Olympics: Paris Games kick off with spectacular opening ceremony on the Seine
The opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris, centred on a boat parade on the Seine, took place on Friday evening. For the first time in modern Olympic history, the ceremony was held outside of a stadium. The show was scheduled to last more than three hours.
The show started with a short film that featured French football icon Zinedine Zidane. After blue, white and red smoke formed the French flag on the Austerlitz bridge, the boat parade of national teams began.
Greece, the cradle of the Olympics, started the parade as it always does. In the next team was the boat of the refugee team, followed by the countries in alphabetical order in French. The Belgian team was 20th out of 207 delegations, with basketball player Emma Meesseman and showjumper Jérôme Guéry carrying the flag. The Belgian athletes shared a boat with the delegations of Barbados, Belize, Benin and Bermuda.
The first musical performance was by Lady Gaga. She sang Zizi Jeanmaire's cabaret hit Mon truc en plume in French, accompanied by dancers. After a historical section, with references to Quasimodo at the Notre-Dame church, Marie Antoinette and a scene from Les Misérables, the French metal band Gojira took the stage.
After a fireworks show, French pop star Aya Nakamura performed, accompanied by a brass band. Her performance was an ode to the French language spread across the world.
After a dry beginning to the show, the weather worsened and it started to rain. Céline Dion was due to close the ceremony, with French president Emmanuel Macron officially opening the Games.
Team Belgium at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games, 26 July 2024 © BELGA PHOTO JASPER JACOBS
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