Opening ceremony 2024 Olympics in Paris summary: country order, performances, Olympic flame
Olympic Opening Ceremony how it happened
What an ending to the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games
After (at least televisually) a rather disjointed opening ceremony, with the Athletes parade not really fitting in with the set-piece entertainment moments, the ending was absolutely spectacular, from the Eiffel Tower light show to the lighting of the hot air balloon cauldron and a performance from Celine Dion.
Now it's time for some sport!!
Celine Dion!
As rumoured, Celine Dion is singing at the Ceremony!
Torch parade keeps growing
We're in the Gardens of the Tuileries and there are about 20 French athletes now involved, including some true veterans. The oldest is Charles Coste, now 100, and who uses a wheelchair. He was a cycling champion in 1948 and is France’s oldest living gold medallist.
There's a hot air balloon which athletes three-time judo champion Teddy Riner and three-time gold-winning sprinter Marie-José Pérec have lit the base of and is now floating away. Does this mean the Olympic cauldron is going to float over Paris for the entire Olympics? Wow!
Nadal to Mauresmo
The moment Nadal handed the flame to Mauresmo and back on to dry land after it's trip up the Seine from the Trocadero.
Flame back on land
Tennis legend Amélie Simone Mauresmo picks up the torch from Nadal and co. on the boat and she's now jogging along the shore, and up to the Louvre. She hands off to basketball legend, Tony Parker.
Incredible image as they jog alone past the Louvre in a rain-swept Paris.
They are now being joined by more athletes, all dressed in white, and jogging together round the interior of the famous museum.
Olympic Flame on the Seine again
Nadal has taken the Olympic flame back down to the Seine and he's on a boat with other Olympic legends Serena Williams, Carl Lewis and Nadia Comaneci, who are taking turns to carry it, as they bash up the river in what look like rather nasty conditions now, rain and spray lashing them as they go.
Eiffel Tower, the star of this bit of the show
That was quite a spectacular light show using lasers based on, in and around the Eiffel Tower. And finally highlighting the Olympic Rings.
Zidane has the torch!
Zidane got off the metro train! But how is he going to light the cauldron... or does it not fall to him?!
Zidane has handed the torch off to Nadal! That's interesting... usually only home nation athlete gets involved.
And now some Jean-Michel Jarre rings out, with a spectacular light show on the Eiffel Tower.
The 2024 Games are open!
The honour of officially opening the Games falls to Emmanuel Macron, who relishes the job.
President Macron says in French: “I declare the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad open!”
The 2024 Games are now officially underway!
Olympic Flag
The rider who travelled up the Seine to bring the flag to the Trocadero.
Team USA!
Fine image of Team USA arriving at the 2024 Olympics
Speeches time
Speeches from Tony Estanguet, president of Paris 2024, and Thomas Bach, president of the IOC, are up for speeches next.
Olympic Anthem
Here's the words to the Olympic Anthem
O Ancient immortal Spirit, pure father
Of beauty, of greatness and of truth,
Descend, reveal yourself and flash like lightning here,
within the glory of your own earth and sky.
At running and at wrestling and at throwing,
Shine in the momentum of noble contests,
And crown with the unfading branch
And make the body worthy and ironlike.
Plains, mountains and seas glow with you
Like a white-and-purple great temple,
And hurries at the temple here, your pilgrim,
O Ancient immortal Spirit, every nation.
Olympic Flag raised above the Games
The Olympic Flag is ceremoniously hosted above the Games and the Olympic anthem rings out.
Crescendo of noise as we reach the start of the end
The Olympic flag is here! And it's now on the back of a real horse, gently trotting into the Trocadero stadium. The music reached a stunning peak just before that.
The Olympic flag is being followed by the flags of all the countries, carried by flag bearers.
The rider, now walking, brings the Olympic flag into the stadium, to a pounding rhythm of drums.
Doves wings
This Dove wing symbol is one of the hallmarks of the Games, now lit up in brilliant LEDs.
History of the Olympics
Interspersed with the footage of our galloping horse, the producers have spliced historic footage of the Olympic Games, right from the very start.
Olympic flag
The Olympic flag is being brought up the Seine by a rider on a galloping mechanical horse (mounted on a hidden trimaran three-hulled power boat). It's a striking image.
Sofiane Pamart and Juliette Armanet
Sofiane Pamart (piano) and Juliette Armanet (voice) take on John Lennon's Imagine. It's become an Olympic standard.
The line about "Imagine there's no countries" never quite fits with the focus on the medal table.
Lots of electronic dancing going on. The dancers right now are doing a piece reflecting the turmoil of the world right now. It's rather disjointed, understandably.
