Spectacle of a Lifetime: Paris 2024 Olympics Opening Ceremony to Dazzle Amid Security Concerns

Jill Biden, the King of Spain Felipe VI, the Israeli President Isaac Herzog, the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and even the Argentine President Javier Milei... Emmanuel Macron began, this Friday afternoon, August 26, to welcome to the Élysée some 85 foreign heads of state and government for a reception before the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games which will begin at 7:30 p.m. Representatives of several international organizations are also present at the presidential palace adorned with the Olympic rings. The Director General of UNESCO Audrey Azoulay, the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach and his wife Claudia Bach and Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank (ECB), were seen there. “The greatest spectacle of the 21st century” With nearly 3,000 artists, singing stars, the Seine and its emblematic monuments at the center of the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games on Friday, the organizers promise “the greatest spectacle of the 21st century” . A unique and unprecedented spectacle, the first outside a sports venue, the wishful thinking of Tony Estanguet, Thierry Reboul and Thomas Jolly, chief architects of a ceremony which will be followed by some 300,000 people along the Seine, and more of a billion in the world. Hours until the unprecedented opening of the 2024 Paris Olympics Paris is counting the hours before the start of an unprecedented opening ceremony for its Olympic Games on Friday, with about seven thousand athletes from participating countries parading for about four hours on ferries and boats on the Seine River, where rain is likely, in light of tight security measures and the high-speed train network being subjected to acts of “sabotage,” citing... From Agence France-Presse. Hours before the opening ceremony, the high-speed train network was subjected to a massive, widespread attack aimed at paralyzing its network, apparently causing severe disruptions with the cancellation of Eurostar trains between London and Paris. The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the French railway company SNCF, Jean-Pierre Varandeau, announced during a press conference that the “massive attack” affected 800,000 passengers. Minister Delegate for Transport Patrice Vergret denounced a "disgraceful criminal act" and warned of "very serious consequences" for train movement with the cancellation of many flights, while Sports Minister Amelie O'Dea Castera said the attacks were "horrific". France wants to enhance its image through these games, by hosting about a hundred heads of state or government, to continue intense diplomatic activity while conflicts rage in Ukraine and Gaza, through to Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday evening at a dinner he organized for heads of state at the Louvre Museum, "Tomorrow you will see one of the most wonderful opening ceremonies." The ceremony, organized for the first time in history outside a stadium, begins at seven-thirty in the evening (17:30 GMT), and ends at night, but it has raised several questions and fluctuations, since the idea arose of leaving the “safe” stadium location in favor of planting terraces on the banks of the river. The head of the organizing committee, Tony Estangue, said, “This represents a great challenge,” while the proposed basic number gradually decreased to 320,000 spectators, 220,000 of whom were on the banks of the river for free and 100,000 with paid tickets near the river. The security forces are in an unprecedented state of mobilization, with the deployment of 45,000 police and gendarmerie personnel, in addition to 2,000 private security personnel and 1,000 policemen from the Paris municipality as well. A contingent of ten thousand military personnel will support this security deployment. Snipers will be deployed on the roofs of Paris along the river, to neutralize any gunman targeting crowds, a delegation of athletes on a boat or a visiting head of state or government. For the first time, special units, police and gendarmerie will work jointly. About 200 policemen from the “RED” unit - search, assistance, intervention and deterrence - will work to ensure security on the river, and 350 gendarmerie members from the Anti-Terrorism and Crisis Management Unit will be responsible for securing the spaces, while about 100 policemen from the Search and Intervention Brigade “BRE” will work “affiliated with the Police Commission, protecting the sidewalks. The Special Gendarmerie Intervention Squad (CEJN) will also be responsible for securing the movements of leaders of states and governments, and will also ensure the protection of the athletes on the buses that will transport them to the boating area and during their ride until disembarkation at the Trocadero Square. On the artistic level, the show's director, Thomas Joly, has been working on the opening show for 18 months and revealed that it focuses on French heritage, but he kept its content secret. All that is known is that the display of countries on the boats will be accompanied by 12 billboards lined up over six kilometers alongside the river. For several months, speculation has been circulating about the identity of the artists. Canadian Celine Dion, American Lady Gaga, and French-Malian Aya Nakamura, the most listened to Francophone singer in the world, are among the most prominent candidates, along with some clips from the songs of Edith Piaf and Charles Aznavour. “Medium to heavy” rain is likely to fall at a rate of between 70 and 80%, especially over the second part of the show, according to what the French weather channel “La Chine Meteo” said, which ruled out a “catastrophic scenario.” The head of the organizing committee, Tony Estangue, said on Friday to France Inter radio, “We have prepared in any case for all scenarios: extreme heat, rain, we will adapt.”