Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony: All the Biggest Moments From the Games’ Kickoff (2024)

After braving political chaos, major train disruptions and threats of defecating in the Seine, the Paris Olympics are finally about to kick off under cloudy skies.

Years in the making, this opening ceremony has been envisioned as the French answer to the Super Bowl, boasting pop legends such as Lady Gaga, who has been spotted rehearsing with a grand piano floating down the Seine, as well as Celine Dion, who is expected to make her big comeback this evening with an Edith Piaf song. Other artists, like R&B star Aya Nakamura, will sing songs by late French-Armenian crooner Charles Aznavour. The show, which is orchestrated by artistic director Thomas Jolly, will also pay tribute to French cinema classics with references to films like Leos Carax’s “The Lovers on the Bridge.”

With estimated costs nearing $10 billion, these Olympic Games will be the least expensive in recent history but likely the flashiest, thanks to Paris’ iconic landmarks serving as backdrop.

For the first time, the opening ceremony is unfolding outdoors and outside of a stadium. A nautical parade of 85 boats carrying some 10,500 athletes from each Olympic delegation will unfold along the Seine running through the city, starting from the Pont d’Austerlitz and culminating at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.

More than 3,500 actors, dancers and musical performers will take their marks on Paris’ historical sites, bridges and rooftops. Jolly, who is best known for his rock-opera musical“Starmania,” has created 12 tableaux, or scenes, that will encapsulate the ambition of these Paris Olympics to mix postcard-worthy settings with ultra-contemporary artists, choreography, costumes and props. Bringing the Summer Olympics back to Paris for the first time in a century, these games will also stand out as the first ever gender-balanced edition.

However, the weather isn’t playing ball, as rain is expected to fall down during festivities. But organizers have made sure no technical glitches could ruin the show by pre-recording the voices of all performers, while immersiveaudiofrom the performances will be produced through walls positioned along the Seine.

Read on for the biggest moments from this year’s Olympics opening ceremony, updating live.

Zizou Kicked Things Off

Zinedine Zidane, regarded as the greatest player to ever wear a French soccer shirt and winner of the 1998 World Cup, was the first big name of the ceremony. In a pre-recorded video, he was seen picking up the Olympic flame in an empty Stade de France before running outside, weaving through a colourful traffic jam of classic French cars and delivering it to a group of children. As the video finished, the flotilla of boats of all shapes and sizes carrying each national Olympics team began their journey down the Seine, just as the colours of the French flag exploded over the Pont d’Austerlitz bride in spectacular style. Zidane then showed up again at the end of the night, where he was given the flame once more, passing it to fellow sporting legend Rafael Nadal.

Then Things Went Gaga

After the opening video, Lady Gaga took over headline proceedings and on a flamboyant note, giving a colorful performance of Renée Jeanmaire’s “Mon Truc en Plumes” (My Thing With Feathers). She was accompanied by a troupe of dancers from the revered Moulin Rouge cabaret and played on a piano floating down the Seine.Although this marks the first time Gaga has performed at the Olympics, she has sang in French before – Edith Piaf’s La Vie en Rose — in Bradley Cooper’s “A Star is Born.” This is to be her biggest performance to date, topping her 2017 SuperBowl Halftime Show.

Celine Dion Brought it All to a Tear-Jerking Close

As had been widely – and excitedly —touted in the days leading up the event, Celine Dion made a spectacular and emotional comeback performance as the opening night ceremony drew to a close, her first live show since disclosing that she had a rare medical disorder in 2022. The Canadian icon and Queen of Power Ballads didn’t just sing Edith Piaf’s “Hymne A L’Amour,” but did so halfway up the Eiffel Towerand beneath a set of giant Olympic rings.No, you’re crying!

Vive La Rock!

In a segment dedicated to the French revolution, local metal icons Gojira pulled out their angular guitars for a head-banging performance alongside French-Swiss opera singer Marina Viotti. Adding to the dramatic display, they appeared in front of castle while cannons belched out fire.

‘Pookie’ on the Pont

French-Malian singer Aya Nakamura, who ranks as the world’s most popular contemporary French-speaking artist, sang her two biggest hits, “Pookie” and “Djadja,” whose lyrics were laced with Aznavour’s “Ma Boheme” and “For Me Formidable.” Dancing and singingon the Pont des Arts,she was accompanied by the orchestra of the French Republican Guard and 36 choristers from the French Army.

