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Paris 2024 marked the centenary of Paris 1924 and Chamonix 1924 (the first Winter Olympics), as well as the sixth Olympic Games hosted by France (three Summer Olympics and three Winter Olympics) and the first with this distinction since the 1992 Winter Games in Albertville.

Paris 2024 featured the debut of breaking as an Olympic sport, and was the final Olympic Games held during the IOC presidency of Thomas Bach. The 2024 Games were expected to cost €9 billion. The opening ceremony was held outside of a stadium for the first time in modern Olympic history, as athletes were paraded by boat along the Seine. Paris 2024 was the first Olympics in history to reach full gender parity on the field of play, with equal numbers of male and female athletes.

The opening ceremony began at 19:30 CEST (17:30 GMT) on 26 July 2024. Directed by Thomas Jolly, it was the first Summer Olympics opening ceremony to be held outside the traditional stadium setting (and the second ever after the 2018 Youth Olympic Games one, held at Plaza de la República in Buenos Aires); the parade of athletes was conducted as a boat parade along the Seine from Pont d’Austerlitz to Pont d’Iéna, and cultural segments took place at various landmarks along the route. 

Jolly stated that the ceremony would highlight notable moments in the history of France, with an overall theme of love and “shared humanity”.The athletes then attended the official protocol at Jardins du Trocadéro, in front of the Eiffel Tower. Approximately 326,000 tickets were sold for viewing locations along the Seine, 222,000 of which were distributed primarily to the Games’ volunteers, youth and low-income families, among others. 

The ceremony featured music performances by American musician Lady Gaga, French-Malian singer Aya Nakamura, heavy metal band Gojira and soprano Marina Viotti, Axelle Saint-Cirel (who sang the French national anthem “La Marseillaise” atop the Grand Palais), rapper Rim’K, Philippe Katerine (who portrayed the Greek god Dionysus), Juliette Armanet and Sofiane Pamart, and was closed by Canadian singer Céline Dion. 

The Games were formally opened by president Emmanuel Macron. The Olympic cauldron, which was lit by Guadeloupean judoka Teddy Riner and sprinter Marie-José Pérec, has a hot air balloon-inspired design topped by a 30-metre-tall (98 ft) helium sphere; it is allowed to float into the air above the Tuileries Garden at night. For the first time, the cauldron is not illuminated through combustion; the flames are simulated by an LED lighting system and aerosol water jets. 

Controversy ensued at the opening ceremony when a segment was thought to parody the Last Supper. The organizers apologized for any offense caused.The Olympic World Library and fact-checkers would later debunk the interpretation that the segment was a parody of the Last Supper. The Olympic flag was also raised upside down.During the day of the opening ceremony, there allegedly was a blackout in Paris.

 

Photo Credit: Courtesy of NBC