2024 Olympics: Opening Ceremony Live Recap

2024 PARIS SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES

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Bonjour, mes amis!

Well, we made it. The countdown to the Olympics is at zero. Athletes from all delegations are taking their spots on boats and getting ready to parade down the Seine for the opening ceremony. We’ll be updating you here on all the action so pull up a chair and watch the show with us as we celebrate the start of the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The ceremony has begun. First, the torch appeared in an empty stadium. The Opening Ceremony is making history this year as it will take place along the Seine River, the first time it is not taking place in a stadium.

French soccer manager Zinedine Zidane appeared with the torch in a pre-recorded video. Then, the torch is passed to a boy who gets in a boat with a mysterious figure.

Taken to the live video, that boat with the boy and mysterious figure are coming down the Seine with the torch.

Enchanted is the name of the first theme of the segment. Each segment will have a theme.

Greece then appeared in a single boat with 101 athletes as the first team to come down the Seine. The Refugee Olympic Team of 37 athletes was the 2nd boat to appear.

With about 100 boats coming down the Seine, smaller teams will share boats. The first shared boat contains South Africa, Albania, Algeria, and Germany. Shared boats have enough room for gaps between the different delegations.

The first performer of the ceremony is Lady Gaga who appears in a black dress with pink as the accent on the back, flowy part of the dress.

The boats vary by size. For example, despite only having five athletes, Bangladesh has a boat to themselves.

Back to the torch, the kid originally with the torch appears on land. He hands it off to the mysterious hooded figure. Surrounding them are many entertainers all dressed in pink. The hooded figure then appears on a rooftop with the torch doing parkour.

The next show was from a line of dancers in pink and white performing a modernized version of the can-can.

The hooded figure reappears after ziplining over the river and past the Notre Dame Cathedral. Synchronicity is introduced as the next theme of the segment, symbolizing the work on the Cathedral that had a fire just five years ago. Gold and grey have appeared to be the next color themes as well.

The hooded figure comes inside and into a Louis Vuitton work shop. The next work whop that appears is the Olympic medal workshop. As previously reported, each medal has a piece of the Eiffel Tower.

Michael Phelps who holds a total of 23 gold medals appears on screen. He is standing on the side of the Seine River.

The Notre Dame Cathedral bells ring during the ceremony, marking the first time that the bells have rung since the fire in 2019. The show then goes to a pre-recorded scene of Les Misérables where liberty is introduced as the next theme. The broadcast beheaded Marie Antoinette after Les Miserables before going into a heavy metal concert.

After heavy metal, Georges Bizet’s Carmen is sung out to change the music from heavy metal to opera.

Perfomers appear on long sticks swaying back and forth. They all are in many bright-colored outfits. A group of three people run down the street, up stairs while almost kissing, then shut the door behind them, symbolizing love, lust, and ménage à trois.

Aya Nakamura appears as the 2nd performing singer. She is wearing an all-gold dress. Nakamura is the most listened to French speaking artist in the World.

The hooded figure appears in the Louvre, the famous art museum, with the torch.

After some athletes parade down the Seine in their boats, the Louvre is shown again with one painting missing.

The hooded figure reappears and is still carrying the torch, running on top of buildings towards the Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel Tower is located at the end of the route of the ceremony.

The missing painting, the Mona Lisa appears in the Seine as the next performance starts.

The French flag and national anthem are sung, introducing the next theme, sisterhood. French president Emmanuel Macron appears on screen.

Sportsmanship is introduced as the next theme as the video turns back to the boats of athletes.

Festivity is introduced with a red carpet honoring Paris, the style and fashion capital of the world. The red carpet was on a foot bridge near the Eiffel Tower.

The athlete parade closed with Australia, the US, and host France. Australia and the US parade at the end as the next hosts of the Games.

As Australia and the US came down the river, the hooded figure with the horch appeared on the red carpet runway.

6 minutes before its usually 10 pm sparkle, the Eiffel Tower was already sparkling at 9:54 pm.

The masked figure parades down the river while riding a horse. The figure also wears the Olympic flag on its bag.

205 flags from the National Olympic Committees paraded in with a non-athlete as a flag bearer. 206 will compete as the Neutral Athletes did not participate in the parade. The neutral athletes are from Russia and Belarus.

The hooded and masked figure appears on a horse, still wearing the Olympic flag. The figure then carries the Olympic flag onto the stage inside the stadium that is now home to all of the athletes.

The Olympic anthem is sung as the flag is raised as it continues to rain. It has been announced that the Olympics has volunteers from 155 countries.

Zinedine Zidane makes another appearance, carrying the torch again. He hands it off to Rafael Nadal who hails from Spain. The Eiffel Tower then features a light show. Nadal then takes the torch onto the Seine River as it is making its way to be lit at the cauldron. Serena Williams, Carl Lewis, and Nadia Comăneci are featured on the boat as well. Williams then holds the cauldron before Comăneci holds it as well. Lewis receives the torch on the river as well.

At the end of the boat ride, French tennis player Amélie Mauresmo meets the boat at the dock and takes the torch and parades through the streets passing the crowd. She runs past the Lourve and hands it off to Tony Parker.

The athlete torch relay continued with these athletes, Nantenin Keita, Alexis Hanquinquant, Marie-Amelie Le Fur, Allison Pineau, Jean-Francois Lamour, Felicia Bellanger, Michel Rousseau, Emilie Le Pennec, David Douillet, Clarisse Agbegnenou, Alain Bernard, Laure Manaudou, Renaud Lavillenie, Laura Flessel-Colovic, and Charles Coste.

After many handoffs, two athletes, Marie-Jo Pérec and Teddy Riner carry the torch and light the cauldron. The ring of flames are taken into the air with a hot air balloon.