Riverdance

There were some exquisitely choreographed dance performances throughout the entire show, most taking place all along the Seine. From a high-kicking Moulin Rouge show by dancers kitted out in pink, to an extreme splashy display featuring hundreds of performers in a fountain and one in which dancers looking like hotel bellboys pushed around large Louis Vuitton cases (LVMH is a sponsor, of course). There were also some quieter individual performances, including a ballet display on a rooftop.

Parkour Mystery?

Anyone who has played the “Assassin’s Creed” franchise of video games may have felt a sense of déjà vu, with the mysterious torch-bearing parkour athlete linking each individual “tableaux” looking —and performing —much like the main character, Arno. The way they impressively leaped and bounded over Parisian roofs, in and out of apartments and through world famous locations (the Louvre!), all while dressed in period clothing and a hooded cloak, was near identical to 2020’s “Assassin’s Creed Unity,” set during the French Revolution. But it seems there was some unity with the game’s developers —French giant Ubisoft —with the official “Assassin’s Creed” X account encouraging people to “Keep an eye on Paris’ rooftops—Arno might just be watching from above.”

A Trip to the Minions

In a special segment dedicated to French filmmaking, there were nods to the Lumiere Brothers and their groundbreaking “The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station” (the one where people thought the train was coming through the cinema screen) plus Georges Méliès sci-fi classic “A Trip to the Moon.” But much of the time was devoted to more contemporary icons of local cinema, the banana-loving, nonsense-talking yellow creatures known as the Minions. While the “Despicable Me” franchise may be produced by Universal’s U.S. animation powerhouse Illumination, at the helm has been French filmmaker Pierre-Louis Padang Coffin, who co-directed four films and provided most of the Minions iconic voices. In honor of this — and perhaps Illumination’s French tax rebate — an extended and specially-made animation was shown in which Kevin, Stuart, Bob and co attempted various sports in a submarine (with predictably disastrous results).

Gender Balancing Act

Kicking off the first ever gender-balanced edition of the Olympics, the ceremony also fittingly celebrated 10 French female icons, including philosopher Simone de Beauvoir; Simone Veil, an Auschwitz survivor who championed abortion rights in France; Louise Michel, a 19th centurypolitical activist and leader of theFrenchanarchist movement;Olympe de Gouges, an 18th centurysocial reformer and playwright;Alice Milliat, apioneer of women’s sport;Gisele Halimi, aTunisian-French lawyer and feminist; and Alice Guy, the first female filmmaker, among others. These women were feted as part of theSororité,Sisterhoo tableau. Jolly said “the French national anthem becomes a symbol of unification and a call to pay tribute to the women of France’s history, represented by 10 golden statues emerging from the Seine.”Last time Paris hosted the Paris Olympics, in 1902, there were only 2% of female athletes. Estanguet said inclusiveness was a key goal for these Olympics.

100m Drag Race

Fashion was —of course —a part of the Olympic festivities, with a special section towards the end involving a red-carpeted catwalk over a bridge on which various models and celebrities showcased the work of young French designers while local DJ-producer Barbara Butch took care of the music. Alongside the DJ various stars of “Drag Race France” were spotted, including contestants Paloma and Piche and host Nicky Doll. The “Assassin’s Creed”-y parkour athlete also turned up on the runway, performing some impressive one-handed cartwheels (he was still carrying the Olympic flame).

Rain (and LeBron James in a Plastic Poncho)

Although it didn’t appear to dampen the quality of any of the opening ceremony performances, the rain — which seemed to gather pace as the night went on — definitely dampened everything and everyone taking part. It lashed down on the boats bringing in the athletes (on the comically overcrowded Team USA boat the imposing figure of LeBron James was among those wearing plastic ponchos). It lashed down on the numerous dance troupes, on the musicians and on the keys of Celine Dion’s piano as it was being played behind her halfway up the Eiffel Tower. It lashed down on the catwalk (making the acrobatics and breakdancing even more impressive to watch). The Seine may have been the focal point for much of the festivities, but organizers probably didn’t anticipate there being quite so much water.