Paris welcomed the 33rd Olympic Games with an opening ceremony like no other but Friday night’s flotilla down the River Seine was almost washed away by relentless rain.
Zinedine Zidane, Lady Gaga, and Celine Dion were among those to lend the event star power, but a ceremony designed to be staged on the water was largely in it as athletes and performers alike were left drenched by the time the Olympic flame rose above the city on a balloon.
A total of 85 boats carried the team delegations on a six-kilometre journey through the centre of Paris, with more than 300,000 spectators lining the banks of the river.
Lady Gaga was the first to steal the show, bursting forth from behind a pair of out-sized pink pom-poms to deliver a burlesque take on the French classic ‘Mon truc en plume’.
The performances came in all shapes and sizes, with Gojira adding a dramatic twist of heavy metal.
GB’s flagbearers Tom Daley and Helen Glover are two athletes well-accustomed to the water, and were joined by the likes of Andy Murray on the team’s boat.
Once at the Trocadero, those athletes willing to stick it out began to gather by the long stage – designed in the shape of the Eiffel Tower – down the centre of the temporary stadium, which staff were busily trying to keep free of standing water with mops.
The biggest boat of all was reserved for hosts France, who rounded off the flotilla on a packed vessel that looked more like a ferry as dance music cranked up the atmosphere.
“Dear athletes, you have come to Paris as athletes, now you’re Olympians,” he said. “Now you realise generations of athletes before, now you are part of something bigger. Now we are all part of an event recognised across the world.”
Addressing conflicts around the world, he added: “Olympians from all around the world show what greatness us humans are capable of. Let us celebrate this Olympic spirit of living life in peace, as the one and only humankind, united in all our diversity.
“So I invite everybody to dream with us. It is why tonight the heart has strong emotion. I invite the whole world to celebrate together. Long live the Olympic Games, long live France.”
It eventually found its way to Marie-Jose Perec and Teddy Riner to light the flame, sending a balloon rising into the Paris sky.
As it did so, Celine Dion appeared on the deck of the Eiffel Tower to close the ceremony with a powerful rendition of Edith Piaf’s ‘L’Hymne a l’amour’, her first public performance since she revealed in December 2022 she is living with the rare condition stiff person syndrome.
