The Paris Olympics kicked off with an extravagant opening ceremony on Friday evening when an armada of boats carried 10,500 athletes alongside the Seine — the primary outside model of the spectacle that was anticipated to be watched by a billion individuals.
Earlier, a shadow was solid over the occasion by an act of felony sabotage that hit France’s high-speed rail community within the early hours of the morning inflicting nationwide transport chaos. Heavy rain then started to fall about half-hour into the three-hour present, a nightmare state of affairs for the planners of the theatrical efficiency that featured a large solid of dancers, two orchestras and a clutch of pop stars, together with Woman Gaga doing a cabaret-tinged music.
Earlier than the ceremony, inside minister Gérald Darmanin mentioned: “We’re prepared for this magnificent occasion,” including that no particular threats had been detected. The railway sabotage would “not have direct consequence on the Olympics or the ceremony”.
By mid-afternoon lengthy queues had fashioned for ticket holders to get into the extremely secured perimeter alongside the Seine river the place 320,000 spectators have been anticipated alongside the medieval-era cobblestone quays. The format of the occasion required heavy safety: 45,000 police have been deployed on the bottom and within the air, utilizing helicopters, drones and snipers positioned on roofs.
The climate additionally examined the handfuls of skilled ship captains powering the parade, who navigated at exactly the correct velocity to maintain the present on line. Some spectators fled the quays for canopy as rain poured down.
President Emmanuel Macron hosted greater than 100 heads of state at Trocadero plaza throughout the river from the Eiffel tower the place the athletes disembarked for a closing parade and a efficiency by francophone favorite Céline Dion. Jill Biden, spouse of the US president, and different leaders attended a reception on the Elysée palace beforehand.
The concept for such an bold opening was the brainchild of 1 man, Thierry Reboul, an occasion specialist recognized for punchy advertising stunts, however pulling it off it wanted greater than 15,000 performers, technicians and firework specialists.
The efficiency featured ballet dancers on the roof of the Louvre, whereas tons of of contemporary dancers and breakdancers carried out alongside the quays and on a few of the boats. Performers have been clad in handmade outfits stitched by French couturiers, and LVMH’s Louis Vuitton trunk suitcases have been prominently displayed in a prolonged section. Bernard Arnault’s LVMH was an Olympics sponsor.
Organisers needed to reduce some parts, corresponding to BMX riders set to do methods on a ramp as a result of rain made it too slippery.
When Reboul pitched the thought for the river ceremony to Tony Estanguet, head of the Paris organising committee, the two-time gold medal winner reacted with stupor that rapidly grew to become enthusiasm. “Will probably be bold, audacious and completely loopy,” mentioned Estanguet, recalling the second.
Reboul mentioned the thought got here to him on a stroll alongside the Seine, the snaking river whose banks have been chosen by a Gallic tribe known as the Parisii to discovered a settlement about two thousand years in the past. He advised himself: “It ought to be right here, in fact it ought to be right here, and nowhere else.”
The organisers employed Thomas Jolly, a 42-year-old theatre director recognized for a musical known as Starmania, who began imagining how you can convey the spirit of France from literature and tradition to historical past. “I’m used to designing performances on a stage, and this time your complete metropolis was my canvas,” he advised reporters earlier this week.
Jolly employed a group he has lengthy labored with — a musical director, choreographer and a dressing up designer, all famend of their fields — and in addition included writer Leila Slimani, scriptwriter Fanny Herrero, who created the present Name My Agent!, and others to assist him write the 12 tableaux that make up the ceremony.
Earlier than they began writing, they took lengthy walks alongside the Seine for inspiration and researched the historical past of its bridges, such because the oldest, Pont Neuf, completed beneath King Henry IV in 1607, and the Pont d’Austerlitz, commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte, from which the parade will start.
“We drew on the previous of every website and monuments: virtually every stone tells one thing about our historical past of France, of the historical past of Paris, a historical past which is related to the world,” he mentioned.
However Jolly and Estanguet didn’t need the theatrics to overshadow the athletes, as a substitute placing them on the centre of it by giving them the very best spots to view the present — the decks of the boats on the river.
“The athletes are the heroes of the present,” mentioned Estanguet.
Though officers remained imprecise in regards to the worth, French media reported that the ceremony price about €120mn, roughly 4 occasions that of the opener of the London 2012 Video games. The general price for the Paris Video games, which was pitched as a greener version as a result of little new infrastructure was constructed, is anticipated to succeed in €9-10bn, in line with the nationwide auditor. About one-third of that might be paid for by sponsors.
Jolly’s present was stuffed with memorable, kitschy moments: a hooded determine leaping throughout the zinc roofs of Paris, drag queens dancing to electro, beheaded royals of the French revolution set towards heavy steel music, and a silver horse with an armour-clad rider gliding down the Seine.
Cheers rose when France’s beloved footballer Zinedine Zidane handed the torch to tennis champion Rafel Nadal.
The spectacle climaxed with an elaborate mild present beaming out from the Tour Eiffel earlier than a closing flame relay to the Louvre led to a sizzling air balloon ascending into the evening sky bearing a fiery Olympic cauldron.
Framed by the Eiffel tower, Canadian singer Céline Dion, in her first efficiency in years due to sickness and sporting a white, beaded costume that includes 500m of fringe customized made by Dior, belted out Edith Piaf’s Hymne à l’amour.
“I declare the Paris video games open,” mentioned Macron.
Further reporting by Adrienne Klasa