Start of the end of the Opening Ceremony
The athletes are coming off their boats and heading to the Trocadero for the final part of the opening ceremony which will include the lighting of the Olympic cauldron and presumably the unmasking of our mysterious caped figure.
With all the athletes sailing down the Seine now, attention returns to Who is the Mystery Torch Bearer. Pablo has a look...
France!
The 571 French athletes, the second largest delegation after the U.S. are out and sailing down the Seine, towards their Olympic destiny. Huge cheers from the riverbanks as their boat 'Paquebot', the largest on the Seine, sails down this famous old waterway.
USA! USA! USA!
Team USA is out on the water! Huge chants of USA! USA! as they start their journey down the Seine.
That leaves just the French left.
Meanwhile our Torch Bearer has decided to do some break dancing on the red carpet.
Australia!
That is a LOUD boat! The Aussies are hosting the Games in Brisbane 2032, hence they come out third to last.
But why are the USA out so late in the parade?
We'll always have Paris
Spanish athletes feeling the romance of Paris.
Modjo
Lady (Hear me tonight) by French House duo Modjo blasting out now. That's from all the way back in 2000, making a lot of people feel very old now.
Palestine certainly can compete and are out on their boat now! We're up to P...
All of French culture
The organisers have tried, and mostly managed, to cram in references to as many parts of French culture as they can, from music, to art, to philosophy, to design. It's been an absolute festival of light, colour, sound and image, with the one complaint maybe being that it's all rather disjointed. The thread pulling it all together is our mystery Olympic flame bearer, but it's not clear really what they are up to, so feels a little forced.
Red carpet
French fashion design up for some promotion now, with a red carpet and some stunning, interesting and random, depending on your point of view, clothes.
Greek delegation
Members of the Greek delegation arrive on the Iena Bridge.
Mexico!
The 108 athletes from Mexico join the watery Olympic parade, watery both under the boats and falling from the heavens.
Our Andy takes a look at how the flame will finally be lit when our mystery torch bearer finally gets to the end of his route...
Statues of Women
The organisers have aimed to redress the imbalance in the number of statues of women in Paris (40) compared to those of men (260). Golden statues of ten women from French history have appeared.
The Marseillaise
The Marseillaise being sung by mezzo-soprano Axelle Saint-Cirel. Shivers down the spine moment!!
Where is the Mona Lisa?
Now we've got section that's "a tribute to the art of filmmaking and French science fiction". And the Mona Lisa has disappeared.
And now the Minions are doing sport. On a submarine. Of course they are. And in fact, it's the Minions who have nabbed the Mona Lisa. And javelined their own submarine to a watery grave...
(The Minions are animated in Paris)
Separate boats for Iraq and Iran
The organisers made sure to divide the boats up just so, in order that Iran and Iraq didn't end up on the same boat.
Louvre subplot continues
We're now got works of art having come to life and apparently roaming around Paris. Our mystery torch bearer continues his work a) showcasing how lovely Paris is and b) getting the Olympic flame to the Trocadero and the end of the ceremony.
G's out
Gambia are out and about, meaning we're up to G in the parade.
Spain!
There's the Spain team. The Iberian nation picked up three golds and 17 medals overall in Tokyo. Will Alcaraz and Nadal add to that tally this time round?
Spain!
The 404 athletes from Spain are out on the Seine!
Opening Ceremony weather update
It's wet! But the athletes are still loving it.
Freedom
There's been some strong political messages in this opening ceremony, including a section making it clear that who you love should be up to you.
The athletes have been forgotten right now for the TV production. They are still floating down the water, but we're now with our torch bearer in the Louvre, where the people in the famous paintings are coming to life!
Aya Nakamura
Our mystery torch bearer has lit up the Concord Bridge with flames shooting everywhere... and that's a prelude to a performance from France's most-streamed French--speaking artist in the world right now: Aya Nakamura
Olympic Torch bearer
The mystery figure taking the torch through the landmarks of Paris remains masked...
Les Mis to Heavy Metal
This section called Liberté started with the Olympic Torch meeting a scene of the musical Les MIserables and now that's segued into a heavy metal French Revolution moment from Gojira, with beheaded women in castle windows and fireworks flying off everywhere. Then it's singer's Marina Viotti's turn.
Quick Olympic opening ceremony recap
So far the main 'story' of the Olympic opening ceremony has been that of the flame turning up in the wrong place and being rescued by Zidane, who passed it to some kids, who passed it to a maskless hero, who is taking it through Paris to the final section at the Trocadero, where the great and good are hanging out.
We've had a performance from Lady Gaga on the banks of the Seine, along with a lively version of the CanCan.
