2024 Paris Olympics opening ceremony, as it happened

The floating Olympic cauldron is not only spectacular, it’s also eco-friendly. Paris 2024 organizers said in a statement its flame is 100% electric made of water and light, with no fuel.

After a glittering metal horse galloped across the Seine, a woman wearing silver armor rode a real horse while carrying the official Olympic flag (which wound up being raised upside down).

Who was the woman on horseback? Her name is Floriane Issert, a Gendarmerie noncommissioned officer. She was meant to be “the representation of the Olympic spirit and of Sequana,” the goddess of the Seine River.

Organizers for the Los Angeles Games in 2028 will have a hard time matching the scale of what Paris executed along the Seine.

LA’s bid included plans to split its opening ceremony between Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum — also a host in 1932 and 1984 — and SoFi Stadium. Those plans could change in the next four years, though.

Speaking on French television, Paris 2024 director of design and costume for ceremonies Daphné Bürki spoke of how enthusiastic Dion and Lady Gaga were to take part.

“When we called Celine Dion one year ago, she said yes straight away,” Bürki said. “So did Lady Gaga. She trained for two months to do this.”

Now the games begin in earnest all across France.

There are plenty of gold medals at stake Saturday, the first full day of the Olympic slate. There’s swimming and tennis all day long. And several stars will be in action, including U.S. Open tennis champion Coco Gauff, NBA phenom Victor Wembanyama and Greece’s Giannis Antetokounmpo.

▶ Here’s what to watch during Day 1 of the Paris Olympics

The 2024 Paris Olympics opening ceremony has officially come to a close.

No. Her English songs are much beloved and French is her first language but she is Canadian.

Born in Quebec, the French-speaking province of Canada, the singer does not have French nationality.

Somewhat confusingly, Dion represented Switzerland in the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest and won the whole thing. Eurovision doesn’t require singers to be citizens of the countries they’re representing.

She received a standing ovation at this year’s Grammys when she made a surprise appearance to present the final award. That was the beginning of a comeback, completed tonight.

Celine Dion’s Olympics performance marks her return to performing after years. She was diagnosed with stiff person syndrome in late 2022, causing her to postpone a tour.

The rare neurological disorder causes rigid muscles and painful muscle spasms, which were affecting Dion’s ability to walk and sing. In June, at the premiere of the documentary “I Am: Celine Dion” she told The Associated Press that returning required therapy, “physically, mentally, emotionally, vocally.”

“So that’s why it takes a while. But absolutely why we’re doing this because I’m already a little bit back,” she said.

The identity of the person who would light the Olympic cauldron (spoiler alert: Marie-José Pérec and Teddy Riner) was up in the air … and so, it turns out, was the cauldron itself: a ring of fire carried by a hot-air balloon.

The ring is 7 meters in diameter (about 23 feet), and the balloon is 30 meters (about 100 feet) tall and 22 meters (about 72 feet) wide.

Instead of the usual ground-bound cauldron used at most Summer and Winter Games, the special edition for the Paris Olympics is intended as a tribute to the first ride taken in a hydrogen-filled gas balloon — made in 1783 by two of that balloon’s French inventors. They departed back then from the Tuileries Garden, which is near the Louvre Museum in the heart of Paris and where the Olympic cauldron was lit before floating into the sky.

Created by French designer Mathieu Lehanneur, the cauldron is meant as a symbol of liberty – an element in the national slogan of “Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité.”

Celine Dion has arrived! The French-Canadian pop star followed the lighting of the Olympic cauldron by performing from the Eiffel Tower.

Charles Coste, the oldest French Olympic champion at 100, took the Olympic flame from his wheelchair, then passed it on to French judo great Teddy Riner and sprinter Marie-José Pérec. They lit a cauldron attached to a giant balloon, which then floated into the Paris night.

Mauresmo and Parker handed off to a trio of French para-athletes, including Nantenin Keïta, who is the daughter of famed Mali musician Salif Keita. A series of handoffs followed to more than a dozen French athletes.

