Celebrating its reputation as a cradle of revolution, Paris kicked off its first Summer Olympics in a century on Friday with a rain-soaked, rule-breaking opening ceremony along the Seine River.

On-and-off showers — the first rain at a Summer Olympics’ opening ceremony in more than 70 years — did not seem to hamper the enthusiasm of the athletes. Some held umbrellas as they rode boats down the river in a showcase of the city’s resilience as authorities investigated suspected acts of sabotage targeting France’s high-speed rail network, the Associated Press reported.

Widespread travel disruptions triggered by what French officials called coordinated arson attacks on high-speed rail lines as well as the weather had dampened the mood ahead of the ceremony.

Still, crowds crammed the Seine’s banks and bridges and watched from balconies, “oohing” and “aahing” as Olympic teams paraded in boats down the waterway that got increasingly choppy as the weather worsened.

Undeterred from the festivities, many of the hundreds of thousands of spectators huddled under umbrellas, plastic ponchos or jackets as the rain intensified.

“The rain can’t stop us,” said US basketball star LeBron James, sporting a plastic poncho along with the other American flag bearer, tennis player Coco Gauff.

A humorous short film featured soccer icon Zinedine Zidane. Plumes of French blue, white and red smoke followed. 

More than three hours into the show, French President Emmanuel Macron declared the Games open. In a gaffe shortly beforehand, the five-ring Olympic flag was raised upside down at the Trocadero across from the Eiffel Tower.

The ceremony celebrated women, including 10 golden statues of female pioneers that rose from giant pedestals along the river. Among them was Olympe de Gouges, who drafted the Declaration of the Rights of Women and the Female Citizen in 1791 during the French Revolution. She campaigned for the abolition of slavery and was guillotined in 1793.

The Paris Games aim to be the first with equal numbers of men and women competing.

With the ambitious ceremony, the stakes for France were immense. Dozens of heads of state and government were in town, and the world was watching as Paris turned itself into a giant open-air theater.

Sofia Cohen, 20, watching with her father, called the ceremony “electric.” The Nicaraguan-Americans said the roar of applause given to the Ukrainian team was their favorite part.

“Every Olympics is different, and this one was very French. The ceremony started out very majestic and regal. And as the rain started pouring down and time went on, everything got a little more hectic and fun,” she said.

The sprawling event gave organizers bigger crowds to transport, organize and safeguard than would have been the case if they’d followed the example of previous Olympic host cities that opened with stadium shows.

Still, as the show got underway, optimism soared that Paris — true to its motto that speaks of being unsinkable — might just see its gambles pay off. That’s despite the soggy weather — no other Summer Olympics opening ceremony has had rain since Helsinki in 1952.

Paris organizers said 6,800 of the 10,500 athletes would attend before they embark on the next 16 days of competition.

The boats carrying the Olympic teams started the parade by breaking through curtains of water that cascaded down from Austerlitz Bridge, the start of the 6-kilometer (nearly 4-mile) route. The jetting waters were a wink at the fountains of Versailles Palace, the venue for Olympic equestrian competitions.

Per Olympic protocol, the first boat carried athletes from Greece, birthplace of the ancient Games. It was followed by the Olympic team of refugee athletes and then, the other nations in French alphabetical order.

Usually during Olympic opening ceremonies, the parade of athletes takes place during a pause in the razzmatazz. But Paris shattered that tradition by having the parade and pageantry at the same time, blending sports and artistic expression.

Some spectators who followed organizers’ advice to arrive well ahead of time along the ceremony route fumed over long waits to get to their seats.

“Paris has been great, anything to do with the Olympics and dissemination of information has been horrible,” said Tony Gawne, a 54-year-old Texan who turned up six hours in advance with his wife.

“When you spend $6,000 on two tickets, well, that’s a little frustrating,” he said.

But Paris had plenty of aces up its sleeve. The Eiffel Tower, its head visible below the clouds, Notre Dame Cathedral — restored from the ashes of its 2019 fire — the Louvre Museum and other iconic monuments starred in the opening ceremony. Award-winning theater director Thomas Jolly, the show’s creative mind, was using the signature Paris cityscape of zinc-gray rooftops as the playground for his imagination.

Many details of the spectacle that stretched into the Paris night were closely guarded secrets to preserve the wow factor, including who would light the Olympic cauldron.

