Highlights from the Paris 2024 Olympics opening ceremony

True to its rich cinematic heritage, the Paris 2024 Olympics opening ceremony began with a quick-witted, action-packed film. It highlighted some famous Parisian streets and renowned football athlete Zinedine Zidane, who carried the torch after the unnamed torchbearer discovered that the Olympics would not open in Stade de France. He then passed it on to two boys who hopped on a boat—a scene reminiscent of Gaston Leroux’s novel-turned-musical Phantom of the Opera. When the boys made their way to the River Seine, the colours of the French flag were ejected spectacularly in a bouquet of smoke from the Austerlitz Bridge.

This was followed by the passing of torches throughout the film and the duration of the opening ceremony programme. Paris 2024 Olympic Games’ symbol of peace made a majestic entrance at the penultimate part of the show—in metallic armour. She was a masked horsewoman who wore the Olympic flag designed by Coubertin as a cape while riding on horseback from the River Seine to the Trocadéro Gardens. She then carried another Olympic flag in her hands and crossed the Eiffel Tower-shaped walkway and stage at the Trocadéro Gardens, where it was raised while the Olympic anthem was sung by the attendees led by the Radio France Choir and French National Orchestra.

After the IOC speeches, the awarding of the Olympic laurel, and the solemn oath-taking of the Paris 2024 Olympians, Zidane came up on stage to retrieve the Olympic torch from the masked bearer who had carried it earlier during the Parade of Nations at the River Seine. Zidane passed it to Rafael Nadal, who brought it to a boat with fellow acclaimed athletes Serena Williams (tennis), Carl Lewis (track and field), and Nadia Comaneci (gymnastics). They sailed along the River Seine all the way to the streets of Paris.

The torch was passed to Amélie Mauresmo, formerly the world’s number one tennis player, who carried it to the Garden de Tuileries, where NBA star Tony Parker was waiting. Parker passed the torch to other popular athletes lined up at the Louvre Museum. The torch relay continued at the Garden de Tuileries with legendary athletes, including the oldest living French Olympic champion, Charles Coste.

Finally, judoka legend Teddy Riner and acclaimed track and field athlete Marie-José Pérec lit the Olympic Cauldron. It was a silvery hot-air balloon mechanism that shone in gold when lit—a nod to French brothers Joseph-Michel Montgolfier and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier, who invented the first practical hot-air balloon. This historic lighting of the Olympic Cauldron showcasing gender parity, though not the first time it was done in the Olympics, was accompanied by Édith Piaf’s Hymne à l’amour playing instrumentally. 

Read more: How the Olympics is keeping the spirit of peaceful competition alive

The 776-kilometre-long Seine became the central stage for the Paris 2024 Olympics opening ceremony as athletes paraded through it on their way to the Trocadéro Gardens. Adorned with floats featuring carnivalesque performances, including imitations of some sporting events in the Olympic games, the River Seine made for a spectacular show, complete with a dancing fountain performance and the French flag in coloured smoke.

The Seine derives its name from Sequena, a Gallic deity whose myth tells us how the river was associated with miraculous powers against ailments and diseases.

Throughout the festive Parade of Nations, we see the masked torchbearer embark on daredevil acts like making his way down to the Seine on a zip wire as around 80 dancers enamoured the crowd in contemporary jazz, disco, and French cabaret dance performances, including the can-can. The string orchestra players serenading the crowd from the windows of buildings surrounding the Seine also reminded us of how Europe coped during the COVID-19 pandemic’s lockdowns.

Fans of the video game franchise Assasin’s Creed couldn’t help but associate the masked torch-bearing parkour athlete leaping over Parisian roofs throughout this segment with the game’s main character, Arno. Ubisoft, the game developer behind the franchise, further fuelled the speculations when it posted on its X account: “Keep an eye on Paris’ rooftops—Arno might just be watching from above.”

Read more: Behind the Scenes: Learn more about the much-anticipated ‘Do You Hear the People Sing?’ concert

Several performances by locally and internationally renowned artists also made the programme a true splendour. Lady Gaga opened it by the River Seine with a sultry yet utterly elegant performance celebrating cabaret. She sang the French classic Mon truc en plumes by Zizi Jeanmaire while standing on a grand staircase inspired by the Grand Palais. She welcomed the attendees with a booming greeting: “Bonsoir, bienvenue à Paris!” [Good evening, welcome to Paris!].

