Paris Olympics emerges from darkness with unique opening ceremony (2024)

In parts surreal, in parts spectacular, always very wet.

We’ll be blogging all of tomorrow’s events, with the action in the pool getting under way, so please join us for that.

It took a while but what a conclusion. The cauldron-balloon is a beautiful sight and an inspired idea. Fantastical but stately, much like Celine Dion, who (pardon my French) sang la merde out of that song.

A lot of literal showboating, but as an expression of a complicated and, on this evidence, really quite odd country you could not ask for more from France. A real shame about the weather but with better luck all of that will be overshadowed from tomorrow by glorious sport. It’s always sunny in sport. And if it’s not you can just go inside and watch some volleyball.

It’s in the form of a hot-air balloon. And it’s set ablaze by French former sprinter Marie-Jose Perec and French judoka Teddy Riner.

The Gardens of the Tuileries is where, in 1783, Jacques Charles and Aine Robert ascended in their hydrogen balloon. They travelled 27 miles and it was the longest hot-air balloon flight attempted up to that time.

The hot-air balloon/flame then ascends into the Parisian night sky. And Celine Dion, as anticipated, starts singing. She’s by the Eiffel Tower.

It’s a spectacular sight.

...a trio of Para-athletes. The procession has now reached the Gardens of the Tuileries, next to the Louvre. And the torch is passed quickly among a series of great French athletes.

There’s more than a hint of Pass The Parcel here, ‘when the music stops you get to light the cauldron’...

One of the ‘French legends’ is Charles Coste, who is 100, and who uses a wheelchair. He was a cycling champion in 1948 and is France’s oldest living gold medallist

And the Spaniard looks soaked...

Who does he give the torch to? It’s another tennis star, Amelie Mauresmo. The former world No.1 is on land and runs with the torch along the banks of the Seine. But where’s she going? It’s the Louvre! She then passes the torch to Tony Parker, the former basketball player, the first Frenchman to be inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame.

Request for France for future: Slightly faster boats. Muchfaster horses. Merci!

We’re going rather big on tennis here, are we not? Fans of most other Olympic sport feeling a bit short changed. Unless we’re about to see the great and the good of climbing / wresting/ handball to get equivalent torch-bearing stints? Please, let’s hope not. We have homes to go to.

Interesting to see a few broadcasting sorts explaininghow and why rain has impacted tonight, and why it might have felt a little flat on TV:

Point about close-ups is particularlystriking. Not the sort of thing you ever think about very much unless you work in broadcasting, but with a moment of thought of course seeing people’s expressions at close quarters is crucial to the grammar of an event like this.

We did have some close-ups of Thomas Bach but I’m not sure many people found his words as moving as he would have liked.

Zinedine Zidane turns up again. And the mysterious masked torch holder appears from beneath the stage to hand said Olympic torch to the all-time great footballer. Is he going to light the Olympic cauldron?

NO!

He hands the torch to famous Frenchman, errrrm, Spaniard, Rafael Nadal. To be fair Rafa is an honorary Parisian having won at Roland Garros a zillion (14) times.

They’re in French and Andrew Cotter is translating.

First it’s Tony Estanguet, the president of Paris 2024...

Don’t think Cotter’s French is as good as he thinks it is. “Something about love there...” is what the popular BBC commentator tells us. I, too, wasn’t great at French (gave it up after GCSE...) so I won’t criticise.

He finds his French-English dictionary in time for Thomas Bach’s speech.

The Olympic president says: “The moment is here...welcome to the Paris Games 2024...it’s going to be an inclusive Games, younger, more urban, and with equality between women and men on the field of play...your smiles make us love Paris even more...Paris, city of love. Thank you France for this welcome.”

He then speaks en Anglais and Cotter no longer needs Google translate.

All polite and predictable stuff.

Has become a real one, and the Olympic flag is attached to the rider. They are followed by people carrying all the flags of the participating nations over the Pont d’Iena Bridge.

The rider, who is wearing what looks like a lot of tin foil or a bendy mirror, then carries the Olympic flag and hands it over to members of the French military. The flag is then raised, accompanied by the Olympic anthem.

The rain, that had stopped, is now back in force.

First they came for the Minions and I did not speak up because I do not care about the Minions but... John Lennon’s Imagine? Is there not a French language equivalent? Surely we’d have taken Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien, even with its rather less world peace-y message?

This magical horse is quite impressive but is running about as quickly as a German train. At last we have reachedthepart of the event taking place at the Trocadero. Reward at last for a crowd of soaked bigwigs.

A big “pop” as they say in the world of professional wrestling for the French team, predictably. Just no let up in the rain. Macron taking Starmer’s cue and refusing to wear the poncho, but he is one of very few with a fully covered seat at the Trocadero.

