Everything is ready for the big one Opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics which is held Friday July 26 at 19pm (Italian time) and will last almost four hours. In a city completely armored against the risk of attacks. It will be a historic event. For the first time in history of the Olympics the Opening Ceremony it will not take place inside a stadium. The parade of athletes will take place along the Seine river, rather than on the traditional athletics track. The river banks will become stands for the public, while the historic monuments of Paris, illuminated by the sunset, will act as a backdrop.
The parade will start at the Austerlitz Bridge and yes it will run for six kilometers along the Seine, passing under historic bridges and iconic monuments such as Notre-Dame and the Louvre. The route will also include Games venues such as the Esplanade des Invalides and the Grand Palais, and will will end in front of the Trocadero, at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, where the official celebrations will take place, thelighting of the Olympic flame and the official opening of the Games. The Olympic brazier of the Paris 2024 Games will not be installed on the Eiffel Tower, as initially planned, but will be hosted at the Jardin des Tuileries. The favorites to light the brazier are the former football champion Zinedine Zidane and the former sprinter Marie-Jose Pérec.
Around 120 heads of state, sovereigns and heads of government are expected. The President of the Republic was also present Sergio Mattarella. It will be there largest sporting ceremony in terms of audience and reach.
More than 100 boats will parade along the Seine
Will 94 boats to parade with more than 8 thousand athletes on board coming from 205 nations (not all participants will in fact be present on the boats). Due to sanctions for the invasion of Ukraine, Russian and Belarusian athletes will compete as neutrals under the flag of Ain (Neutral Individual Athletes), and the refugee Olympic team. The total fleet is made up of 181 boats of various sizes: 110 dynamic (including a dozen reserve), 35 law enforcement and the rest intended for media and technicians. The boats will host national delegations, with the larger countries on dedicated boats and the smaller countries sharing the boats.
It will be also a tightrope walker which will cross the Seine accompanied by drones, fixed aerostats and giant bubbles that roll on the water, following the movement of the boats that will advance at a speed of 9 kilometers per hour.
Opening ceremony: when Italy begins and when it parades
The opening ceremony will begin at 19,30 pm. L'Italy, with 403 athletes (7th in the rankings of the most numerous nations), it will be the 91st nation to parade. The blues, Giorgio Armani clothes, they will have as standard bearer Gianmarco Tamberi e Ariadne Errigo and they will be on the boat together with Israel and Jamaica. The delegations will parade in alphabetical order, with some exceptions: la Greece will open the parade as the homeland, cradle of the Games, followed by the Refugee Team, while the France will close the event as a host country. South Africa, however, will rank immediately after Greece and Afghanistan, following the French alphabetical order (Afrique du Sud). The last three nations to sail the river will be Australia, the United States and the hosts. Usually, third to last place goes to the next Olympic host, which would have been the USA for Los Angeles 2028, but this time it will be Australia, host of the Brisbane 2032 Olympics.
Opening ceremony: who is the artistic director
Thomas jolly, French director and actor, is the artistic director of the event. Although many details are still unknown, the show promises to be a great combination of traditional and modern elements, reflecting the cultural variety of France, from rap to opera.
Maud Le Pladec, choreographer of the ceremonies, announced that every bridge along the parade route will have dancers, with 400 dancers among the 3.000 performers participating in the opening and closing ceremonies. The costumes, designed by the TV presenter Daphne Burki, will be a mix of vintage and new pieces, with a strong focus on sustainability, thanks to the use of recycled materials and costumes made by a team of experts.
Paris 2024: who will perform, possible surprise Céline Dion
It's still a secret who will sing during the ceremony, but some names are already circulating. Orchestras and choirs will play classical, pop and electronic pieces. The world's pop stars Dua Lipa, Ariana Grande and the Franco-Malian Aya Nakamura they should be present. There are also rumors of the participation of Lady Gaga, spotted in Paris, and the possible return of Céline Dion, who has not performed since 2019 due to his illness. According to Thierry Moreau, Celine Dion and Lady Gaga could sing “La Vie En Rose” together by Edith Piaf.
How many people will attend the Opening Ceremony
Circa 600 thousand people will watch live at the parade. To make the event more accessible to everyone, 222 thousand free tickets and 104 thousand paid tickets were distributed for the Seine quays. Access to the stations is electronic and requires a QR code.
It is the first time in the history of the Opening Ceremonies that the majority of spectators will participate for free. Those who are not along the river will be able to follow the event on 80 giant screens throughout the city while around 1,5 billion people are expected to follow it via global television broadcasts.
Where to watch the 2024 Olympics Opening Ceremony
In Italy, the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and therefore also the Opening Ceremony will be broadcast in live on Rai channels (live on Rai2 from 19,30pm) and free streaming on Rai Play. They will also be available on Eurosport via satellite on Sky and streaming on Discovery+, Sky Go, Now, Dazn, TIMvision and Prime Video Channels.
