Paris 2024 Olympics open with Seine cruise, Celine Dion

City welcomes the world with a night of art, culture, history, fashion and French whimsy

- David Lee

Like the iconic Eiffel Tower built over a century ago, Paris 2024 pulled off yet another incredible feat on July 26, first with an opening ceremony cruise on the Seine that will rank among the Olympics’ iconic moments in history.

And it was Celine Dion’s finale, Edith Piaf’s L’Hymne A L’Amour, that sealed the show for the hosts, who delivered another coup as the Canadian crooner performed for the first time in four years after she was diagnosed with stiff person syndrome.

With the city of light and shadows the stage for the ceremony by director Thomas Jolly, Paris welcomed the world with an opening night of art, culture, history, fashion and French whimsy.

The party began with delegates from 205 nations and territories cruising past French monuments such as the Austerlitz bridge, Notre-Dame cathedral and Eiffel Tower along the Seine River on over 100 boats – the first time a Summer Games kicked off outside a stadium.

Global sports and entertainment icons – football legend Zinedine Zidane, singer-songwriter Lady Gaga, the world’s most-streamed French-language artiste Aya Nakamura, actress Michelle Yeoh, and even the Minions – added stardust to the opening ceremony, but it was the evening downpour that whipped everyone into a frenzy.

There were 320,000 spectators in the 124 grandstands, while thousands more lined the streets and many others peered out of the windows of the Haussmannian buildings for a glimpse of the action.