Opening Ceremonies highlight Celine Dion and cauldron lighting
Washington Post staff
The unconventional, daring, dramatic opening ceremonies of the Paris 2024 Olympics are underway, and the cauldron has been lit by Marie-Jose Pérec and Teddy Riner. Thousands of athletes took part in a floating parade on the Seine, with a culminating celebration planned near the Eiffel Tower. Despite steady rain, the banks of the river were packed with crowds of spectators – allowed back at the Olympics for the first time since the pandemic.
All of this is taking place at an extremely tense geopolitical moment, with French police and soldiers out in force. Hours before Friday’s opening ceremonies, France’s high-speed rail network was attacked by arsonists, officials said, disrupting travel for thousands of people.
Lady Gaga, emerging from pink feathers, was one of the first stars to perform in a program that incorporated a mix of musical styles and references to the French Revolution, Marie Antoinette, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and Minions.
Celine Dion made a triumphant return, performing at the hourslong spectacle’s finale on Friday.
Wearing a gown adorned with thousands of pearls, Dion sang under the Eiffel Tower – her first show since she announced she was diagnosed in December 2022 with a rare and incurable neurological condition known as stiff-person syndrome.
Aya Nakamura, a chart-topping pop singer in France, also sang during the opening ceremonies. Nakamura strutted out in a sparkling gold outfit and performed two of her hit songs, “Pookie” and “Djadja,” as well as “For Me Formidable” with the French Republican Guard orchestra on the Pont des Arts.
The 29-year-old was born in Mali, the oldest of five siblings in a family of griots, or West African storytellers, and she immigrated to France with her family. She’s one of France’s most popular artists: an award-winning French Malian singer known for mixing Afrobeats and R&B with slang-infused lyrics.
Some far-right groups in Europe attacked Nakamura in the lead-up to her performance, lobbing racist insults and attacking organizers’ decision to let her represent France at the Olympics, according to French media reports.
As the Team USA boat passed the Pont Alexandre III on the final stretch of the parade, it got a huge roar from the crowd on the riverbank and chants of “U-S-A! U-S-A!” from some at houseboat parties. The United States was followed by France, which garnered the biggest shouts of the night. The United States and France are the final two delegations in the Parade of Nations. The host country always enters last, and because Los Angeles will host the next Summer Games, the U.S. team was second to last.
The International Olympic Committee did not invite Russia or Belarus to these Olympics because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Russian Olympic federation has been suspended for the country’s attempt to claim athletes in seized Ukrainian territories as their own.
Some Russian and Belarusian athletes will be allowed in the Paris Games, but only as what the IOC calls “independent neutral athletes.”
These athletes, who will compete under a special green flag, have had to prove to an IOC committee that they do not actively support Russia’s invasion or have been a part of the Russian or Belarusian military. While at the Olympics, they cannot wear Russian or Belarusian colors and their country’s anthem will not be played or flag displayed. And they won’t participate in opening ceremonies.
Thirty-four Russians have been invited as independent neutral athletes, and 20 have accepted the invite. Twenty-three Belarusians have been asked to come, and 14 have said yes.
The boat carrying Ukraine’s athletes got a warm reception from fans still in the bleachers next to the Pont Alexandre III. Many in the crowd waved French flags. As the vessel passed under the bridge, the Ukrainian athletes shouted in unison, their voices echoing in the bridge’s girders.
Eight athletes are representing Palestine in these Olympics. Seven of them received invitations through wild-card bids. Omar Ismail is the sole member to secure a spot in Paris by winning in a qualifying competition – making him the group’s best hope to become the first Palestinian athlete to win an Olympic medal.
At a watch party organized by officials from Paris’s city hall, at the seventh-floor rooftop bar atop the Terrass Hotel in Montmartre, guests – many of them city hall staffers from other major cities around the world – drank champagne, ate hors d’oeuvres and gazed out at the nearby Eiffel Tower, the perfect views of which were marred only by the rain. For the Parisians in the crowd, the symbolism and beauty of the opening ceremonies felt almost overwhelming.
After Pérec, the three-time Olympic champion sprinter, and Riner, a three-time Olympic gold medalist in judo, lit the cauldron to mark the official start of these Games, a hot-air balloon lifted the cauldron into the air.
People watched the balloon with the Olympic flame slowly rise above the river. There was no cheering and no yelling from the crowd on the riverbank, the onlookers just stood in stunned, amazed silence.