The landmarks of Paris, French history, culture and art are all well represented.
And quite a few countries are already out on their boats and sailing down the river to the final part of the show.
Casting an Olympic Medal
The Paris Mint have crafted the medals for these Games. Each one has a sliver of the Eiffel Tower inside it.
Olympic flame update
The Olympic flame has now been brought inside a Louis Vuitton workshop to then be transported alongside some Louis Vuitton cases - bigger versions of the ones the medals will be moved about in.
Synchronicité
After a rousing version of the Can Can, the next section is called Synchronicité, which is focused right now on the reconstruction of Notre Dame, which suffered a terrible fire in April 2019. This has now morphed into a dance and music segment by the chuch.
China out on the water
The U.S.'s biggest rival for number one spot on the medal table are underway. At the Toyko games the U.S. took 39 golds to China's 38.
Olympic flame watch
The flame is currently being carried over the roofs of Paris by the masked stranger who helped our kids earlier on, who rescued the flame from Zidane in a broken down metro train. Which we hadn't predicted.
Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana and here comes Brazil, with 284 athletes! Quite the party going on at the front of their boat.
Looks like we'll have performances at certain points as the boats go down the river, with TV cutting to the performances, while the athletes' boat procession continues sailing along. It makes for a compelling TV spectacle.
The Olympic torch meanwhile is going along the streets of Paris at the moment. A very stylish French lady is running alongside it, wearing a dress with enormous croissants sewn on to it, which somehow makes sense here.
Bangladesh
Bangladesh are out on the water. They are the most populous country never to have won a medal. Let's hope 2024 sees the end of that dry streak!
Lady Gaga appears from behind a pink heart!
Lady Gaga appears on the banks of the Seine, coming down a golden staircase, and singing in French*, of course! The song: Mon truc en plumes.
They had her behind a fluffy pink heart, before the big reveal.
*Criticism didn't take long to appear on social media of her accent.
French Flag
This was some moment to get us underway, fireworks on the Pont d'Austerlitz.
Lots of countries on one boat
The countries are organised alphabetically (in French) and there can be quite a few countries on each boat. Germany are taking up most of the back of the boat that also has Albania and South Africa...
The 37 athletes of the Refugee Athlete team are sailing down the Seine. Siria, Iran, Cameroon, just some of these athletes' homelands.
They sail under the Olympic flag.
Olympic flame coming up the Seine
The little rowing boat with the Olympic flame is almost at the start of the parade. And this section of the show, Enchanté (pleased to meet you), sees the athletes introduced.
And Greece, the first country in the parade, are on the water!!
French flag on a bridge over the Seine
A stunning firework display turns a bridge at the start of the parade into a French tricolor. The houses along the Seine are bedecked with flags of many of the competing nations. A fair few Stars and Stripes on display.
Emmanuel Macron and Thomas Bach
The president of France and the president of the IOC are at the Trocadero, where they've been introduced.
Our heroes with the torch are at the start of the parade still rowing their way up the Seine!
Zidane running with the Olympic flame
The opening montage sees Zidane pick up the flame and run his way across Paris, encountering all sorts of sporting activity as he does so. He stops to pay his metro fare though!
Oh, but his metro train has got stuck and he's handed it off to some skateboarders who are making their way through the scary catacombs, skulls included, with the flame.
Ah! The music from Phantom of the Opera rings out and our young heroes are helped onto a boat by a mysterious stranger...
Paris looks stunning as the Olympics are about to get underway
Always gorgeous, Paris looks stunning as the parade is about to get going. To start the show, the flame has been brought into the Olympic Stadium.... but it's all a joke, with the news that the parade is going to be down the Seine. Zidane has turned up to take the flame to where it needs to be!
Rescue boats on standby on the Seine
In case you worried, if any athlete or official does get overexcited by the whole ceremony and takes a tumble overboard, there are rescue boats on hand to pick anyone up. Though if it's one of the swimmers they'd probably beat the rescuers to shore.
All set in Paris
This is going to be quite the spectacle as the athletes cruise down the Seine to get the 2024 Olympics underway!
First country up in the Olympic parade...
As always, Greece, for gifting the Olympics to the world, will lead the Olympic Opening Ceremony parade.
U.S.: Biggest delegation in Paris
The U.S. have brought 594 athletes to Paris for the 2024 Olympics, the biggest delegation. Home nation France is in second place, with 571 athletes.
Team USA are ready. LeBron is already wearing the stylish white Ralph Lauren flag bearer blazer, along with some big, big sunnies.
Team USA have gone for Coco Gauff (who was so overcome by the news she had to nip into a corner for an emotional moment) and LeBron James as their flag bearers.
