out by Greece through jets of water cascading from a bridge, accompanied by an accordion player, around 7,000 athletes cruised down a six-kilometre (four-mile) stretch of the Seine to the Eiffel Tower on 85 boats.
The unprecedented ceremony sparked a colossal security operation in a city where memories of the November 2015 Islamist attacks are still raw.
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.
To everyone’s relief, the ceremony passed off without major incident.
Sporting royalty mingled with celebrities and world leaders on and off the Seine, which will host triathlon and the swimming marathon after a historic clean-up to make it swimmable.
Lady Gaga added global musical star power, with Franco-Malian R&B star Aya Nakamura also performing, defying criticism from far-right politicians who suggested her appearance would “humiliate” France.
The ceremony kicked off with a video of French football legend Zinedine Zidane, who took the torch on an offbeat journey through the Metro, and the Paris catacombs.
Basketball icon LeBron James and tennis player Coco Gauff carried the flag for Team USA, which has topped the medal table at every Olympics since Beijing in 2008.
True to its slogan “Games Wide Open”, the Paris Olympics can boast gender equality for the first time ever — for Paris 1924, the last time the Olympics took place in the city, four percent of athletes were women.
But the ceremony did not shy away from the chaos in the world — to the strains of John Lennon’s “Imagine”, the city was plunged into darkness in an invitation to reflect.
With extra security for Israeli athletes, plus a call from the Palestinian team for Israel to be excluded over the Gaza War, geopolitics has been an unwelcome intruder in the run-up.
Russian athletes have been banned from the Paris Olympics over the Ukraine invasion, and possible Russian destabilisation efforts sparked fears ahead of the Games.
But with the Games now open, the stage is set for the 10,500 athletes to fulfil their dreams and turn in the performance of their lives.
Can US legend Biles bounce back from her “Twisties” heartbreak in Tokyo? Will Lyles establish himself as the rightful sprinting heir to Usain Bolt?
LeBron James on the basketball court, Carlos Alcaraz on the Roland Garros clay, France’s swimming hope Leon Marchand in the pool: the stars are aligned for sporting brilliance.
