Videos The return of Celine Dion, the show of Aya Nakamura, the parade on the Seine… Relive the breathtaking opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games

A grandiose spectacle, in an unprecedented setting. For the first time in the history of the Olympic Games, the opening ceremony took place on Friday, July 26, not in a stadium, but in the heart of Paris. The Seine replaced the traditional athletics track, welcoming 6 800 athletes, 2 000 artists and 85 boats for four hours of show. In total, more than 300 000 spectators were expected to attend the show in the rain, invited at the last minute.

Besides Aya Nakamura, the metal band Gojira, Juliette Armanet and Sofiane Pamart, Celine Dion and Lady Gaga surprised the audience with their presence, as did Zinedine Zidane and Jamel Debbouze, who launched the festivities. International athletes such as Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams also delighted the public, appearing among the last bearers of the Olympic flame. Marie-José Pérec and Teddy Riner finally lit the cauldron together, located in the Tuileries. Here are the 21 sequences to remember from the ceremony.

Zinedine Zidane steals the flame from Jamel Debbouze

After the arrival of comedian Jamel Debbouze in an empty Stade de France, Zinedine Zidane arrives to save the day. “I’m taking care of it”says the former footballer before rushing into the streets of Paris and ending up stuck in a metro.

Lady Gaga performs “My Feather Thing”

Arriving in Paris at the same time as Celine Dion, Lady Gaga paid tribute to cabaret and music hall, accompanied by ten dancers and seventeen musicians, on a majestic staircase inspired by art nouveau. She sang in French a new sung and choreographed version of My feather thingwith which Zizi Jeanmaire triumphed in 1961.

Dancers pay tribute to Notre-Dame

The images of Notre-Dame in flames in April 2019 had gone around the world. On the occasion of the opening ceremony, the scaffolding of its reconstruction will also go around the planet. A tribute to the craftsmen, materials specialists, art historians, acousticians, geologists and sociologists who have been working for five years on the restoration of the famous monument.

Star dancer Guillaume Diop takes to the rooftops of Paris

A ballet on the rooftops of Paris. Star dancer Guillaume Diop, a member of the Opera Ballet, performs a solo on the roof of the city hall. In total, some 500 dancers from several ensembles (including the Paris fire brigade and the ballets of Bordeaux, Biarritz, Lorraine and the Rhine) danced in costumes splashed with gold.

The band Gojira revisits the revolutionary song “Ça ira”

A mix of genres to delight fans of classical music and metal. The lyrical singer Marina Viotti sang It will be finean emblematic song of the French Revolution. It is first accompanied by backing singers, who then gave way to the strident guitars of the metal band Gojira. With the Conciergerie as a backdrop, which became a prison during the French Revolution and whose most famous prisoner was Marie-Antoinette.

Aya Nakamura performs her global hits “Pookie” and “Djadja”

Another mix of genres, more modern this time. The French-Malian singer Aya Nakamura, victim of a wave of hatred and racism when her name was mentioned in the spring to participate in this ceremony, then defended by Emmanuel Macron himself, has reprised her global hits, Pookie (which she lightly mixed with Bohemian by Charles Aznavour) and Djadja. She was accompanied by 60 musicians from the Republican Guard and 36 choristers from the French Army Choir.

“The Mona Lisa” disappears from the Louvre Museum

During his journey through the Louvre, the mysterious torchbearer, the central theme of the evening, discovers that a distinguished guest has disappeared. : The Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci. A reference to a news story from 1911, when an Italian glazier wanted to return the face of Mona Lisa to its country of origin, Italy. The painting was eventually found in 1913.

“Minions” dive under the Seine

In a sequence paying homage to cinema, invented in France by the Lumière brothers, the famous characters created by the French studio Illumination made their appearance in the middle of the opening ceremony. In their submarine, Minions hold The Mona Lisawhich eventually reappears on the surface of the water.

Axelle Saint-Cirel sings “La Marseillaise” from the Grand Palais

A revisited, less martial version, signed by Victor Le Masne, the conductor of the entire ceremony. On the roof of the Grand Palais, mezzo-soprano Axelle Saint-Cirel performs the French national anthem draped in a blue, white and red dress.

