The 2024 Olympics opened in Paris in spectacular style with thousands of athletes sailing along the River Seine past lively performers on bridges, banks and rooftops in an ambitious take on an opening ceremony.
Swapping a stadium for a waterway for the first time to open the 'greatest show on earth', the near four-hour spectacle culminated in French judo great Teddy Riner and sprinter Marie-Jose Perec lighting a cauldron shaped like a hot air balloon that rose high above the Parisian sky.
Red, white and blue fireworks had raised the Tricolore above Austerlitz Bridge before 6800 athletes from 205 delegations travelled on 85 boats and barges past some of the French capital's most famous landmarks.
There were surprise performances through the ceremony, including a cabaret number from American singer-songwriter Lady Gaga, as well as an emotional return of Canadian icon Celine Dion.
A balloon holding the Olympic cauldron after it was lit during the opening ceremony. Photo: PETER CZIBORRA/AFP
The day had started with major disruption when the French train network was hit by arson attacks and heavy rain in the evening put paid to the original plan by artistic director Thomas Jolly to use the Parisian sun to "make the water sparkle".
The lashing rain may have forced athletes to add rain ponchos and umbrellas to their planned outfits but it did not detract from the lively journey through French history, art and sport told by some 2000 musicians, dancers and other artists.
The last two boats to parade - first the United States as the next hosts for Los Angeles 2028 and then France - had the largest numbers of athletes on board, while other barges carried several delegations together.
New Zealand athletes on the team boat during the opening ceremony for the Olympic Games in Paris. Photo: HANNAH PETERS/POOL/AFP
Rower Helen Glover and diver Tom Daley were Great Britain's flagbearers in Paris, which was hosting the summer Games for a third time and the first time in 100 years.
In opening the 33rd summer Olympics, which are taking part against a difficult international and domestic political backdrop, International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach told athletes they were now "part of an event that unites the world in peace".
More than 10,500 athletes will compete across 32 sports at the Games, which will close on 11 August.
Paris pulls off an Olympic first
When organisers first revealed plans to hold the opening ceremony along the river in the heart of the city, rather than in a stadium as was usual, there were some raised eyebrows and questions over how they would manage such a huge security operation.
The Seine itself had been under scrutiny for water cleanliness, while simply the logistics of transporting thousands of athletes along a 6km stretch of river without a dress rehearsal seemed ambitious.
But on Friday evening, backed by a security operation involving tens of thousands of police, Paris pulled it off its plan in dazzling fashion.
At times it was bizarre - one moment Lady Gaga surrounded by pink and black feathers was singing in French, the next Bangladesh's athletes were being introduced on their boat.
A lot of the time it was brilliantly frenetic and at others, emotional.
A masked torchbearer runs atop the Musee d'Orsay during the opening ceremony. Photo: PETER CZIBORRA
There was ballet, cancan, opera, famous artwork coming to life and even Minions - and every so often a masked torchbearer was shown running across rooftops and even zip-lining, while the flotilla made its way from Austerlitz Bridge to Pont d'Iena.
The boats with flag-waving athletes passed well-known landmarks like the Louvre museum, Eiffel Tower, Grand Palais and Arc de Triomphe and were treated to 12 artistic segments.
One segment focused on rebuilding Notre Dame, which was damaged in a fire in 2019. A large troupe of dancers were accompanied by music composed using sounds captured from the iconic cathedral's reconstruction.
Another explored French history, with costumed singers performing music from Les Miserables and a choir of headless Marie Antoinettes accompanying French heavy metal band Gojira.
French-Malian R&B star Aya Nakamura - the world's most-streamed French-language artist - was among the musical acts.
The ceremony ended in the Trocadero, where the nearby Eiffel Tower lit up, with the flame - which had been on an elaborate journey with a masked torchbearer and a mechanical horse - being passed to sporting greats Zinedine Zidane, Rafael Nadal, Nadia Comaneci and Serena Williams.
The quartet carried the flame on a boat towards the Louvre, where a series of French athletes and para-athletes past and present - including 100-year-old gold-medal cyclist Charles Coste - carried it and eventually handed it to Riner and Perec.
And just when you thought the ceremony could not get any more beguiling, the pair lit the 30-metre high hot air balloon that now looks like it is floating above the city.
But there was one more magical moment to come, with Dion thrilling the crowds at the Eiffel Tower with a powerful rendition of Edith Piaf's L'Hymne a l'amour in her first performance since revealing a serious neurological condition in December 2022.
- BBC
