A memorable and majestic ceremony opened the Paris 2024 Olympic Games with pure art and glamour, with a majestic musical closing

It sounds Hymn to love of Edith Piaf and the bodies shake. Sings Celine Dion from the heights of the Eiffel Tower accompanied by a piano. She is the owner of a wonderful voice that is extinguished due to a damn illness that kept her from the stage four years ago. The Canadian artist does nothing but move. Not even the rain wanted to miss it. It was the jewel, the finishing touch, of an unforgettable opening ceremony that used Paris, the entire city and its emblematic monuments and architectural wonders, as a giant stage. The Games of the XXXIII Olympiad, with its “flying” cauldron, were officially inaugurated. And how.

As promised, the capital of France surprised the world with an opening ceremony that broke all the molds and was a lavish, unprecedented and impressive celebration of world culture and sport. It was almost four hours of an evening that did not lack anything: glamor and spectacle, culture and tradition, internationally renowned artists and legendary athletes, the color of the delegations that will go for glory in the Olympic event and such an emotional charge. great that not even the bad weather, an unwanted guest, could overshadow.

Coming out for the first time in the history of the typical celebration in a stadium – in a Senior Games, at least, because Buenos Aires had already done it six years ago when it received the Youth Games -, the main stage was the Seine River, for which almost seven thousand athletes from 205 countries sailed in 85 boats, led by their respective flag bearers -Luciano De Cecco and Rocío Sánchez Moccia for Argentina-. But each emblematic corner of the French capital that appeared on the six-kilometer route from the Austerlitz Bridge to the Bridge had its role.

That same revolutionary proposal forced the organizing committee to deploy a huge security operation: 45 thousand police and 10 thousand soldiers deployed in the armored streets and fighter planes, drones and helicopters that flew over the city’s skies throughout the day. And a protocol to control who entered the event area that generated chaos in the early afternoon.

The access points for the public, about 15 along the entire route, opened at 3:30 p.m., but there was chaos in the first minutes because many spectators wandered around lost, not knowing where they had to enter. And although the tickets were free, each person had to request a QR code that they had to present at a particular door along with a personal identification. Little by little, the stands filled up. Those that were built on the banks of the river, on two levels, and on some of the bridges that cross them and those built in the gardens of the Trocaderocenter of some of the most traditional moments of the ceremony.

But don’t get ahead of yourself. While the 300 thousand people who were lucky enough to witness the show live were settling in, the rain appeared. First as a light drizzle, but shortly before 6 p.m., A first downpour fell and the clouds no longer stopped dumping water on Paris throughout the day. That did not stop some well-known sports faces from parading on a glamorous red carpet installed in front of the Eiffel Tower. Serena Williams, Tony Parker and Carl Lewis wowed those present. All three would later play a special role…

Just after 7:30 p.m., the video that began the ceremony began to play on the giant screens distributed throughout the city. Almost out of the blue, without any big announcements, it took many by surprise. Only when the figure of Zinedine Zidane appeared taking the torch in an empty stadium did many understand that the party had started and a first great ovation was heard.

The former footballer handed the flame to three boys and then took the post a mysterious, masked bearer -inspired by various characters from French culture, such as the Phantom of the Opera-, which appeared at different times during the ceremony throughout the night. And when the video was transformed into a live broadcast of the Seine, the parade of delegations opened, with Greece in the first boat, as tradition dictates, followed by the Olympic Refugee Team -one of the most applauded- in the second. And behind, the other countries.

Argentina traveled on the fifth boat that appeared on stage, shortly before the first artistic number: a cabaret-style performance by Lady Gaga on an imposing golden staircase.

From that moment on, moments dedicated to announcing the delegations, which were constantly moving along the river, alternated with entertainment shows, some more classic, others innovative, but all full of color and music, which made the spectators vibrate.

Passed Aya Nakamura, the most listened to French artist in the world, accompanied by 60 musicians from the Republican Guard, and made everyone dance, despite the bad weather. And the band Gojira, which mixed heavy metal sounds with those of opera, after appearing hanging from a building to pay tribute to the French Revolution.

The cultural heritage of France was present in the most diverse artistic expressions. A scene from Les Miserables, the performance of 80 artists from red Mill, the popular cabaret, while the masked torch bearer crossed a zip line towards Notre Dame. The legendary cathedral, still under repair after the fire it suffered in 2019, lent its scaffolding for an acrobatic show. The marsellesaperformed on the roof of the Grand-Palais by the French mezzo soprano Axelle Saint-Cirel, made all the locals swell with pride. And an impressive display on the river, between the Concord Bridge and the Alexandre III, in which statues of ten women who left their mark on the country’s history appeared as the boats with the athletes advanced.

Fashion couldn’t be missing, of course. On Bridge Pasarela Debilly, local designers were recognized. And the celebration of diversity and the call for peace also had its moment. All while the athletes were traveling and arriving at the Trocadero.

Once there, and after the protocol speeches of Tony Estanguet, head of the Organizing Committee of the Games, and Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, and the declaration of Emmanuel Macron, French president, who opened the Games, the most anticipated moment: the lighting of the cauldron.

Zinedine Zidane appeared on stage and received the torch from the masked bearer. She then passed it on to Rafael Nadalwho left by boat for the Tuileries Gardenaccompanied by Serena Williams, Nadia Comaneci and the legendary Carl Lewis. As the boat moved, the Eiffel Tower lit up with an incredible light show to the rhythm of the music.

Once the trip was completed, Nadal handed the flame to Amélie Mauresmo, the first Frenchwoman to carry the torch at night. He then he took her Tony Parker and then a group of prominent athletes and former athletes from the French country, until it reached the hands of the judoka Teddy Riner and the athlete Marie-Jose Pérec.

The two approached a hot air balloon anchored at the site and lit the cauldron: a burning ring seven meters wide, which began to rise into the sky, while, at the top of the Eiffel Tower, Celine Dion He moved with an impeccable performance of “Hymne à l’amour”. The voice of the Canadian singer floating in the air of the city, when the rain was still falling, lowered the curtain on a ceremony that will go down in history. Impressive and unforgettable. Just as Paris had promised.