The opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics was a campy explosion of French culture that even pouring rain couldn’t dampen as 85 boats carrying athletes from 205 delegations puttered down the Seine to rapturous applause from an enthusiastic crowd.
By the time the final two boats of the parade glided upon the sparkling Eiffel Tower, the athletes representing the United States and France were soaked and the sun had set, but the celebrations continued. If you missed the official start of the 2024 Olympics or want to reflect on all the pink feathers, performances, pomp and circumstance, here are the highlights from Friday’s festivities.
Lady Gaga kicks things off
Thirteen-time Grammy winner Lady Gaga emerged from behind two large plumes of pink feathers to perform Zizi Jeanmaire’s “Mon Truc En Plumes” on a set of stairs alongside the Seine. She wore a black coat with a long train featuring pink feathers at its tail and was accompanied by dancers who later helped her remove the coat to reveal a black bodysuit. The pom poms used in the number were rented from “Le Lido archive—a real French cabaret theater” and the costumes were custom creations in collaboration with Dior, Gaga wrote in a post on X.
Gaga briefly slowed down the high-energy performance to play piano for a moment before kicking the tempo up again. A dancer helped her add a large puff of white feathers to her back to accessorize her bodysuit to cap off the final part of her show.
Lady Gaga performing (in French‼️) at the Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony 🎤
🎥 @franceinfo | #Olympics pic.twitter.com/kwqf897je7
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) July 26, 2024
Les Misérables meets heavy metal
The “liberty” section of the ceremony began with a peek into a Les Misérables rehearsal and took an unexpected turn with the appearance of heavy metal band Gojira. A head-banging drummer, a decapitated Marie Antoinette holding her head and an opera singer came together to perform the French revolutionary song “Ça ira” at the Conciergerie. Flames and puffs of bright red smoke added to the electrifying display of passion.
Running on water
After each boat concluded its journey down the Seine, a mechanical horse galloped across the river to bring in the Olympic flag. Pop star Kelly Clarkson, who served as a commentator on the NBC broadcast, remarked on the cinematic nature of the scene. The NBC broadcast featured clips of historic Olympic moments interspersed with live footage of the horse’s journey.
On land, a real horse led by a rider dressed in a metallic Joan of Arc-inspired outfit walked to deliver a folded flag on the Trocadéro stage. The flag was then hoisted above the Trocadéro. Eagle-eyed fans noticed the flag was accidentally hung upside down.
(Photo: Emmanuel Dunand / Getty Images)
Passing the torch
Throughout the ceremony, broadcast viewers followed the journey of the Olympic flame through Paris.
French soccer icon Zinedine Zidane first took the torch but a hooded figure handled most of the journey after Zidane was shown getting stuck on the Paris metro. This masked torchbearer ran, jumped and flipped his way across rooftops, atop Notre Dame cathedral and through the Louvre to ultimately return it to Zidane. But the flame’s journey wasn’t finished yet.
Zidane passed the torch to 14-time French Open winner Rafael Nadal, who boarded a boat that carried him and a trio of legends back over the Seine. Serena Williams, Carl Lewis and Nadia Comăneci all took turns as torchbearers before French tennis player Amélie Mauresmo carried the flame back on land.
Boat of GOATs. 🐐🛳️ #ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/8Plbfd0seX
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 26, 2024
She passed it to former NBA player Tony Parker who carried on what would become a relay of French Olympians and Paralympians. Teddy Rinner, a three-time Olympic gold medalist in judo, and Marie-José Pérec, a sprinter who also won three Olympic golds, were the final co-torchbearers. Together they lit the Olympic cauldron, which floated into the night sky carried by a hot-air balloon.
A songbird serenades Paris to close the night
Canadian megastar Celine Dion put an exclamation point on the opening ceremony with a powerful, moving performance from the Eiffel Tower. Dressed in a glittering white gown dripping with gems from its long sleeves, Dion sang Edith Piaf’s “L’Hymne à l’amour” from the Eiffel Tower. The five-time Grammy winner has been on a hiatus since announcing she was diagnosed with stiff person syndrome in December 2022. The appearance in Paris was her first performance since sharing her diagnosis.
This Olympics marks Dion’s second inclusion in an opening ceremony, as she also sang at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.
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(Photo: Jamie Squire / Getty Images)