Really enjoying the Eurodance section but that might just be because the endless parade of nations has finished. A glaring lack of Italo Disco though, which should prompt Rome to put itself forward for a futureGames to avenge.

There’s something I never thought I’d ever have to write, let alone on a sports blog. Also, it’s something that should never be uttered, at any time, no matter what the occasion. It’s never time for Euro pop...

Anyway, various dancers strut their stuff on the drenched catwalk and what on looks like a barge with the EU flag as a dancefloor. As Del Boy would say: ‘Chateauneuf du Pape’...

We’ve reached the Ts. Feel like we’ve broken the back of this now. The catwalk element now seems to have been going on for more than the traditionalParis Fashion week. Am also finding it slightlydistracting how many of the boats look like the Thames Clipper. A lovely novelty option to travel from Greenwich to Vauxhall, but wouldn’t fancy three hours on one.

All gone a bit quiet from masked flame-holding bloke hasn’t it? What’s he up to? Stopped for a little Pastis in Le Marais? Surely the reveal of his face is going to be a fun moment? My guess: Juliette Binoche.

MONGOLIA!

Apparently it took 20 hours to embroider each outfit - well worth it, I say...some may say it looks like an overly ornate apron, but they’re wrong...

What have you got lefton your French opening ceremony bingo card? Here’s mine:

• Monet’s Water Lilies
• Celine Dion
• Miscellaneous man wearing Breton top and necklace made of onions
• Serge Gainsbourg
• Tour de France Peloton
• Mime artist
• Some really ornate cooking

Felt for Maldives on their boat when it looked like they were being squirted with water,doubt many of them have any had ever need to own an anorak. Have these soggy Olympians not suffered enough? Think it was a trick of the camera, though.

...to wave the right way if they want to be seen on TV.

Luxembourg also didn’t get the memo. All we see of their team is the backs of the athletes.

Not sure about those Team GB outfits. Baseball jacket with light blue jeans is a bit “divorced Dad looking to bounce back” for my tastes. Not sure why the Minions have muscled in on the act too. Anyone else feel like we’re losing a bit of discipline here? Get back to basics: Jean-Michel Jarresimultaneously smoking and eating a croissant, STAT.

Weather still miserable. You do feel slightly for the organisers, but I suppose this was always a very real risk with the whole non-stadium ploy.

Here’s the boat of Team GB, Tom Daley and Helen Glover look soaked but happy enough waving the Union flag.

We’re sharing this vessel with Grenada’s six athletes, Guam, and Guatemala, who’s vibrant green and blue gear is definite podium potential in terms of the Outfit Olympics.

At last, a place in the Olympics for technical/death metal with that performance from Gojira, the authentic sound of modern France. Presumably Daft Punk unavailable.

Now so wet that water is beginning to pool on the Eiffel Tower-shaped stage here at the Trocadero, which is the site of the grand finale. Several puddles have formed so let’s hope all involved are wearing les bottles de marche.

Malian-French singer Aya Nakamura lightening the mood somewhat. Top marks for her sensible sandals.

Unfortunate that the pre filmed parts of this ceremony were done on a bright, clear day. It is making the jumps from live to video sections jarring in person and presumably on TV too.

Rain hammering down now. Worried about the athletes! Three hours of this on a roofless boat and some of them are sleeveless. Going to be a shame to cancel the 100m final because the field was decimated by an outbreak of the sniffles.

In that there are boats of all shapes and sizes, it seems as though they’ve got their hands on whatever boats they could find.

As I type that the biggest boat of the lot comes on the screen - it’s hosting Chile and China.

...Mon truc en plumes originally sung by Zizi Jeanmaire, who, Wikipedia tells me...

was a French ballet dancer, actress and singer. She became famous in the 1950s after playing the title role in the ballet Carmen, produced in London in 1949, and went on to appear in several Hollywood films and Paris revues. She was the wife of dancer and choreographer Roland Petit, who created ballets and revues for her.

The plethora of pink apparently represents La vie en rose. Glad we cleared that one up.

This is a massive break with opening ceremony tradition, to get more or less straight into the prolonged introduction of every country section. By this time in 2012 we’d had the industrial revolution, Tim Berners-Lee, David Beckham speedboating down the Thames and a parachuting Queen. Surely it’s not Zizou, subway, torch, catacombs fin?

Perhaps the river format is going to allow the organisers to mix up the parade of athletes with the fun stuff? Interest palpably waning in the Trocadero and we’re only on to the Bs. Clouds looking ominous too.

The athletes from the Caribbean island are wearing red hats and snazzy light blue and yellow jackets.

The Bahamas win worst dressed (so far). They’re wearing what can only be described as a 1990s shellsuit...retro in the worst sense of the word.