During the athletes’ waterborne adventure, they passed historic landmarks that have been temporarily transformed into arenas for Olympic sports.

Concorde Plaza, where French revolutionaries guillotined King Louis XVI and other royals, now hosting skateboarding and other sports. The golden-domed resting place of Napoléon Bonaparte, the backdrop for Olympic archery, and the Eiffel Tower, which donated chunks of iron that have been inlaid in the gold, silver and bronze Olympic medals. They’ll be won in the 32 sports’ 329 medal events.

Paris’ aim, said Estanguet, is “to show to the whole world and to all of the French that in this country, we’re capable of exceptional things.”

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France aims to wow the world on Friday with an extravagant Olympics opening ceremony through the heart of Paris, officially kicking off a Games fraught with security risks at a time of heightened geopolitical tensions, Reuters reported.

Some 45,000 police, 10,000 soldiers and 2,000 private security staff will ensure the safety of the parade along the river Seine, its banks and surrounding monuments, in an unprecedented display of security.

A procession of barges will take nearly 7,000 athletes along the river past Paris’s most famous landmarks, while more than 300,000 spectators will watch from the banks.

Since the last Olympics in Beijing in 2022, wars have erupted in Ukraine and Gaza, providing a tense backdrop to the Games. France is at its highest level of security – though officials have repeatedly said there is no specific threat to the opening ceremony or the Games.

As part of a vast security operation, authorities have turned to powers passed under an anti-terror law, placing 155 people under surveillance measures that strictly limit their movement, according to official data and a Reuters review of cases.

Meanwhile, Israeli competitors are being escorted by elite tactical units to and from events and given 24-hour protection throughout the Olympics, officials say.

Scores of world leaders will be in Paris for the opening ceremony, which will be protected by snipers on rooftops. The Seine’s riverbed has been swept for bombs, and Paris’ airspace will be closed, read the report.

For the Games more generally, radar-surveillance planes and Reaper drones will watch sensitive sites from above, and Mirage 2000 fighter jets will be on standby to intercept aircraft straying into restricted airspace.

EVERYTHING READY

“Everything is ready,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in a video he posted on X. “Even the (Olympics) rings are there,” he said, overlooking the Eiffel tower. “Enjoy the Games!”

Macron, who won a second mandate two years ago, had hoped the Olympics would cement his legacy.

But his failed bet on a snap legislative election has weakened him and is casting a shadow over his moment on the international stage.

High security also means much grumbling from locals, after police imposed a security zone along the river ahead of the opening ceremony, erecting metal barriers to fence off neighbourhoods and requiring authorisation – passes with QR codes – to enter.

Cafes along the banks of the Seine, which normally buzz with activity in the summer, have been left very quiet due to the restrictions.

That has not helped lift the national mood over the Olympics, which Macron will hope improves once the Games have properly started.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine means Moscow’s usually huge delegation of athletes has been reduced to 15 who met and accepted eligibility requirements to compete as neutrals, according to a list published by the IOC on July 20.

Belarus will send 17 athletes competing as neutrals, Reuters reported.

Ukraine is sending 140 athletes – its smallest contingent since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

FLOATING PARADE

Starting at 7:30 p.m. (1530 GMT), in broad daylight, the ceremony, which marks the official start of the Paris 2024 Games, will pass by many of the French capital’s beloved landmarks, including the Louvre museum and Pont des Arts bridge.

“We’re going to take advantage of all the historic monuments around the Seine, and there won’t be a single riverbank or bridge that won’t be filled with music, dance, or performance,” the ceremony’s choreographer Maud Le Pladec, opens new tab has said.

It will the first time that an opening ceremony has taken place outside of a stadium.

Details including some of the artists taking part, who will be the last to carry the torch and light the Olympic cauldron to mark the start of the Games, have been kept secret.

The artistic team said they had been rehearsing in private to keep it all under wraps.

One big unknown for the open-air ceremony is the weather. It is currently forecast to be cloudy, while organisers were hoping there would be a “golden hour” of sunset lighting up buildings midway through the ceremony.

More than 10,500 athletes will compete at the Olympics, 100 years since Paris last staged the Games. Competition started on Wednesday and the first of the 329 gold medals will be awarded on Saturday. The closing ceremony will take place on Aug. 11, read the report.

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