The Opening Ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics made history on Friday as the first to take place outside of a stadium, with a bevy of performances that included a French-language song from superstar Lady Gaga, a fashion runway show on a bridge and boats filled with global athletes cheering as they sailed down the River Seine.
The floatilla event, known for its pomp and grand displays from the host nation, was beset by a rainy day in Paris, but that didn’t stop spectators from lining up along Paris’ famous river to catch a glimpse of the spectacle.
Starting at the Austerlitz Bridge next to Paris’ Jardin des Plantes, the route followed the course of the Seine, east to west. It circumvents two islands in the center of Paris and then flows under several bridges and gateways in the City of Lights. The boat journey for the delegations finishes at the Iena Bridge, where the Eiffel Tower sits on the Seine’s left bank. To the right, sits the Trocadéro district, where the finale of the ceremony will take place.
Pop icon Lady Gaga’s performance came part-way through the Opening Ceremony, with her descending a gold staircase behind a plumage of pink feathers and her backup dancers in black. Gaga’s face was concealed and only her legs were visible until the accompanying dancers pulled back the pom-poms to reveal her visage. She then sang the French-language “Mon Truc en Plume” (“My Thing With Feathers”), while completing a choreographed routine.
The athletes floating down the Seine also passed under a footbridge that was transformed into a fashion runway, a tribute to Paris’ reputation as one of the world’s fashion capital. An array of neon pink shirts, high fashion gowns, and avant-garde outfits crossed the footbridge as athletes and spectators took in the outdoor show.
As the final boats in the Parade of Nations approached the Eiffel Tower, Team USA was seen on television screens, the penultimate group seen cheering their way into the center of Paris and ready to take home as much golf as possible. NBA star LeBron James stood at the front of the vessel, stoically gripping a flagpole with Old Faithful flapping above his head.
After Paris’ night sky emerged, an Olympic tradition continued with the performance of “Imagine,” the 1971 song by John Lennon. In Paris, the beloved classic was a moving serenade by singer Juliette Armanet with Sofian Pamart on piano.
Following this performance, a highly cinematic display took place as live cameras panned down the Seine, following a mechanical man on a horse suspended above a submarine that held it on the river’s surface as it made the journey. Once the machine horse emerged from the river, a live horse and a person in a silver robe replaced it, then moved toward the Trocadéro, with all 205 delegations behind them. Then, on foot, the silver-robed figure delivered the Olympic flag and slowly raised it in front of the gathered delegations. Cheering and tears followed.
After French President Emmanuel Macron delivered an address to the gathered masses, a lengthy passing of the Olympic torch saw famous athletes racing across Paris to light the official torch, which this year, like much of the ceremony, was not inside the confines of a stadium. Zinedine Zidane, the French-Algerian soccer superstar, took the torch from the caped figure and handed it to 14-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal.
The torch is next in the hands of a quad of international athletes from several generations, including Serena Williams, Nadia Comaneci and Carl Lewis, as they race across Paris on the Seine in a speedboat. This is all set on NBC to Marc Cerrone’s 1977 hit “Supernature,” a French classic revived on nightclub dance floors of late. The four then handed the torch to Amélie Mauresmo, a former tennis champ from France.
Paralympians then led the torch-bearing group, with Mauresmo and Tony Parker behind them and a French handball duo in the rear as they headed into the ground of the Louvre, Paris’ world-famous art museum. The group grew bigger until Judoka Teddy Riner and three-time gold medalist in track and field Marie-José Pérec ignited the cauldron, which was the bed of a hot air balloon that then rose through the night sky next to the Eiffel Tower.
The finale came with living legend Celine Dion performing French icon Edith Paif’s “Hymne à l’amour.” While clad in Dior, she belted the ballad out, her voice soaring in a moment of triumph after she had to cancel her tour dates this year when her Stiff-Person Syndrome became overwhelming.
Viewers in the U.S. can watch the games on NBC from about midnight PT/3 a.m. ET to 3 p.m. PT/6 p.m. ET every day, plus a daily Olympic primetime show with behind-the-scenes looks and highlights from events. NBC is also streaming every event live on its streaming platform Peacock.