This one is shared by Afghanistan, South Africa, Albania, Algeria, and Germany.

Happy families.

All the athletes look as though they’re enjoying themselves, waving their national flags in a frenzied manner, and why not...

Let me be (among) the first of many to say that Zinedine Zidane is clearly reprising the James Bond role from 2012. He’s like Daniel Craig, if he did Renault Clio adverts.

Something approaching a cheer when he appeared on screen from the dignitaries who have a scored tickets here. Significantly less warmth to the welcome for Emmanuel Macron.

With one of the all-time great footballers Zinedine Zidane running with the Olympic torch across Paris in a pre-recorded piece. While on the metro (which breaks down...) he passes the torch to three children who then take it down to the Paris Catacombs, scary...

From there we see them get on a boat and then we go live to the bigwigs, with Emmanuel Macron waving to the assorted dignitaries, just before the Austerlitz bridge is lit up by the colours of the tricolore.

Good start.

We see James Bond (aka Daniel Craig) from London 2012, Mohammed Ali from Atalanta 1996, and the guy with the self-designed jet pack from LA 1984.

Fair to say that tonight has a lot to live up to.

A reminder that there has been no dress rehearsal, it could be interesting...

“I’ve really enjoyed my experiences at the Olympics. They have been some of the best weeks of my career. [I’d tell athletes coming to the Games for the first time] to chat to the other athletes and make the most of the chance [of being here] and to enjoy it too.”

Twenty minutes to go and the athletes are onboard their vessels. Here’s canoeist Joe Clarke instigating an Olympic pin trade with his new friends from Spain.

A bigger boat than Joe is used to for this trip down the Seine, but some countries could have sent their delegation in one of his competition kayaks. Belize, Liechtenstein, Nauru, Somalia and Tuvalu have just one representative here each.

It’s fair to say that they are both pretty excited to be carrying the flag for Team GB.

Helen Glover on leading the British contingent...

“It cannot get nay better, it will be one of the highlights of my career.”

Tom Daley on the honour...

“[The 14-year-old me] wouldn’t believe that one day I’d be the flag bearer.”

A vast security operation costing £350 million has unfolded in recent days to counter potential threats – with the opening ceremony identified as the most high risk of all. The largest peacetime deployment of forces in France’s history involved some 75,000 soldiers, police and private security agents.

“We’re focused and we’re ready,” said General Lionel Catar, one of the military planners, before the showpiece opening.

A “ring of steel” is in place around Paris’s most famous spotsto ensure competitors are protected as they progress down the River Seine in dozens of barges, in front of some 350,000 spectators.

Gérald Darmanin, France’s minister of the interior, said “the terrorist threat remains high” and that “a high level of vigilance” remains essential.

The security operation around this ceremony is understandably thorough. The area close to the river route has been more or less locked down for eight days now and many of the roads in the middle of the city are closed. We cruised through on our media bus here, but had to pass through several checkpoints staffed by dozens of navy-clad police. Or, as they should be known: les cordon bleus.

There was one spell of sustained rain about half an hour ago, which was heavy enough to affect visibility. The most up-to-date forecasts are anticipating more of that in both time and volume any minute now.

The ceremony’s artistic director Thomas Jolly had expressed concern about the weather earlier this week, he said he was hoping for either clear skies and an Instagram-friendly golden hour or a proper storm, for added drama. Grey and rainy was his nightmare scenario, that seems like the probable outcome now.

Various performers will be involved at all stages of the event, including on the individual boats for the parade.

Lady Gaga and Celine Dion are expected to star. The duo are reportedly set to perform a version of Edith Piaf’s La Vie en Rose as part of a glittering conclusion to the first ever opening ceremony to be staged outside a stadium.

Dion, who is French-Canadian, teased her appearance in a post on X, writing: “Every time I return to Paris, I remember there’s so much beauty and joy still to experience in the world. I love Paris, and I’m so happy to be back!”

The city has been preparing for the unique ceremony for months, and over recent days the famous river has been increasingly hidden behind miles of chain-link fencing as part of a giant security operation.

Ticketed fans will have access to specially constructed stands on both sides of the river, while the ceremony’s conclusion will be beamed around the city via 80 giant screens.

• The show starts at 6.30 UK time, with TV coverage on the BBC getting under way at 5.45.
• For the first time, the opening ceremony will take place outside a closed stadium, with an open-air parade of 160 boats – 94 of them carrying athletes – sailing 6km along the Seine at the heart of Paris. The parade will come to an end in front of the Trocadéro, where the remaining elements of the Olympic protocol and final shows will take place.
• During the parade, performers in the ceremony will be with the delegations and passengers on the boats.
• The outdoor concept also makes Paris 2024 the largest Opening Ceremony in terms of audience and geographical coverage.

