By Ann Killion,Sports Columnist
July 26th, 2024
PARIS — Magnifique!
When Paris announced its aspirational, inspirational plan for the 2024 Olympic Opening Ceremony, the world wondered if it truly would happen. And as, over the past two years, the world became an even more violent place, the doubts increased.
Paris pulled it off Friday night. The Ceremony on the Seine was beautiful, creative and — perhaps most important — safe. It was a celebration of this beautiful city and of the modern Olympic movement, founded by a Frenchman, Baron Pierre de Coubertin.
The promised protests and disruptions didn’t materialize. Though these “open Olympics” were launched under armed guard and behind fencing, the Games were successfully opened without incident.
When the Olympic cauldron, shaped like a hot air balloon, was lit and rose into the sky over the Tuileries Garden, and Celine Dion sang Edith Piaf, the evening was complete. A complete success.
The day started inauspiciously. Paris awoke to the news that the nation’s rail system had been attacked in a series of arson fires detected by authorities hours before dawn. The three affected lines, heading north, east and west in and out of the city, caused travel headaches and huge delays.
But the bigger concern, beyond inconvenience, was whether those coordinated attacks were a harbinger of what this day could bring, this ambitious moment that had been anticipated for more than two years and that required millions of hours of planning. What other threats loomed?
Paris was draped in gloom Friday. Rain clouds hovered low over the Eiffel Tower, dripping disappointment onto the emptying streets, threatening to ruin the party. The city became increasingly quiet as the day progressed, as Metro stations were shut down, the streets were vacant and the main presence was police and gendarmes on every corner.
By late afternoon, the clouds stubbornly refused to dissipate, thwarting photographers’ dreams of golden hour on the Seine and making journalists switch their main concern from staying safe from terrorism to keeping our laptops safe in the rain.
But you could not escape the reality that this was an unprecedented event and safety was the primary concern. Helicopters passed overhead. Atop the recognizable monuments and stately buildings, the black shadows of snipers were the gargoyles of our time.
These Games are being held in a world full of turmoil. The final two countries introduced — host of LA28, the United States, and the host of these Games, France — are both nations internally divided. France is operating under a caretaker government, while President Emmanuel Macron — who was in the grandstands at the parade’s end at Trocadéro — won’t name a new government until after the Games. America continues to split in two. The Russians are banned from Paris and have attempted to launch misinformation havoc on these Games. The Israeli-Gaza violence continues, fomenting protests around the world.
Can the Olympics restore French confidence? Can it help heal a divisive torn world?
It is naive to think so, yet it is important to believe that the world coming together in a peaceful way is a good and important thing. Young athletes laughing and waving flags as they boat down the Seine is a beautiful image. The worst fears of skeptics, who wondered how the IOC could dare to put Israeli athletes on an open-air boat for hours, were thwarted: Israel, Italy, Iceland and Jamaica shared a large boat, cheering and dancing. The Americans, as usual, seemed oblivious to any threat.
The Opening Ceremony began humorously, with an image of a torch bearer arriving at the massive Stade de France, only to find it empty. A French hero, Zinedane Zidane, arrived to take the torch from him and carried it through the streets of Paris, into a Metro station and onto a train, before passing it to what appeared to be a refugee family in a rowboat on the Seine. Clouds in the colors of the French tricolor burst over the Pont d’Austerlitz, and the boat parade began, first with the traditional Olympic leader Greece, followed by the Refugee Olympic Team.
The 4-mile-long ceremony was breathtaking, beautiful and weird, with dancers (who had called off a proposed strike the day before) hanging from what was supposed to be the scaffolding enfolding Notre Dame, a riverside performance by Lady Gaga, a heavy metal tribute to the French Revolution, complete with Marie Antoinette holding her own head as she sang. There was a tribute to the City of Love, complete with what might have been the first Olympic ode to a ménage à trois, something you’re unlikely to see in the recently awarded Salt Lake City 2034 Games.
The Americans had to wait a long time to launch — about two hours after the parade began. The flag bearers, LeBron James and Coco Gauff, stood at the prow, both holding the Stars and Stripes. They were interesting choices for the honor, neither exactly whom you think of first when you think “Olympic athlete” and neither has made the sacrifices that so many of their teammates have made to get here. But it was decided by a vote of those teammates. C’est la vie.
The American boat contingent was huge and raucous. It was a party. And, then — after the television coverage leaped across the globe to show the surfers in the Tahiti morning — France came down the Seine, the proud and jubilant host.
The rain poured down throughout most of the evening. Athletes and media members alike donned clear plastic giveaway ponchos. Reporters scurried for cover, abandoning their precious and long-coveted seats as water pooled around their laptops.
The athletes disembarked at the foot of the Eiffel Tour, and came into the stadium to gather. But only a fraction of those who made the boat trip were there, most likely opting out of standing for another hour or two in the rain.
Zidane reappeared and took the torch, before handing it to the greatest French Open champion, Rafael Nadal, who took the flame on a speedboat headed toward the Olympic cauldron, located in the Tuileries Garden. Serena Williams, Carl Lewis and Nadia Comaneci joined him, all wearing life vests. The relay became French-centric when it reached the right bank and the torch was lit by two famous French Olympians, Teddy Riner and Marie-José Pérec.
The balloon rose into the night sky, a symbol of dreams becoming real. The city below it sparkled in the raindrops. Even the disappointing weather ended up being stunningly beautiful.
Paris had pulled it off.