Singer and break dancer Jakub Józef Orliński performs “Come, Hymen”

Between the Pont des Invalides and the Pont de l’Alma, opera star and break dancer Jakub Józef Orliński performed Come, Hymenby Rameau. Despite the rain, the lyric singer delivered a great moment of poetry to the audience.

The Debilly catwalk turns into a fashion show

The typically Parisian bridge was transformed into a fashion show, where models, artists and drag queens took turns, dressed by young French designers such as Farida Khelfa at the head of Alphonse Maitrepierre or Vincent Frédéric Colombo who created CREOLE. All to the eclectic music of DJ Barbara Butch.

The French delegation ignites the public and closes the parade

Amid cheers from the public, the French delegation set the Seine ablaze, led by two flag bearers : swimmer Florent Manaudou and discus thrower Mélina Robert-Michon. To the sound of Johnny Hallyday, Michel Polnareff and M83, lThe French team has completed the parade of 205 delegationsIt was pouring rain but in a festive atmosphere.

The Seine turns into a giant nightclub

The banquet table was transformed into a real dance floor. The opportunity to highlight various styles of dance, to the sound of eurodance.

Philippe Katrine sings “Nu” disguised as Dionysus

In a universe tinged with humor and poetry that his fans will recognize, Philippe Katrine benefited from a stage that more than one artist would have dreamed of to reveal Naked. Representing Dionysus, god of celebration, excess, also associated with fertility, the French artist recounts in this unpublished song the absurdity of violence between humans.

Juliette Armanet and Sofiane Pamart cover “Imagine”

Two Frenchmen to cover a hit with a global aura. Juliette Armanet and Sofiane Pamart have thus covered Conceivedin front of a moved and silent audience. The song by John Lennon and Yoko Ono is in fact a permanent part of Olympic protocol, celebrating a reconciled and borderless world.

The Olympic flag is raised at the Trocadéro

After a long journey on the Seine, on the back of a mechanical horse, the Olympic flag arrived at the Place du Trocadéro, with the Eiffel Tower as a backdrop.

The Olympic flag is then raised in front of the Eiffel Tower, to the sound of the Olympic anthem, sung by the Radio France Choir. This anthem was created by the Greek composer Spýros Samáras on words by his compatriot the poet Kostís Palamás. It is the oldest symbol of the Games in the modern era.

Tony Estanguet is pleased to have been able to “unite our forces”

Due to the rain, the president of Cojop was not alone for his speech. Accompanied by a volunteer with an umbrella, Tony Estanguet thanked all the athletes present. “Like every host country, our ambition was to make the Games grow. In fact, it is the Games that made us grow. (…) Even if in France, we never agree on anything, we know how to join forces”he said before giving the floor to the president of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach.

Emmanuel Macron officially proclaims the Games “open”

Amid applause and whistles, Emmanuel Macron proclaimed “open” the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

Shaheem Sanchez Dances to “Supernature” in Sign Language

Thomas Jolly was keen to orchestrate a ceremony that was as inclusive as possible. The hearing-impaired choreographer Shaheem Sanchez set the Trocadéro alight by dancing to the title Supernature by DJ Cerrone, in front of a sound and light show on the Eiffel Tower. Electrifying.

Marie-José Pérec and Teddy Riner light the flame as the last torchbearers

The secret was kept until the last minute. After Zinedine Zidane passed the flame to Rafael Nadal, several French champions such as Tony Parker, Amélie Mauresmo and David Douillet continued the relay in the courtyard of the Louvre and then in the Tuileries gardens until reaching the oldest French Olympic champion, Charles Coste, born in 1924.

It was finally Marie-José Pérec and Teddy Riner who were the last two bearers of the Olympic flame. Under the ovations of the public, they lit the Olympic cauldron, a 7-meter-diameter flame ring, topped with a 30-meter-high, 22-meter-diameter balloon.

Celine Dion creates surprise by singing “Hymn to Love”

Céline Dion arrived in Paris, under the flashes of cameras and the hopeful looks of her fans. Weakened by an autoimmune disease, stiff person syndrome, which has deprived her of the stage since March 2020, the Quebec star finally made her big comeback, performing The Hymn to Loveby Edith Piaf, from the top of the Eiffel Tower. An apotheosis-like conclusion to an exceptional ceremony.