...Pharrell Williams is getting a go with the Olympic torch. It seems American rappers are as likely as actual French people to carry the flame before the ceremony gets under way this evening.

There has been a lot of speculation over who will light the Olympic cauldron (Marie-Jose Perec, Zinedine Zidane among the possibilities...) but going on the fact Messrs Dogg and Williams were both given the honour of carrying the torch I am going to throw another name into the hat: Ice Cube?

We are in now, and stationed at theTrocadéro, just over the Seine from the Eiffel Tower. If the onlyTrocadero you are familiar with is the London version with its overpriced arcade machine and indoor rollercoaster, this one is... different. Better? Don’t think it’s a chain.

This will be where the ceremony concludes this evening which should be wonderful. Less wonderfully you cannot see any of the river from the press seats, where the majority of the jollity shall be taking place. Also the forecasted rain is looking pretty serious, due to start in earnest an hour from now and looks ominously like it will stick around for the duration. Thoughts and prayers for the laptops.

The Eiffel Tower will play a big part in tonight’s ceremony – standing at 330 metres high it is the tallest structure in Paris. But for the duration of the Olympics it has a rival in the height stakes: Victor Wembanyama.

The French basketballer is 7ft 4in tall and in a sport where height is a given, stands out as freakishly tall.

Wembanyama is the face of Paris 202, NBA rookie of the year, and has been likened to an ‘alien’.

Thom Gibbs has the lowdown on the beanpole here.

France’s meteorological office has issued a yellow alert, warning of rain and flooding in Paris, from 8pm tonight, L’Equipe reports.

Meanwhile, Reuters is reporting that one meteorologist is calling it a “disaster” for the unprecedented open-air ceremony.

About 25mm (0.98in) to 30mm (1.18in) of rain is expected between 6pm and midnight on Friday during the three-hour opening ceremony attended by world leaders and global celebrities, the equivalent of 15 days of rainfall, weather forecaster Patrick Marliere said.

“It’s going to be a disaster for these few hours,” Marliere, the head of independent weather forecaster Agate Meteo, said on RMC radio.

“I’ve been running models for two hours, going full circle, comparing all weather models, but unfortunately everything is confirming this trend for the start and the end of this evening. We won’t be able to avoid it.”

France has spent years planning for an Olympic opening ceremony of unprecedented complexity.

Around 45,000 police will be deployed at a ratio of one to every four or five spectators for a planned floating spectacle up six kilometres of the River Seine. Measures have extended to a lockdown and security ‘sweep’ of a protected loop from Ivry-Charenton to the Pont Gariglian several days in advance. Specialist state forces – understood to include police helicopters, scuba divers and snipers – have been used to secure the river and airspace and there will be around 2,000 private security focused on the lower quays and the Trocadéro.

In short, it is the biggest ever security operation for any event in France’s history.

Although there are contingencies – notably limiting the opening ceremony to the Trocadéro area – President Emmanuel Macron has repeatedly stressed that threats and risks should not prevent France from “creating dreams” with its grand opening.

The big breaking news from France this morning is that the country’s railways appear to have been sabotaged in a “massive arson attack” hours before Olympics begin.

France’s train operator SNCF said its high-speed rail network has been hit by “malicious acts” and the situation would last “at least all weekend while repairs are conducted”.

Read our full report here.

Good morning and welcome to our rolling live coverage of the Olympic Games in Paris. After two days of preliminary action in rugby sevens, football, archery and handball, the sport is paused today and all eyes are on the opening ceremony. And what a ceremony it promises to be.

In a major break from tradition, the much-anticipated shindig will not take place in a stadium, but rather aboard a flotilla of boats – including those carrying the athletes – down the River Seine, with more than 300,000 spectators lining the river banks.

Of course this means a major security operation which has been planned for years and an almost unimaginable logistical challenge to ensure all runs smoothly. Olympic bigwigs, Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo and of course French president Emmanuel Macron – who is hoping a successful Games can provide some respite from the political turmoil that has engulfed France this summer – will be praying that the audacious plans for tonight are delivered without any major hitches.

We’ll bring you latest on the ceremony here, including any news (and rumours) on who will be performing and who might have the ultimate honour of lighting the Olympic cauldron when the boats arrive at their finish point, opposite the Trocadero, across from the Eiffel Tower.

The opening ceremony is due to start at 6.30pm UK time.

Our crack team of reporters on the ground in Paris will be sending updates and also providing other news from around the Games, with a special focus of course on Team GB. It’s been a busy week already for them, with a litany of scandals and controversy – more on those later.

Of course Olympic Games do tend to be beset by doubts, problems and furore before they begin, with the actual sport usually bringing relief. So wewill also be looking ahead to the start of competition proper tomorrow and which British athletes are in contention for glory.

Let the Games begin...