56 years after his first Olympic opening ceremony, television man Charles Biétry enjoyed the spectacle offered by the opening ceremony of Paris 2024. An artistic performance lasting several hours along the Seine passing by the Eiffel Tower and the Tuileries garden.
Aged 80 and suffering from Charcot's disease, the former journalist (sports director of France Télévisions, Eurosport or Canal + sport) was very moved by the show staged by Thomas Jolly. “My first opening ceremony was in Mexico in 1968. My last was in Paris 56 years later. It was the most beautiful…” , he wrote on his X account.
Not enough to spoil the party… but still no luck. This Friday, which ended with a grandiose and breathtaking opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games, was one of the rainiest July 26th ever recorded in Paris. Some athletes paraded on their boat with a transparent “cape”, while some of the spectators in the stands preferred to leave before the end.
Precisely 8.5 mm of water fell (or 8.5 liters per square meter) at the Paris Montsouris station, located in the south of the capital. This makes it the 14th rainiest July 26 in almost 150 years, this station being one of the oldest in France, according to records from the Infoclimat site. To find a higher accumulation on July 26, you have to go back to 2019 (12.8 mm) then to 2013 (20.1 mm).
Before Celine Dion thrilled everyone from the Eiffel Tower with her version of Edith Piaf's classic Hymn to Love, another memorable moment happened at the lavish opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. It was when judoka Teddy Rinner and former athlete Marie Jose Perec lit the cauldron that will illuminate the competition from a hot air balloon that 'floats' from the Tuileries Garden.
If the organizers of Paris 2024 broke the codes by proposing an opening ceremony on the Seine far from the traditional stadium, they could not escape certain principles. As tradition dictates, as host country, it was France which closed the parade after the visits of Australia and the United States.
The 2024 Summer Olympics will start in Paris on July 26. The French capital is striving to offer a new perspective with the 33rd edition of the games and to focus more on the city and its residents.