Some have griped that maybe these places should have gone to athletes whose biggest moment to shine is the Olympics, rather than stars who are in the limelight whenever they are playing, but the decision was made by the athletes themselves, who voted for their flag bearers.
Check out the specs!
It might be overcast but Brazil's flag bearer Isaquias Guimaraes Queiroz wasn't losing these glasses for anything.
The first modern Olympics opening ceremony
There was a full opening ceremony for the first modern Olympic Games in April 1896. 80,000 spectators crowded into the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, with most of the athletes on the infield, grouped by country.
That first ceremony saw a performance of the Olympic Hymn, composed by Spyridon Samaras, with words by poet Kostis Palamas. Curiously it wasn’t actually adopted as the official Olympic hymn till 1958.
There was no flame at the first Olympic Games, that tradition was started in 1928. The athletes also didn’t swear an oath - that was introduced in 1920.
How many countries were involved in the first Olympic Games?
Superbly, nobody entirely agrees about how many countries were represented at the first Games. In part because the idea of national teams was not a big thing at the start of the movement.
The IOC say it was definitely 14, but doesn’t say what they were, which is a wonderful sleight of bureaucratic hand.
The 14 are probably:
Australia
Austria
Bulgaria
Chile
Denmark
France
Germany
Great Britain
Greece
Hungary
Italy
Sweden
Switzerland
United States
Note that Luis Subercaseaux, the athlete Chile say took part, appears to have only been 13 years old at the time of the Games. Chile says he competed in the 100, 400 and 800-metre races.
Egypt is often included as a 15th country, as the athlete Kasdaglis of Greek origin was living in Alexandria, Egypt.
Half an hour to go
Just coming up to 1 p.m. ET, so we're half-an-hour away from the start of the show! Get excited!
The Olympic parade down the Seine
Instead of traipsing round a stadium, the athletes are going to sail some 3-and-a-half miles down the Seine to the Trocadéro, where the end of the ceremony will take place.
The route goes past: Notre-Dame de Paris, the Louvre, Pont des Arts, Pont Neuf, Pont Alexandre III and the Musée d’Orsay.
There are 85 boats in total, with the bigger countries having their own boat, some just slightly bigger than the others. The U.S. craft has a number of levels to fit in the over 300 athletes wanting and able to take part.
Happy to be at the Olympics Opening ceremony
There's heaps of famous folk out and about at the opening ceremony. Pharrell Williams being one of them. He's a big skateboarding fan - so he'll likely be checking out the men's street skating. The heats start at 6 a.m tomorrow, with the final at 11 a.m ET. The U.S. are represented by Jagger Eaton, Chris Joslin, and Nyjah Huston.
Lighting the flame at the Olympic Ceremony
The Olympic flame was lit back in April in Greece at the traditional ceremony in front of the ruins of the temple of Hera, using a parabolic dish to concentrate the sun’s rays and light a flame of utter purity.
That flame has now been brought to Paris, including a stint from none other than Snoop Dogg. What we don’t know is how the Olympic torch will be lit. Expect something spectacular. But will it trump Barcelona 1992.
The torch lighting ceremony is expected around 5 p.m this evening.
What’s the weather like in Paris for the Opening Ceremony
It’s an overcast evening in the City of Lights, but it’s pretty pleasant out. Around 70 degrees, though there is a pretty good chance of some light showers.
After training for four years for this moment, I don't think a few light showers are going to stop the athletes enjoying this!
In this edition of the Paris Olympic Games, several disciplines have disappeared. Find out what they were to be fully informed about the latest news of the games.
The Olympic Games are a mirror of the society, that's why, in this edition, countries that are sadly in an armed conflict will have a different participation, as in the case of Russia.
The undisputed highlight of the opening day is the parade of all the athletes from each country through the Olympic stadium. Consult with us which is the order of the countries and the flag bearers of the ceremony.
The opening ceremony will be broadcast on television and on the Internet around the world.
If you are in the United States, here are the best ways to enjoy the show.
The opening ceremony
The opening ceremony will take place on the waters of the Seine River, something very new for an Olympic Games ceremony that will surely not leave anyone indifferent.
The whole show will end, as usual, in the Olympic Stadium.
EFE
Paris 2024 Olympic Games
Welcome to everyone!
Today is one of the most special days in the sport world, today is the opening day of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Today begins a few weeks where the Olympic spirit will make its way through the French capital and we will see the best athletes in the world representing their countries.
In just over an hour the opening ceremony will begin.
The world is waiting to see the spectacle that the French organization has prepared and of course the lighting of the Olympic torch in the stadium.
We invite you to join us from AS.com so you don't miss a single detail.
Here we go!