Paris opens Olympics with River Seine spectacular
Even with trickling rain and imminent security risks dampening part of the mood, Paris has delivered on its promise of raising the curtain on the 2024 Olympics in its uniquely romantic manner.
Not the traditional way, not the safest way, but certainly the most Parisian way — the French capital wowed the world on Friday by turning the picturesque central section of the River Seine into a giant open-air theater. Eighty-five boats carrying athletes from 205 delegations sailed into the Olympic spotlight, cheered on by over 320,000 spectators watching from both banks of the river, and from balconies and windows.
For the first time in the history of modern Olympics, the Games' opening ceremony was moved out of a stadium and took place in the heart of the host city, with the Seine as the main backdrop, making the celebrations and artistic performances accessible to many more people than the traditional stadium crowd.
The bold innovation, overcoming numerous logistical and organizational challenges, successfully took shape on the world's biggest stage, where world-famous singers such as Lady Gaga and Celine Dion performed to rousing reactions from spectators, echoing Paris 2024's official slogan 'Games Wide Open'.
Beginning from the Austerlitz Bridge, the parade of athletes, assembled behind their delegations' flag bearers on boats, sailed along the Seine, passing numerous monuments on both banks and 12 artistic tableaux set in the water and on land, as if the Olympians were revisiting the country's rich history and cultural heritage.
During a break in the boats' parade, 10 gilded statues of influential women from the country's history emerged from pillars set alongside the Seine to honor these heroines, creating one of the night's most memorable scenes, even without sunlight shining on the golden statues as originally expected.
"Our intention is to move away from the sequential show and parade of delegations and speeches. So, over the six and a half kilometers of the route, we have designed 12 artistic tableaux on bridges, quays, rooftops and monuments, entrusted to circus artists, choreographers, musicians and fashion designers, all examples of the vitality of the French artistic scene," said Thomas Jolly, artistic director of the ceremony.
"The themes of these tableaux are 12 major unifying values, drawn from history, the landscape and current events. All showcase the diversity that this country has inherited."
Led by flag bearers Ma Long, a three-time Olympic champion table tennis player, and Feng Yu, an artistic swimmer, the Chinese delegation, dressed in red and represented by a portion of its 405 athletes competing in Paris, made a spirited entry on the 16th boat during the parade.
During the final batch of the delegation parade, the Debilly Footbridge, a quintessentially Parisian bridge over the Seine, turned into a fashion show runway where the finest French designs were presented by celebrities and models, despite the pouring rain.
Cheered on by the enthusiastic Parisian crowd, the host French delegation sailed in last on a barge carrying jumping, waving, and smiling athletes, capping the ceremony's parade and artistic performance section that lasted more than two hours.
Tony Estanguet, president of Paris 2024, then took the main stage set at Trocadero, facing the iconic Eiffel Tower across the Seine, to welcome the world after the raising of the Olympic flag, which was carried into the site by a horsewoman galloping on a metal horse and draped in a cape with Olympic rings.
"It is a huge honor to welcome you here 100 years after the last time we hosted the Summer Games," Estanguet, a three-time Olympic champion in canoe slalom, said of Paris' encore since organizing the summer edition in 1924.
"We have been bold, doing things that have never been done before, like having this opening ceremony in the city, for the first time in the history of the Olympic Games. Like every host country our ambition has been to help the Games grow stronger. And in the end, it is the Games that have helped us to grow."
Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, called on the international community to stay united under the Olympic banner.
"In our Olympic world, there is no 'global south' or 'global north'. We all respect the same rules and each other. In our Olympic world, we all belong," Bach, a fencing Olympic champion himself, said in his speech.
"As Olympians, we care for each other. We do not only respect each other, we live in solidarity with each other. All of you have experienced this and benefited from our Olympic solidarity on your long journey to finally becoming Olympians."
French President Emmanuel Macron then declared the opening of the Games, kicking off a spectacular light show featuring laser beams shot from the Eiffel Tower that illuminated the Parisian night.
At the climax of the ceremony, French three-time Olympic gold medalists Marie-Jose Perec (athletics) and Teddy Riner (judo) jointly lit the main cauldron of the Games, a ring of flames, which was suspended by a giant balloon and ascended into the air over the Tuileries Garden, a tribute to the first human flight in a hot-air balloon, which succeeded at the same location in December 1783.
