Top 6 moments from the opening ceremony of 2024 Paris Olympics

The Paris Olympic 2024 opening ceremony on Friday was many things at once. The rain made it damp, some of the performances made it boundary-breaking and genre-defying, while the ceremony on the Seine River – the first Summer Games opening event outside a stadium made it unprecedented. It eventually ended with French Olympic gold medalists Teddy Riner and Marie-Jose Perec together lighting up the Olympic cauldron as President Emmanuel Macron declared the 2024 Paris Olympic Games open.

The elaborate ceremony saw a collection of barges carrying over 1000 competitors on a six-kilometre stretch of the Seine river as they crossed some of the most iconic locations in Paris which have become its identity over the years. They went past Notre Dame, Pont des Arts, Pont Neuf, and more.

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The floating opening ceremony parade began at the Austerlitz bridge beside the Jardin des Plantes and ended at the Trocadero.

Here are the five most memorable moments from the Paris Olympics 2024 opening ceremony:

Rain lashes ceremony

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 as heavy summer downpours descended on Paris even as forecasts showed days of hot sunny weather ahead.

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As the national teams paraded down the Seine on boats, they sought to make the best of the situation, likely hoping the damp would have no impact on health before events.

Renowned French classical pianist Alexandre Kantorow was drenched as he performed on a Paris bridge without any cover, while social media users expressed concern for his equally unprotected instrument.

Ironically, the piece he played was “Jeux d’eau” (“Water Game”) by Maurice Ravel.

An image of Britain’s new Prime Minister Keir Starmer meanwhile went viral showing him refusing to wear the standard plastic poncho to stay dry – showing classic British defiance in the face of poor weather.

Celine Dion’s great comeback

Canadian singer Celine Dion, who had been battling a rare illness, made a spectacular comeback by singing from the Eiffel Tower at the climax of the ceremony with a rousing version of the “Hymn to Love” by Edith Piaf.

Showing pitch-perfect intonation and hitting the notes with ease, she serenaded a captive Paris as the cauldron lit by France’s most-decorated track athlete Marie-Jose Perec and three-time Olympic gold medal-winning judoka Teddy Riner soared into the Paris sky in a balloon.

Celine Dion #Paris2024 #Olympics #Olympic2024 pic.twitter.com/3f8Pm0qqrE

— @FanCelineDionIcon (@celinedionlcon) July 26, 2024

Last month she vowed she would fight her way back from the debilitating rare neurological condition that has kept her off stage.

Dion first disclosed in December 2022 that she had been diagnosed with Stiff Person Syndrome, an incurable autoimmune disorder.

A French classic

Some 80 artists from the celebrated Moulin Rouge cabaret performed the iconic cancan dance that dates back to the 1820s, in pink costumes specially designed for the occasion.

The famous music however was given a new electronic touch that set the tone for an evening that sought to put a new twist on classic French culture.

𝗕𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘄𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗻, 𝗰𝗮𝗻, 𝗰𝗮𝗻! 💃

8️⃣0️⃣ artists from the Moulin Rouge perform the iconic dance that dates back to the 1820s. 🤩

Their pink costumes have been specifically designed for the #OpeningCeremony. Très chic. 👌#Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/yXJ52dVmmV

— Olympic Khel (@OlympicKhel) July 26, 2024

As the teams began their parade down the Seine they were serenaded by an accordion player – dressed in the obligatory French outfit of beret and blue-striped T-shirt – precariously perched on a bridge.

Defying discrimination

There had been a racist backlash on social media and criticism from the extreme right when it emerged that French Malian singer Aya Nakamura was to perform at the opening ceremony.

But with President Emmanuel Macron himself backing her involvement, she and her dance troupe swung their way into a medley of her hits and a song by the great Charles Aznavour.

In an eloquent symbol, she received backing from the musicians of France’s Republican Guard and performed against the backdrop of the Academie Francaise, the austere guardians of the French language.

A sequence of dancing promoting tolerance of sexual and gender identities ended with the actor Philippe Katerine appearing as the Greek God Dionysus naked and painted pink, with strategically placed flowers covering his modesty.

“Je ferais mieux d’aller choisir mon vocabulaire,
Pour te plaire,
Dans la langue de Molière” 🌟🫨
Aya Nakamura performing in front of the Académie Française telling them racist to shut up 👑#Paris2024 #CeremoniaDeApertura #ceremoniedouverture pic.twitter.com/p2dG1DtbTJ

— Alix (@1910_Youth) July 26, 2024

In possibly Jolly’s greatest coup de theatre of the entire ceremony 10 statues of pioneering French women surged up from the waters of the Seine in a bid to inscribe their achievements in minds forever.

They included the French writer and activist Olympe de Gouges who was guillotined in 1793, Simone Veil, a Holocaust survivor who spearheaded the legalisation of abortion in France, and feminist activist Gisele Halimi.

Diverse music

No-one could accuse the opening ceremony of being rigid in its choice of music with the city pulsating to all styles from classical, to opera, to pop to electro.

The ceremony did not stint on star power with Lady Gaga appearing to perform a French music hall classic and homegrown stars like the rapper Rim’K also performing at the ceremony.

So Gojira at the Paris Olympics. Why!? Don’t they know the standard formula of getting some old washed out has been to sing a washed out hit!?

Well done Paris on trying something sonically & visually very different. l!👏👏

The winner was metal! pic.twitter.com/6TSTmd8uKJ

— Punt Road (@punt_rd) July 26, 2024

But perhaps the biggest cheer came for the French metal band Gojira who appeared on platforms high on the Conciergerie, an iconic building in the French Revolution, the first time a metal band has appeared at an Olympic opening ceremony.

Indian athletes dazzle

The Indian boat was 84th in the Parade of Nations, coming in after Hungary and followed by Indonesia, Iran, and Iraq. Legendary table tennis player Sharath Kamal and two-time Olympic medal winner PV Sindhu were India’s flagbearers. The male athletes in the Indian contingent wore kurtas with jackets that had saffron and green borders, highlighting the national flag, while the female athletes wore sarees that also had a colour combination displaying the tricolour.

With agency inputs