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PARIS (AP) — A hot air balloon released an Olympic ring of fireplace into the rainy sky and singer Céline Dion sang her songs from the Eiffel Tower as Paris opened its first Summer Olympics in a century on Friday. Opening ceremonies which unfolded along the Seine.
The athletes' enthusiasm didn’t appear to be dampened by the occasional rain showers. Some held umbrellas as they rode boats down the river, demonstrating the town's resilience while authorities investigated. alleged acts of sabotage The goal is the French high-speed rail network.
The stakes for France were high at this ambitious ceremony. Dozens of heads of state and government were on the town, and the world watched as Paris was transformed into an enormous open-air theater. Along the Seine, famous monuments became stages for dancers, singers and other performers.
This included the Louvre Museum, near which French judo champion Teddy Riner and three-time Olympic running champion Marie-Jose Perec lit the Olympic cauldron attached to an enormous balloon that floated into the night – a tribute to the early French pioneers of manned aviation.
“We survived the rain, but it didn't spoil our fun,” said US beach volleyball player Kelly Cheng. “It was one of the most magical nights of our lives.”
Despite the weather, crowds crowded the banks and bridges of the Seine and watched from balconies as Olympic teams sailed in boats along the increasingly turbulent waterway.
Many of the tons of of hundreds of spectators huddled under umbrellas, plastic ponchos or jackets because the rain got heavier, others danced and sang, and a few jumped from their seats to hunt shelter.
“The rain can't stop us,” said US basketball star LeBron James, who wore a plastic poncho together with the opposite American flag bearer, tennis player Coco Gauff.
The weather created some bizarre scenes on the show, which combined recorded and live performances: A stiff-upper-lip pianist continued to play despite small puddles forming on his grand piano. A breakdancer showed off her moves on the shiny, rain-soaked platform. Some athletes in brightly coloured Bermuda-style shirts looked like they were dressed for the beach reasonably than a deluge.
Organizers said they’d to cancel some elements of the show as a consequence of the weather, as they were considered too dangerous as a consequence of slippery road conditions.
Nevertheless, Paris showed its best side to the worldwide audience – within the truest sense of the word, with a spectacular Olympic start that lifted the mood and cheerful French cancan dancers originally. Football icon Zinedine Zidane appeared in a humorous short film. This was followed by French blue-white-red clouds of smoke.
Lady Gaga the in French in a pre-recorded piece, with dancers shaking pink feather pompoms, giving a cabaret feel. At the Eiffel Tower, Dion closed the show together with her first live performance because the French-Canadian singer Diagnosis of stiff person syndromea rare neurological disease, end of 2022.
More than three hours after the show began, French President Emmanuel Macron declared the games open. There had previously been a fake pas when the Olympic flag with the five rings was hoisted the wrong way up on the Trocadéro opposite the Eiffel Tower.
In some memorable moments, French-Malian pop star Aya Nakamura, essentially the most listened to French-speaking artist on the planet, emerged from a pyrotechnics show in an all-gold outfit and sang her hit “Djadja,” accompanied by a band from the French Army’s Republican Guard.
The ceremony honored women. Ten golden statues of pioneering women rose from huge pedestals along the river. Among them was Olympe de Gouges, who wrote the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Citizen through the French Revolution in 1791. She campaigned for the abolition of slavery and was guillotined in 1793.
For the primary time, equal numbers of men and ladies will compete on the Games in Paris.
The extensive event gave the organizers to move, organize and protect larger crowds of individuals than previous Olympic ceremonies in stadiums.
Thousands of athletes on 85 boats began the 6-kilometer parade on the Seine by breaking through the curtains of water that cascaded down from the Austerlitz Bridge. The splashing water was a nod to the fountains of the Palace of Versailles, the venue for the Olympic equestrian events.
In accordance with Olympic protocol, the primary boat carried athletes from Greece, the birthplace of the traditional Games, followed by the Olympic team of refugee athletes after which the opposite nations in French alphabetical order.
Some spectators who had followed the organizers' advice and arrived on the ceremony route in good time were annoyed by the long wait before they may get to their seats.
“Paris was great, everything related to the Olympics and the dissemination of information was terrible,” said Tony Gawne, a 54-year-old Texan who had arrived six hours earlier along with his wife.
“When you spend $6,000 on two tickets, it's a little frustrating,” he said.
But Paris had many more tricks up its sleeve. The Eiffel Tower, whose top might be seen beneath the clouds, the Notre Dame Cathedral – rebuilt from the ashes of the his fire 2019 — the Louvre Museum and other iconic monuments were the celebs of the ceremony. The award-winning theater director Thomas Jollythe creative mind behind the show, used the standard Parisian cityscape with its zinc-grey roofs as a playground for his imagination.
His task: Tell the story of France, its people, its history and essence in a way that can leave an indelible impression on the Olympic audience. Refresh the image and self-confidence of the French capital, the repeatedly the goal of deadly extremist attacks in 2015. Capture how Paris can be attempting to restart the Olympic Games, with Summer Games it has worked to make more attractive and sustainable.
That was an enormous challenge. And Paris has set itself big goals, even big ones. This also applies to securityLarge, cordoned-off areas of central Paris were closed to people without passports, and a flight ban was in place inside a 150-kilometer (93-mile) radius through the ceremony.
During their aquatic adventure, the athletes passed historic landmarks that were temporarily converted into arenas for Olympic sports.
Concorde Plaza, where French revolutionaries guillotined King Louis XVI and other royals, is now a venue for skateboarding and other sports. The golden dome of Napoleon Bonaparte's resting place, the setting for Olympic archery, and the Eiffel Tower, which donated chunks of iron, inlaid into the Olympic gold, silver and bronze medals. They are won in 329 medal competitions in 32 sports.
The aim of Paris, said Tony Estanguet, chief organizer of the Paris Games, is to “show the whole world and all French people that we are capable of extraordinary things in this country.”
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