When the boat reached land, Nadal used the torch his group had to light one held by former tennis player Amelie Mauresmo. She won two Grand Slam titles, reached No. 1 in the rankings and coached Andy Murray; she is now the tournament director for the French Open.

Mauresmo handed her torch to former NBA player Tony Parker, and they began jogging together under a falling rain near the Louvre.

People still lining the Alexander III Bridge cheered with joy as the Olympic torch passed by on the boat.

Other athletes on the boat involved in the torch relay were retired track star Carl Lewis, an American with nine Olympic gold medals, and retired gymnast Nadia Comaneci, a Romanian with five golds.

The final torch relay late in the ceremony involved retired soccer star Zinedine Zidane, who led France to the 1998 World Cup title, and several non-French stars.

Zidane handed off to Rafael Nadal, a Spaniard who won 14 of his 22 Grand Slam tennis titles at the French Open. Then, on a boat along the Seine, Nadal gave the torch to Serena Williams, an American who collected three of her 23 major singles championships in Paris.

After staring in awe at the Eiffel Tower light show, crowds once again jumping up and down and bopping to electronic music.

Lights from the monument can be seen as rays through the rain over the Seine, leaving the cloudy sky glowing.

French President Emmanuel Macron has said the words that make it official: He has declared the Paris Games open.

Macron did so just before French flag bearers Florent Manaudou and Mélina Robert-Michon took the Olympic Oath on behalf of all the athletes taking part in the Olympic Games. The oath represents how athletes understand they must respect the rules of fair play.

The five-ring Olympic flag was raised upside down at Trocadero across the way from the Eiffel Tower.

The gaffe happened about three hours into the opening ceremony. Four officers of the Republican Guard were handed the flag, unfurled it and then moved it to the top of a pole. But the yellow and green rings that are supposed to be at the bottom were at the top; the blue, black and red rings that are supposed to be on top were underneath.

The flag was designed in 1914 by Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympics. The five rings represent continents: blue for Europe, black for Africa, red for America, yellow for Asia, green for Australia.

Tony Estanguet, the president of Paris 2024 and a three-time canoe slalom gold medalist, offered the Olympic athletes a message of hope at the opening ceremony Friday night.

And he thanked them for being in Paris.

“Dear athletes, we can’t wait to live it all with you,” he said. “The joy. The tears. And the love that you will put in each moment. Thank you so much for being here. You made it. Bravo. I know what it means. I know what it took. I know the paths you have followed to be here. Paris will give back to you. It’s the city of love. And for the next 16 days, it is your city.”

Algeria reminded France of a dark chapter of its colonial past during the Paris Olympics opening ceremony.

Algerian athletes brought red roses on their boat as they paraded for the event, and then tossed them into the river to honor victims of an infamous 1961 police crackdown on Algerian protesters in Paris.
Historians say some 120 protesters died and 12,000 were arrested as they demonstrated in support of independence from France, then Algeria’s colonial ruler. Some were thrown in the Seine River.

Algeria won its independence in 1962 after a long war.

In Friday’s Olympics parade, some athletes chanted ‘’Long live Algeria!’’ in Arabic after throwing the flowers.

Although organizers said 6,800 athletes would attend the parade, far fewer than that appear to have stayed after boats docked for the last part of the ceremony, held in a temporary arena facing the Eiffel Tower.

The crowd of athletes there, many wearing clear plastic ponchos, had thinned to a couple of thousand at most.

Four delegations have just one athlete competing at the Games. They are Belize, Liechtenstein, Nauru and Somalia.

None of them had their own boat for the opening ceremony on the Seine. Being the lone athlete has its perks, though: You are a sure thing to be the flag bearer. Mountain bike racer Romano Puentener of Liechtenstein is the youngest of the four — he’s 20.

Three hours in, and the Paris Olympics opening ceremony has been a magnificent — if soggy — success. It’s almost hard to believe after the day began with arsonists attacking the French high-speed rail system.

