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One of a kind games opening memorable moments
By Cynthia Montojo
Pulsating energy and unique show that will never be forgotten boundary-breaking, genre-defying and unprecedented opening ceremony for Paris Olympics got 2024 Summer Games.
Opening ceremony mastermind Thomas Jolly, renowned French theater director, had carefully choreographed every minute of festival along banks of River Seine.
But there was one factor he could not plan for, weather. Opening ceremony had misfortune to take place as heavy summer downpours descended on Paris even as forecasts showed days of hot sunny weather ahead.
As national teams paraded down Seine on boats, they sought to make best of situation, likely hoping damp would have no impact on health before events.
Renowned French classical pianist Alexandre Kantorow was drenched as he performed on Paris bridge without any cover, while social media users expressed concern for his equally unprotected instrument.
Ironically, piece he played was “Jeux d’eau” (“Water Game”) by Maurice Ravel.
An image of Britain’s new Prime Minister Keir Starmer meanwhile went viral showing him refusing to wear standard plastic poncho to stay dry showing classic British defiance in the face of poor weather.
Canadian singer Celine Dion, who had been battling rare illness, made spectacular comeback by singing from Eiffel Tower at the climax of the ceremony with rousing version of “Hymn to Love” by Edith Piaf.
Showing pitch-perfect intonation and hitting notes with ease, she serenaded captive Paris as cauldron lit by France’s most-decorated track athlete Marie-Jose Perec and three-time Olympic gold medal-winning judoka Teddy Riner soared into Paris sky in balloon.
Last month she vowed she would fight her way back from debilitating rare neurological condition that has kept her off stage.
Dion first disclosed in December 2022 that she had been diagnosed with Stiff Person Syndrome, an incurable autoimmune disorder.
A French classic some 80 artists from celebrated Moulin Rouge cabaret performed iconic cancan dance that dates back to 1820s, in pink costumes specially designed for the occasion.
Famous music however was given new electronic touch that set tone for an evening that sought to put new twist on classic French culture.
As teams began their parade down Seine they were serenaded by accordion player – dressed in the obligatory French outfit of beret and blue-striped T-shirt – precariously perched on bridge.
There had been racist backlash on social media and criticism from extreme right when it emerged that French Malian singer Aya Nakamura was to perform at the opening ceremony.
But with President Emmanuel Macron himself backing her involvement, she and her dance troupe swung their way into medley of her hits and song by great Charles Aznavour.
In eloquent symbol, she received backing from musicians of France’s Republican Guard and performed against backdrop of the Academie Francaise, the austere guardians of the French language.
Sequence of dancing promoting tolerance of sexual and gender identities ended with actor Philippe Katerine appearing as Greek God Dionysus naked and painted pink, with strategically placed flowers covering his modesty.
In possibly Jolly’s greatest coup de theatre of entire ceremony 10 statues of pioneering French women surged up from waters of the Seine in bid to inscribe their achievements in minds forever.
They included French writer and activist Olympe de Gouges who was guillotined in 1793, Simone Veil, Holocaust survivor who spearheaded legalization of abortion in France, and feminist activist Gisele Halimi.
No-one could accuse opening ceremony of being rigid in its choice of music with city pulsating to all styles from classical, to opera, to pop to electro.Ceremony did not stint on star power with Lady Gaga appearing to perform French music hall classic and homegrown stars like rapper Rim’K also performing at the ceremony
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