Marie-José Pérec and Teddy Riner lit the cauldron as the last torchbearers

A grand finale. After four hours of spectacle, damp because of the rain that fell on the capital, the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games ended with the traditional lighting of the cauldron on Friday, July 26. The last torchbearers were kept secret until the end and it was Marie-José Pérec and Teddy Riner who had this honor. The two champions received the flame from the hands of the oldest French Olympic champion, Charles Coste, born in 1924, before starting the last few meters towards the basin located in the Tuileries gardens.

The 7-metre diameter ring of flames, topped by a 30-metre high and 22-metre diameter balloon designed by French designer Mathieu Lehanneur, then flew into the Paris sky. This cauldron is intended as a tribute to the first flight in a hydrogen-filled gas balloon, carried out by two of its French inventors, the physicist Jacques Charles and one of the two Robert brothers, in December 1783. Its lighting was followed by a reprise of The Hymn to Love of Edith Piaf by Celine Dion at the top of the Eiffel Tower.