The Paris Olympics 2024 began with a dazzling opening ceremony highlighting unity through diversity. Paris transformed into a grand amphitheater, with the iconic Seine River serving as the stage for the athletes’ parade. The ceremony on Friday showcased France’s cultural diversity, revolutionary spirit, exceptional craftsmanship, and architectural heritage. The event broke from tradition with the ‘Parade of Nations,’ where athletes from 205 countries and a refugee team floated down the Seine on boats, despite heavy rain threatening to dampen the occasion.
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Special Tribute to ‘Hindi’ in the opening ceremony
The ceremony also honored ‘Hindi’ by including it among the six languages used in infographics that celebrated the contributions of notable French women during the ‘sisterhood’ segment.
The city of Paris turned into a colossal amphitheatre, and the iconic river Seine served as a track for the athletes’ parade as France showcased its cultural diversity, spirit of revolution, impeccable craftsmanship and architectural heritage in a riveting opening ceremony for the 33rd Olympic Games here on Friday.
The spectacle started with a dreamy break from tradition as ‘Parade of Nations’ kicked off the proceedings in which athletes from 205 countries and one refugee team sailed down the Seine on boats despite heavy rain, in the run-up to and during the ceremony, threatening to play spoilsport.
The ceremony also gave a sweet nod to ‘Hindi’ as it was among the six languages used in infographics to pay tribute to the contribution of prominent French women during the segment titled ‘sisterhood’.
French President Emmanuel Macron declared the Games open, marking the formal beginning of competitions for the next 16 days.
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More From the Opening Ceremony
After keeping it a secret till the end of the ceremony that lasted four hours, French judo great Teddy Riner and sprint legend Marie-Jose Perec jointly lit the Olympic cauldron, symbolic of the most gender-neutral Games. The cauldron was attached to a giant hot-air balloon, which lifted off into the Paris night.
Before that French football legend Zinedine Zidane handed the torch to Spanish tennis superstar Rafael Nadal who sailed down the Seine along with another tennis legend Serena Williams and former track star Carl Lewis.
More than a dozen former French sporting greats changed hands before wheelchair-bound Charles Coste, the oldest French Olympic champion at 100, took the flame to be handed to Riner and Perec.The highlight of the unconventional and daring opening ceremony was without doubt the athletes’ march on the Seine river.
The show began with camera panning to French President Emmanuel Macron and International Olympic Committee head Thomas Bach after World Cup-winning football legend Zinedine Zidane was shown sprinting down the streets of Paris with the Olympic flame in a pre-recorded video.
The six kilometer parade began from Austerlitz bridge and 85 boats carried more than 6800 athletes amid loud cheers from the gathered crowd. A good number of athletes also skipped the incredible show due to their competitions on Saturday.
The sequence of arrivals followed the French alphabetical order. The first to arrive was the Greek contingent, for being the spiritual home of the Games, followed by the Refugee team. France, as host country, came last to a boisterous cheer from the home crowd. The 2028 Olympics host USA preceded France.
Australia, which is hosting the 2032 Games came just before USA. The Indian contingent was led by two flag-bearers — two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and table tennis legend A Sharath Kamal and was 84th on the call sheet. The women in the contingent were draped in sarees, while the men sported the traditional ‘kurta-payjama’ in the colours of the national flag.
A total of 78 Indian athletes and officials participated in the ceremony.
(With PTI Inputs)
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