The French metal rock band Gojira performed Ah, ça ira at the medieval palace Conciergerie, complemented by the opera song L’amour est un oiseau rebelle, also known as La Habanera, from Georges Bizet’s Carmen.

After the flaming hot performance of Gojira, mega pop star Aya Nakamura delivered an electrifying number on the Pont des Arts, backed up by the orchestra of the French Republican Guard and 36 choristers from the French Army. They performed Pookie, Djadja, Charles Aznavour’s For Me Formidable, and La Bohème. 

Alexandre Kantorow, the first French pianist to win the gold medal at the Tchaikovsky Competition, where he also won the Grand Prix, performed his rendition of a few beloved Maurice Ravel pieces.

But what stunned the spectators at the River Seine was the arrival of the French flag and the singing of the French national anthem. Re-orchestrated by composer Victor le Masne for this particular event, La Marseillaise was led by mezzo-soprano Axelle Saint-Cirel while atop the roof of the Grand Palais donning a dress inspired by the French flag designed by the House of Dior. Meanwhile, the Republican Guard raised the French flag at the Trocadéro, where the opening ceremony continued.

But the extraordinary performance that made the evening unforgettable was Celine Dion’s powerful singing of Hymne à l’amour. At the same time, the Olympic Cauldron lit the city of Paris and its iconic landmarks. Just this month, the Canadian singer released her documentary that revealed her enduring struggle against Stiff Person Syndrome, a neurological condition which causes muscle spasms. After a year and a half away from the spotlight, Dion bravely sang the challenging song to cap off the evening’s festivities on a poignant and hopeful note. In her true diva fashion, she sang with the Eiffel Tower as her massive elevated and illuminated stage.

For the Paris 2024 Olympics, winners will earn medals with a piece of the Eiffel Tower in them. The esteemed French luxury fashion brand Louis Vuitton is casing these precious mementoes with specially crafted trunks. The opening ceremony film highlighted Louis Vuitton’s artistry and dedication to its herculean Olympic project.

Read more: 2024 Australian Open unveils collaboration with Louis Vuitton

Even without the spectacular aspect of the programme, the Paris 2024 Olympics opening ceremony was breathtaking to watch as it highlighted the best France has to offer in art, music, literature, and architecture.

Famous artworks from the Louvre Museum were painstakingly recreated by performers in tableaus along the sides of the River Seine. These include Marie-Guillemine Benoist’s Portrait of Madeleine, the Gabrielle d’Estrées and One of Her Sisters by an unknown artist, the relief of Seti I and Hathor, the portrait of Shah Abbas I and His Page, and Georges de la Tour’s The Card Sharp with the Ace of Diamonds.

The theft of the Mona Lisa in 1911 was also recreated in the opening ceremony’s film with the masked torchbearer.

Meanwhile, a reference to Quasimodo from Victor Hugo’s iconic work, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, introduced the famous cathedral, which is under reconstruction, to the programme. Another seminal work of Hugo, Les Misérables, was incorporated into the programme by having one of its musical adaptation’s iconic songs, Do You Hear the People Sing? echo throughout the city. This was aptly performed at the Théâtre du Chatelet.

Lastly, a segment dedicated to French filmmaking was included. A specially made animation of the Minions from the Despicable Me franchise was shown, featuring the characters’ attempts at various sports while in a submarine, thus producing disastrous results. Not to be missed were the references to the Lumiere Brothers’ Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station and the Georges Méliès sci-fi classic A Trip to the Moon.

Aside from Williams and Nadal, many celebrities were spotted at the Paris 2024 Olympics opening ceremony. Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympic swimmer, stood on a floating platform at the River Seine. Snoop Dogg joined in the party frenzy while watching the ceremony from the side. Great Britain’s pride Tom Daley nonchalantly did the iconic “I’m flying / I’m the King of the World’ pose from the film Titanic as his team’s float sailed through the River Seine. Giannis Antetokounmpo, an NBA champion and two-time MVP with the Milwaukee Bucks, proudly waved the flag of Greece with race walker Antigoni Drisbioti. As tradition dictates, Greece led the Parade of Nations. Global superstar Lebron James, who also happens to be a two-time Olympic champion and four-time NBA champion, was USA’s male flagbearer accompanying tennis star Coco Gauff, who won the 2023 US Open.

