2024 Paris Olympics: highlights from the opening ceremony
The rain did not dampen the historic event of Friday evening, July 26. On the contrary, the unpredictable weather witnessed a celebration full of twists and turns, full of hope, and of unparalleled beauty. A look back at the highlights of the most breathtaking evening of the Olympic and Paralympic Games to date.
Between dancing, laughter and tears, the evening celebrating the official opening of the Olympic Games did not fail to move the entire world. From surprise appearances by Lady Gaga and Celine Dion to the inclusive and gender-balanced show that was designed as a common thread: here is what we should remember from the event.
Lady Gaga's show
Hidden behind feather accessories in a love pink, the American singer Lady Gaga inaugurated the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games with panache by covering Mon truc en plumes by Zizi Jeanmaire in a number paying homage to cabaret and music hall. For the occasion, the artist was perched on a large golden staircase created on the banks of the Île Saint-Louis, recreating a metro station. Before singing the notes of the title with her sensational voice, she launches into a joyful " Bonsoir, bienvenue à Paris" , which sends the crowd into a frenzy. Singing in French, she struts around in her fluffy outfit, she has fun, she plays with looks and smiles with the dancers, all while glamorously interpreting the most joyful title of French cabaret.
French values in the spotlight
12 tableaux were orchestrated, highlighting messages with a global aura, calling in particular for peace, freedom, fraternity, equality - and especially parity with these historic Games. We will remember the sublime piano-voice interpretation of the anthem Imagine , majestically sung by Juliette Armanet , herself accompanied by the harmonious melody of the prodigy Sofiane Pamart , both embarked on a flaming raft - a poignant tableau, a response to the darkness we face between wars and the climate emergency, which calls for awakening consciences and embracing light, hope, action.
Inclusivity above all
Through these Games and their ambitious opening ceremony in the heart of the city, Paris 2024 has succeeded in its bet to leave a lasting and necessary legacy by changing the way we look at disability and by contributing, beyond the Games, to the construction of a more inclusive society and public space . The event did not hesitate to highlight national pride, that of a nation where the present and the past, parity and sisterhood can be combined, where Westerners and Easterners are adversaries on the field, but friends in life. The artists — from dancers to singers and musicians — represent a rich and multicultural planet Earth, with plural and multiracial religions, where women, men, queers, old, young, classicists and modernists all hold hands.
Consecutive Olympic Torch Relays
The suspense was maintained until the end. To open the ceremony, a deliberately misleading pre-recorded video shows comedian Jamel Debbouze carrying the flame into an empty stadium! The long-awaited Zinedine Zidane comes to the rescue, retrieving the flame and bringing it back to the center of Paris — a historic gesture since this is the first time that the Olympic Games and the opening ceremony are held in the open air, outside the stadium. After long hours of following a route where the flame crosses different scenes, it returns to the level of the Eiffel Tower, while the legendary football player — then tipped by many journalists to light the Olympic cauldron — passes the torch to tennis player Rafael Nadal . This was followed by a relay of the Iron Lady in the Tuileries Gardens, made up of some of the greatest Olympic champions, including Nadia Comaneci, Serena Williams, Carl Lewis, to reach the hands of judoka Teddy Riner and former athlete Marie-José Pérec , both triple Olympic champions, who lit the Olympic cauldron together, flying away poetically in a hot air balloon. Once again, the message is strong, with two French athletes chosen to light the cauldron, a man and a woman — for parity of course.
The return of Celine Dion
Diva Celine Dion , who has been away from the stage for four years due to stiff-person syndrome, which attacks her voice, performed L'Hymne à l'amour , a timeless song by the famous French artist Edith Piaf. The grand finale of the ceremony, the emotion was palpable.
Dior outfits
The two biggest (and most anticipated) performers of the night, Lady Gaga and Celine Dion , were both dressed by the Dior Couture House for their respective appearances. On the one hand, Lady Gaga wore a black feather-embroidered jacket over a black satin bustier and culottes with a black and pink Dior Haute Couture feather and sequin embroidered skirt. She also wore a headdress, gloves and shoes by the French Maison. At the end of her performance, she removed her skirt and wore a black satin bustier and culottes with a white feather pompom. Her dancers were also dressed in Dior . On the other hand, singer Celine Dion chose a Dior Haute Couture outfit specifically designed by Maria Grazia Chiuri to enhance her performance from the first floor of the Eiffel Tower. She delivered her moving performance dressed in a white silk georgette dress, embroidered with a hypnotic gradient of sequins (pierced sparkles) and magnified by more than five hundred meters of fringes studded with thousands of silver pearls, seeming to come to life, vibrate, sparkle to the rhythm of her magical performance. An exceptional model, entirely custom-made, on the star's body, with the greatest meticulousness, requiring more than a thousand hours of work, and perpetuating the prodigious embroidery know-how of the House of Dior . Celine Dion was accompanied on the piano by the composer and conductor Scott Price, who wore a black Oblique tuxedo by Kim Jones for Dior .
Credits: Getty Images, courtesy of Dior
