The 2024 Summer Olympics got underway under the rain in the French capital, Paris, on Friday evening with French soccer legend Zinedine Zidane kicking off the opening ceremony with the Olympic flame in his hands.
Olympics opening ceremony gets underway along the Seine River in Paris
Team Kenya are seen on a boat on the River Seine during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics
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Hannah Peters/2024 Getty Images
In a prerecorded video, he was seen running and weaving through a Parisian traffic jam before delivering the flame to a group of children on the metro.
They then made their way through the Catacombs and to a boat, at which point the broadcast switched to a real-time view of the Seine River.
A fleet of barges paraded down a six-kilometre stretch of the river, carrying the more than 10,500 athletes, representing 206 nations and territories, past some of the French capital’s most famous landmarks.
Huge applause rang out for the the leader of the procession, which as per Olympic tradition was Greece, the originator of the ancient games. This was followed by an even bigger cheer for the next vessel which carried the Refugee Team.
Fountains in the middle of the river threw up jets of water as the boats went by, with the athletes waving at the crowds.
US singer and actor, Lady Gaga, was the first musical act, singing a famous French cabaret song on a stairway along the Seine near the Notre Dame cathedral .
While it was rumoured she would be taking part in the ceremony after she was spotted in the city, her appearance came as a surprise as she was not listed on a programme provided to the media in advance.
Over 300,000 people amassed on the banks of the Seine, many under umbrellas, with the ceremony in full swing, highlighting the best of French culture, from music to fashion and art.
The event got underway just hours after a sabotage attack on the high-speed TGV rail network which caused travel chaos across the country, putting the spotlight on the security risks at a time when the eyes of the world were on France.
Details of the elaborate ceremony, the first in history not to take part in a stadium, were kept secret until the last minute, including who would be the last person to carry the torch and light the Olympic cauldron, marking the start of the Games.
Viewers followed a mysterious torchbearer - the person's face hidden and identity concealed - as they crisscrossed the city, running along the rooftops, passing through the Louvre Museum, and ziplining across the Seine.
Despite the intensifying rain, there was a festive atmosphere among athletes on the approximately 90 boats, as they paraded down the river in the four-hour-long ceremony.
While some spectators began to leave the river banks as the rain got worse, most people continued to brave the bad weather, dancing in the stands to the music echoing across the city.
About 45,000 police and thousands of soldiers were deployed for the opening ceremony, with armed police patrolling the river as the armada made its passage along the Seine.
Some 1.5 billion people across the world were expected to watch the broadcast, while in Paris 326,000 tickets were made available, 222,000 of them for free.
Eighty giant screens were set up around the French capital for those not lucky enough to get a front row spot along the Seine, while some 3,000 artists took part in the show, including at least 400 dancers.
About 100 world leaders, government officials, and heads of international organizations are believed to have attended the opening ceremony.
And as the night fell in Paris, in a poignant hymn to world peace, French singer Juliette Armanet sang the John Lennon song, "Imagine", on a floating platform in the river.
The song is a plea for peace, calling for an end to divisions among people in favour of living in harmony with one another.
The parade ended at the Iena Bridge, which links the Eiffel Tower on the left bank of the Seine to the Trocadéro district on the right bank.
The ceremony’s finale was at the Trocadéro where French President Emmanuel Macron declared the Olympics opening.
The Olympic torch was then passed from soccer great Zinedine Zidane to tennis star Rafael Nadal who took it back to the Seine and boarded a boat with Serena Williams, Carl Lewis, and Nadia Comăneci.
A series of legendary French athletes then carried it across from the Louvre to its final destination in the Jardin des Tuileries, where the cauldron was lit.
The ceremony ended off with Canadian singer, Céline Dion singing "Hymne à l’amour."