The 90 boats carrying 6,800 athletes have completed the roughly 90-minute Seine River parade route. It’s been an unprecedented display of Olympic spirit, one that appears to have gone without a hitch.

There have been memorable musical performances from Lady Gaga, metal band Gojira and others. Stunning artistic displays utilized Paris’ many historical landmarks. And critically, no known interruptions despite concerns over safety and security across the sprawling Olympic stage — and no one’s fallen into the choppy Seine.

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A performer rides a mechanical horse along the Seine River in Paris, France, during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

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Entertainer’s perform in Paris, France, during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 26, 2024. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

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Floriane Issert, a non-commissioned officer for the National Gendarmerie, carries the Olympic flag during the opening ceremony for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France, Friday, July 26, 2024. (Loic Venance/Pool Photo via AP)

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A horsewoman galloped on her glittering metal horse on the waters of the Seine River, draped in a cape emblazoned with the Olympic rings. As she passed under Paris successive bridges, dove’s wings unfurled to symbolize a message of peace.

The tableau was then transformed into the horsewoman riding a real horse, accompanied by the Republican Guard, to bring the Olympic flag to the Trocadero stage, near the Eiffel Tower.

Sofia Cohen, 20, and her father Michael Cohen, 62, were among packs of people grinning and jumping up and down, pumping their fist to music after boats had already passed.

Calling the opening ceremony “electric,” the Nicaraguan-Americans chatted about their favorite moments, agreeing that the roar of applause the Ukrainian team got as it drifted by on boat was their favorite part.

“Every Olympics is different, and this one was very French. The ceremony started out very magestic and regal. And as the rain started pouring down and time went on, everything got a little more hectic and fun,” Sofia said. “Everyone was just going crazy.

French singer and actor Philippe Katerine, singing a song named “Naked,” is known for his irreverent sense of humor.

Aged 55, he became popular in France in the 2000s with his dance beat “Louxor, j’adore,” which he performed Friday almost naked with his body painted in blue to represent Dyonisus, the god of wine.

Up close, the waters of the Seine River looked choppy indeed. As boats approached the Alexander III Bridge, they all appeared to veer off to the side. And the smaller boats were clearly having a bumpy ride.

One of the ideals of the Olympics is peace, which makes John Lennon’s “Imagine” a natural fit for the opening ceremony.

It has become a tradition, one that continued Friday at the opening of the Paris Games, for Lennon’s peace anthem to be part of the opening.

“The Olympic Games must always build bridges. The Olympic Games must never erect walls. Imagine. You may say we are dreamers. We are not the only ones,” IOC president Thomas Bach said exactly one year ago Friday, borrowing from the song.

Olympic surfers competing in Tahiti, French Polynesia, got their own chance to shine about 10,000 miles (15,000 kilometers) away from Paris, when TV showed them gathering on a beach for a ceremony centered on Polynesian culture.

The 12-hour time difference from Paris means it was a little before 10 a.m. on Friday in Tahiti when the surfing athletes were briefly on screens around the world. Some held flags or scarfs showing their countries’ names.

It’s an ancestral tradition in Polynesian culture used as a prelude to important events to secure the peace and union of those in competition against each other.

Surfing is expected to begin Saturday, depending on when swales arrive and
the angle and size of the waves.

Even LeBron James was moved by his experience at the opening ceremony.

By his company, too.

The four-time NBA MVP and tennis star Coco Gauff were the flag bearers for the U.S.

“For myself and Coco, for us to be able to represent our country,” James said, “us being Black kids as well, represent our culture and represent where we come from, it gives everybody so much hope where we come from, and that’s all we can ask for. We take it with the utmost responsibility and the utmost honor.”

James joined a large contingent of American athletes on a boat on the Seine River on a rainy night in Paris. With Gauff by his side — both clad in clear ponchos — James bobbed his head as he held the flag at the front of the boat.

“The rain can’t stop us,” James said.

Pins are currency at any Olympics: people trade them, people want them, people save them and it’s all been a tradition for decades.

