It was said that the only thing that could spoil the party was rain. But even that wasn’t enough to extinguish the magic of the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics on Friday night. “We are experiencing this evening with great emotion,” said Frenchman Brice Barbier. “Having the Olympic Games here, in front of the Eiffel Tower, even if it’s raining, is part of the Parisian charm.”
The organizers had set the level of difficulty and expectation at a very high level. They nevertheless managed to pass the bar, delivering a spectacle that was at once magnificent, daring and astonishing. “The ceremony is incredible, very well done. To see Paris in this state, with the whole world present to admire it, it’s really fabulous,” said spectator Paul Van de Vondel wearing his French flag.
We already knew that the usual parade of athletes would take place by boat along the Seine. Despite the rain, the athletes seemed to have fun on these boats of all sizes, styles and eras. However, we knew much less about the nature of the spectacle that was to take place on the river and the many cultural and historical monuments that line it.
Designed for both a viewing audience and the hundreds of thousands of spectators gathered on both banks of the Seine along the route, the show mixed, on classical and popular tunes from the French repertoire, video scenes, song, dance numbers, acrobatics, water and light shows. It featured the singer Lady Gaga, an improbable duo formed by the singer Aya Nakamura and the fanfare of the Republican Guard, a metal group performing the revolutionary song Ah! That will be finewild drag queens, a ghost rider and his silver horse galloping up the Seine. Great moments in French history were celebrated, its heroines, humanist values, culture, literature, love, freedom.
When we thought we could no longer be impressed or surprised, athletes left by boat with the Olympic flame to light a cauldron attached to a balloon that rose into the sky. At the same time, Celine Dion began Ode to love by Edith Piaf, from the first floor of an Eiffel Tower that began to shine brightly. It was enough to leave you stunned.
And yet it rained. It rained all the time and a lot.
The holding of the event on six kilometers of the Seine in the heart of the French metropolis and world capital of tourism forced the establishment, ten days ago, of a security zone all along the route which considerably complicated the life of its citizens. Several sectors were closed to road traffic, while others were reserved for residents and merchants of the district with special passes or simply prohibited to all.
The severity of this security measure reached its peak on Friday afternoon, causing the closure of nearly thirty metro stations in the city center. For the journalist of Duty who had a precious right of access to the stands of the Place du Trocadéro, it took only two hours to pass the various checkpoints.
Nathalie Cara, a Quebecer encountered in one of the 15 “ fan zone » established in several districts of the capital was surprised by the scale of the security. But nothing would have prevented her from attending this ceremony on French soil, with her son, Tristan Sieluzycky, who came to encourage his great friend, swimmer Summer McIntosh. “We’ve had chills since we arrived this morning,” exclaimed Nathalie Cara, moved by the grandeur of the event.
Signature event and security nightmare
This opening ceremony quickly emerged as the signature event of the Paris Games, with the decontamination and the return to swimming in the Seine, its main legacy. The first opening ceremony in the history of the Summer Olympics to be held outside a stadium, it was intended to be both a very concrete way of embodying Games closer to the people and of highlighting the extraordinary heritage of the host city. However, it also promised to be a terrible headache for security officials as well as for the population and visitors directly affected by the imposing control system.
Initially expected to be followed from the quays by 600,000 people, the hundred or so boats in the colours of the different delegations finally paraded for six kilometres in front of around 320,000 people, including a little over 100,000 who had paid for their tickets between 90 and 2,700 euros, and 220,000 other spectators who had obtained their places for free.
Around a hundred people, including 85 heads of state and government, were also invited to attend the party from the official stands set up on Place du Trocadéro.
The International Olympic Committee, however, wanted as many spectators as possible to watch the show, installing no fewer than 80 giant screens in the capital. All over the city, Parisians, but also people from all over the world, had gathered to experience this unique moment as a community.
In the streets, bars and bistros were packed. Hundreds of thousands of them were shouting their hearts out as the French delegation arrived on the Seine. The last to arrive. Brihas Tiwari, an Indian who had been living in the capital for a year, felt privileged to experience this epic moment in his host city. “I wanted to share this friendly moment with everyone. It’s really a very special moment for me.”
The French and tourists will remember this ceremony that completely enveloped Paris. “To see all our emblems staged in this way in front of the whole world, it’s a dream,” said Brice Barbier.