Friday’s historic opening ceremony was well prepared for with an unprecedented security operation for the athletes’ parade along the River Seine. Around 8,000-10,000, athletes sailed down a six-kilometre (four-mile) stretch of the river towards the Eiffel Tower, on about a 100 barges and boats as the games opened formally.
Despite the rain, the roughly four-hour 2024 Paris Olympics opening ceremony carried on without a hitch.
The city of lights hosted people from all over the world though athletes from Russia and Belarus were barred from participating in the Opening Ceremony because of the war in Ukraine.
Lady Gaga was the first act of the event along the River Seine with a song belted out entirely in French “Mon Truc en Plume” (“My Thing With Feathers”) while completing a choreographed routine. At a point during the show, Gaga got behind a piano to play briefly for spectators.
Celine Dion performed the closing act, she went solo on the Eiffel Tower to bring the four-hour event to a stirring climax.
It was her first live performance in four years, and came a year and a half after she revealed a diagnosis of Stiff Person Syndrome (SPS).
SPS is a rare neurological disorder that causes muscles to spasm and can be debilitating. It also affected her voice.
On Friday, her delivery of Edith Piaf’s classic L’Hymne à l’Amour is a testament that the treatment is working.
It is the first time in the history of the games that the ceremony was not held inside the Olympic Stadium of the host city.
The games will run until the evening of August 11.
The Women’s football started on Thursday after a chaotic start at the men’s football.
The Spanish women’s football team appeared at the Olympics for the first time, captained by 2023 World Player of the Year Aitana Bonmati, to face Japan.
Notable was Canada who played without their coach Bev Priestman after scandals of spying on their opponents training session with drones. They played New Zealand.
Canada’s assistant coach and an analyst were dismissed from the Olympics due to their involvement in the incidents and the analyst was given a suspended eight-month prison sentence by a French court. Priestman however apologised to New Zealand and stated it would not be appropriate for her to be on the bench on Thursday.
Argentina played against Morocco when the men’s competition began on Wednesday. Morocco defeated the two-time Olympic champions 2-1 in Saint-Etienne, but only after a late equaliser for the South American side was disallowed and the final minutes were held in an empty stadium following crowd trouble.
“It is a disgrace that this should happen and poison the tournament,” said Argentina coach Javier Mascherano.
Israel’s footballers later drew 1-1 with Mali on Wednesday under the watchful eye of 1,000 police officers, with authorities establishing an “anti-terrorist perimeter” around the Parc des Princes stadium.
Israel’s participation at the Olympics has been a key issue following calls from the Palestine Olympic Committee and Iran for the country to be excluded over the Gaza war. Palestinian and Israeli flags were flown, with angry words exchanged among fans at the Parc des Princes.
French interior minister Gerald Darmanin said however “there have been no security problems to our knowledge”.
The Olympic games are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competitions. Considered as the world’s foremost sports competition with more than 200 teams, representing sovereign states and territories participating, the games are held every four years