And U.S. flag bearer and tennis star Coco Gauff is evidently a big player on the pin circuit since her selection to lead the American delegation into the opening ceremony alongside LeBron James.

“I can say it’s upped her pin game tremendously,” U.S. tennis coach Kathy Rinaldi said. “Just hanging around Coco, we’re getting the really good pins.”

About two dozen Olympic volunteers started to dance together in the rain in front of the bleachers at the Du Carosel viewing point. Fans who hadn’t been chased away by the downpour cheered as they bounced and jumped around.

“The rain made it more funny to be honest,” said Austrian marathon swimmer Jan Hercog, who’ll compete in the Seine, if it is clean enough.

“There were people standing on the roofs and on famous buildings that I have just seen in books and on TV. ... I was like, ‘Woah, that’s crazy.’ They were cheering. I was nearly crying.”

He said he was “really worried” about the potential that the wet evening could impact his performance. He said he’d take vitamin C and some supplements to pep him up after the ceremony.

Tom Daley and Helen Glover inserted a scene from “Titanic” into the opening ceremony.

Luckily for Daley and Glover, there was no iceberg in sight.

Daley and Glover — the flag bearers for Britain — put their own little twist on the blockbuster 1997 movie while floating on their country’s boat on the River Seine.

Daley, a diver, held his arms out as he stood near a railing, and Glover, a rower, had her arms wrapped around his waist while holding the British flag.

Britain’s team account posted a picture of the scene. The caption read: “Near, far, wherever you are..”

At 6-foot-9, U.S. flag bearer and NBA icon LeBron James is pretty easy to spot. And there are no shortage of Olympians trying to find him at the Paris Games.

“I want to take a picture with a few guys from tennis and from NBA — LeBron James and Steph Curry,” Angola handball player and flag bearer Azenaide Carlos said.

Added Italian tennis player Sara Errani, when asked which athlete she wants to most meet: “LeBron James. Why? I don’t think there’s any need to add a reason, but for sure because I am a big basketball fan.”

James was selected in a vote among Team USA’s captains. Other nations use different methods for choosing flag bearers; Australia chef de mission Anna Meares revealed her nation’s picks — canoe-kayak Olympic champion Jessica Fox and field hockey’s Eddie Ockenden — earlier this week, and said James having the same honor piqued even more interest in the flag bearer role.

“There’s also a lot of excitement in the Australian team that LeBron James is their flagbearer,” Meares said.

Palestine’s entrance was met with cheers. Like many crisis-stricken nations, the country’s delegation is small and many of the athletes are Palestinian descendants or trained in other countries to be here.

▶ Read more about the Palestinian Olympic team

The ceremony celebrated women, including by featuring 10 gold-colored statues of great French female figures.

During a performance of the national anthem “La Marseillaise,” the statues arose from giant pedestals along the river near France’s lower house of parliament.

Among the pioneering women honored was Olympe de Gouges, who drafted the Declaration of the Rights of Women and the Female Citizen in 1791 during the French Revolution. She campaigned for the abolition of slavery and was guillotined in 1793.

The others: Simone de Beauvoir, a philosopher and writer; Gisèle Halimi, a lawyer and activist; Paulette Nardal, a writer; Jeanne Barret, an explorer and botanist; Christine de Pizan, a writer; Louise Michel, a feminist activist; Alice Guy, a movie director and producer; Alice Milliat, organizer of the first Women’s World Games; Simone Veil, a politician and magistrate. The statues will be given to the City of Paris – which currently has 260 statues of men and just 40 or so of women.

France only recently has started honoring its great female figures. Until 2015, the Pantheon monument, which is the final resting place of dozens of national heroes, had only one woman among them: Marie Curie. Since then, four other women have been inducted.

These Summer Games aim to be the first Olympics with equal numbers of women and men competing.

Last but certainly not least, the French delegation has joined of the opening ceremony’s athletes’ parade.

It passed under the Austerlitz Bridge shortly after 9:15 p.m. to huge cheers from the rain-soaked crowd lining the riverbanks and watching from nearby apartment windows. Fans chanted “Allez les Bleus, Allez les Bleus” — a famed chant for the nation’s various sports teams.