Some notable Asian flagbearers who led their respective teams were Hong Kong’s fencing champion Edgar Cheung and swimming star Siobhan Haughey, Malaysia’s sailor Nur Shazrin Mohamad Latif and diver Bertrand Rhodict Lises, the Philippines’ boxing medallists Nesthy Petecio and Carlo Paalam, Singapore‘s sprinter Shanti Pereira and sailor Ryan Lo, Taiwan’s top female badminton player Tai Tzu-ying and b-boy Sun Chen, and Thailand’s skateboarder Vareeya “ST” Sukasem and Puripol “Angel Bew” Boonson.

💛 A tribute to 10 golden heroines of French history.

Olympe de Gouges, Alice Milliat, Gisèle Halimi, Simone de Beauvoir, Paulette Nardal, Jeanne Barret, Louise Michel, Christine de Pizan, Alice Guy and Simone Veil.#Paris2024 #OpeningCeremony pic.twitter.com/VeUCrrDJ5q

— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) July 26, 2024

Besides the French spirit of fraternité [brotherhood] highlighted in the programme, a significant focus was also given to sororité [sisterhood]. The French national anthem became a symbol of unification and a call to pay tribute to the women of France’s history. Ten golden statues emerging from the Seine were unveiled—playwright Olympe de Gouges, pioneer of women’s sport Alice Milliat, activist and politician Gisèle Halimi, philosopher and writer Simone de Beauvoir, co-founder of the Negritude intellectual movement Paulette Nardal, voyager Jeanne Barret, teacher Louise Michel, poet Christine de Pizan, film director Alice Guy, and Holocaust survivor and first female president of the European Parliament Simone Veil. 
 

In a truly European party fashion, the Debilly Footbridge became the centre stage for French DJ and music producer Barbara Butch. At the same time, young French designers showcased their works on various celebrities. Gladly taking the fun part was Italian Paralympic fencer Bebe Vio. Suddenly (but unsurprisingly), Paris became a catwalk.

When singer Juliette Armanet sang John Lennon’s Imagine while Sofian Pamart played the piano, the programme delved deeper into its altruistic objective. The song reminded the attendees of the fragility of the planet while the dancers “crumbled” away.

It is worth noting that in March 2016, the IOC, led by Bach, created the Refugee Olympic Athletes Team to spark hope among displaced persons worldwide and raise awareness of the scale of the migrant crisis in Europe. At the Parade of Nations, the Refugee Olympic Team, which uses the code EOR (Équipe Olympique des réfugiés), followed Greece, with all the participating nations cheering for them.

This endeavour would not have been possible without the initiative of Filippo Grandi, the 11th United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, who humbly received the Olympic laurel at the opening ceremony.

Another commendable highlight of the programme was when the Eiffel Tower lit up in sync with the thumping Eurodisco pop music, some dancers enthusiastically translated the music to American sign language. 

In the grander scheme of things, organisers of the Olympic Games have made strides to prioritise sustainability this year. This includes the sourcing of power from renewable energy sources for all the sporting venues, the geothermal cooling system of the Olympic Village, plant-based meals for the attendees, the use of recyclable materials in its furniture across venues, and ensuring that temporarily-built venues can be easily dismantled and reused elsewhere after the Olympic Games, among many others.

“All of us will experience Olympic Games that are more inclusive, more urban, younger, and more sustainable—the first Olympic Games with full gender parity on the field of play,” Bach said in his speech.

“...Our dream is coming true tonight: a reality for everyone to see. Olympians from all around the globe, showing us what greatness we humans are capable of,” he continued. “So I invite everybody: dream with us. Like the Olympic athletes, be inspired with the joy that only sport can give us. Let us celebrate this Olympic spirit of living life in peace, as the one and only humankind, united in all our diversity... Let us celebrate this joy of sport together with all the athletes. Have faith in the future. Together, let us celebrate the best of our shared humanity,” he said before concluding his speech and moving on with the programme.

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