Athletes on the first boats began to arrive at the Trocadero around 9 p.m., most of them wearing clear ponchos over their uniforms. They could be here for more than 2 1/2 more hours as the other nations disembark before the ceremonies began official elements, including the athletes’ oath.

Some people don’t want to leave the ceremony despite the rain and are trying to find cover so they can keep watching.

“I like the show, but I don’t want to be out in the rain for three hours,” said Guillermo Saez, who found shelter under a small bridge in the viewing area. “It’s unfortunate that it’s raining, it (the ceremony) was promising,” he added, noting that the French had bad luck.

More seats are being left empty along the parade route as the rain picks up in Paris. The athletes are still floating down the Seine, and many fans have still stuck around with umbrellas and ponchos.

The section of the opening ceremony featuring Paris-based animation studio Illumination’s Minions characters nodded to French writer Jules Verne’s 1870 adventure novel “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas” and began with a visual reference to actor and filmmaker Georges Méliès’s influential 1902 short film “A Trip to the Moon,” also based on a Verne book.

The mezzo-soprano Axelle Saint-Cirel just performed a reimagined version of “The Marseillaise,” which is France’s national anthem, in a downpour as the opening ceremony moves along.

It coincided with the raising of the French flag at the Trocadero. As has been the case at the last few Olympics at least, the flagpole came equipped with fans that extended the flag out full horizontally.

Loud cheers could be heard for the majority of the anthem.

A small delegation from Haiti is floating down the Seine. Like other crisis-stricken nations in the Olympics, many in the delegation are from other countries and have parents or grandparents that migrated from Haiti.

The Caribbean nation — a French and Creole-speaking country that shares a long, troubled history with France, its former colonizer — has largely become too dangerous for athletes to train there.

That said, for some in the delegation who spoke to the AP, representing their family’s country is a point of pride for a nation that has long been spoken down to.

Basketball player Dennis Schroder says it’s “insane” that he was picked to be Germany’s flag bearer. And he loved every second of it, with a big smile on his face as the boat carrying his team made its way down the River Seine.

“With my background as well, my mom’s from Gambia, me being dark skinned in Germany, been tough sometimes growing up but now to be able to represent Germany, it’s insane,” Schroder said. “It’s great for my family, not just for me, but people who have similar background. It’s a big, a huge, statement in Germany.”

Schroder, a member of Germany’s reigning World Cup champion team who plays for the Brooklyn Nets, is one of three flag bearers from the NBA in Friday’s opening ceremony. Greece’s Giannis Antetokounmpo and LeBron James of the U.S. are the others.

The Nigeria women’s basketball team wasn’t allowed to board the delegation’s boat for the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics by one of the country’s officials, said a person familiar with the situation.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the Nigeria delegation has not publicly commented.

Once the team made it to the area where they were supposed to board the boat and be a part of the ceremony, they were denied entry by a Nigerian official who told them that there were too many people on board. The team made its way to the athletes village after being turned away.

▶ Read more about the Nigeria women’s basketball team

The weather is getting worse at the opening ceremony. And there’s now a new challenge: waves.

OK, they’re not enough for surfing, but if anyone in the athletes’ procession is prone to seasickness, here’s hoping they have a remedy nearby.

The boats are seeming to bounce on the Seine River a bit more than they did when the ceremony began — amid a break in the rain.

It’s been raining steadily for about a half-hour now. Most athletes have pulled transparent ponchos over their snazzy opening-ceremony outfits.

A small trickle of spectators have begun to file out of the ceremony. The vast majority of people continue to brave the rain.

A few fans just jeered Israel as it went past on a shared boat, but not many. The Italian delegation on the same boat quickly chanted “Italia! Italia!”

Athletes on some of the larger boats had to lower the flags they were waving while passing through some of the smaller bridges on the Seine River. The steady rain in Paris made some of the athletes stay under cover during parts of the parade.