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PARIS 2024 OLYMPICS

‘We did it!’: France breathes sigh of relief after Olympics ceremony

The concept had been derided as overly ambitious and the location criticised as a prime security risk. But after years of preparation, France could Saturday breathe a sigh of relief -- it had pulled off the Olympic opening ceremony for the 2024 Paris Games.

Published: 27 July 2024 09:34 CEST
Overview of the Trocadero venue, with the Eiffel Tower looming in the background while the Olympic flag is being raised, during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games
Overview of the Trocadero venue, with the Eiffel Tower looming in the background while the Olympic flag is being raised, during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on July 26, 2024 (Photo by François-Xavier MARIT / AFP)

Opting for a ceremony on the waters of the River Seine rather than the standard option of a stadium was a theatrical gesture typical of President Emmanuel Macron but which brought considerable risks.

The day was also far from ideal. It began with news of three attacks on signal infrastructure on the French railway network which will disrupt travel for the next days and raises the prospect of a coordinated bid by so far unknown individuals to upset the Games.

Meanwhile the weather conspired against organisers and spectators, with an unseasonable deluge drenching performers, athletes and onlookers protected by nothing more than plastic ponchos.

French former football player Zinedine Zidane (C) carries the Olympic flame at the Trocadero during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (Photo by Jeff PACHOUD / AFP)

But the show went on.

It lasted a marathon four hours, reaching a crescendo with a spectacular climax as the Olympic flame soared into the sky aboard a cauldron tethered to a balloon and Celine Dion serenaded Paris with an Edith Piaf song from the Eiffel Tower.

The eclectic show put on by director Thomas Jolly was not to everyone’s taste — the Times of London called it “surreal” and a “damp squib” but no-one could doubt its originality and daring.

The cauldron, with the Olympic flame lit, lifts off while attached to a balloon during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games near the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel in Paris on July 26, 2024. (Photo by David GRAY / AFP)

And, above all, the mass event had passed off safely without incident. Parisians and visitors will now again be able to enjoy most of the city without brandishing QR codes to get through police barriers put up for the event that had put much of the riverside embankment into security lockdown over the last days.

READ ALSO: How to watch the Paris Olympics and Paralympics on TV in France

“With sabotage of railway installations in the morning and pouring rain in the evening, the opening day of the Olympics was chaotic but ended with a grandiose ceremony which broke all the rules,” daily Liberation wrote on the front page of its Saturday edition.

A grab of a video released by the Olympic Broadcasting Services shows Canadian Singer Celine Dion performing on the Eiffel Tower during the opening ceremony. (Photo by various sources / AFP) 

‘Creative genius’

Images of police snipers deployed on roofs provided a stark reminder of the constant security threat faced by France which has been hit by a spate of attacks by Islamist extremists since 2015.

The ceremony also marked a boost for Macron after two turbulent months that saw him call a snap parliamentary election that at one point raised the prospect of the far-right winning and forming a new government.

Lights illuminate the Eiffel Tower during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / POOL / AFP)

That did not materialise but the country remains in political paralysis after the polls and the president is generally seen as a weakened figure with three years of his mandate to run.

READ ALSO: Essential French vocabulary for the Olympic Games

“Thanks to Thomas Jolly and his creative genius for this grandiose ceremony. Thank you to the artists for this unique and magical moment. Thank you to the police and emergency services, agents and volunteers,” Macron wrote in an unusually triumphant post on X.

“Thank you to everyone who believed in it. We’ll still be talking about in 100 years! We did it!”

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin added: “We did it! After four years of intense work to prepare for the world’s biggest sport event, we have never been prouder of our security forces.”

Extreme-right MEP Marion Marechal harrumphed on X that she was left to “desperately seek to celebrate the values of sport and the beauty of France in the midst of such crude woke propaganda.”

‘Can’t mess up’

Some spectators were frustrated by the rain and crowds obscuring the view but Jolly’s concept appeared focused above all on the millions watching worldwide on TV at home.

Floriane Issert, a Gendarmerie non-commissioned officer of the National Gendarmerie, rides on a metal horse up the Seine river past the Cassation Court and Conciergerie, during the opening ceremony. (Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP)

It also skilfully played on themes of French culture and history but with a modern twist and a plethora of in-jokes for those who wanted to find them. Jolly also celebrated modern France’s diversity, highlighting artists of immigrant origin.

“The opening ceremony is really the moment when you can’t mess up. It’s a successful gamble,” communications specialist Philippe Moreau Chevrolet told AFP.

“He (Macron) has very successfully carried out his communications operation for the country and for himself: it’s a moment of coming together for the nation… and he hasn’t had many in seven years in power.”

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PARIS 2024 OLYMPICS

France bids final farewell to Olympics with Champs-Elysees parade

France bid a final and reluctant farewell to the Paris Olympics on Saturday with a parade on the Champs-Elysees followed by a concert featuring artists from the opening and closing ceremonies.

Published: 15 September 2024 09:40 CEST
France bids final farewell to Olympics with Champs-Elysees parade

The final event of an acclaimed summer of sport saw tens of thousands of fans gather on the French capital’s most famous avenue to applaud and cheer the nation’s new sporting heroes.

Around 70,000 people gathered for the parade featuring athletes, volunteers and public sector workers, which was followed by a multi-artist concert on a spectacular stage around the Arc de Triomphe.

“Saying thanks, not just to the athletes but to everyone who made these games magic, I think it’s fabulous,” said France’s most-decorated track athlete, Marie-Jose Perec, who lit the cauldron at the start of the Games on July 26.

“It’s a beautiful way of saying goodbye because everything must come to an end and tonight it will all be over,” the visibly emotional 200m and 400m triple gold medallist told reporters as she arrived.

Around 4,000 police were called out for a final test, having won almost almost unanimous praise for the way they kept around 12 million ticket holders for the Olympics and Paralympics safe.

After months of gloom and self-doubt in the run-up to the start of the Olympics, Parisians and the country at large threw themselves into the spirit of the Games once the sport began.

They embraced new champions such as triple gold medal-winning swimmer Leon Marchand while finding fresh reasons to celebrate veterans such as judoka Teddy Riner who won his fourth Olympic title.

“Thank you, thank you, it’s been incredible!” Riner shouted to the cheering crowd.

He, Marchand and Rugby Sevens star Antoine Dupont were among more than 100 French medal winners who were awarded the Legion d’Honneur, France’s highest civilian award, in a ceremony at the foot of the Arc de Triomphe led by French President Emmanuel Macron.

The French team finished the Olympics with a record medals haul of 64, including 16 golds, securing fifth place on the international table.

The Paralympic Games from August 28-September 8 were hailed as “the most spectacular ever” by the head of the International Paralympic Committee, Andrew Parsons.

Escapism

Analysts say the Games served as a form of escapism for many French people worried about the direction of the country as well as generating a rare form of national union and pride.

“Everything worked, everything functioned and French people rediscovered the virtues of national cohesion,” the head of the French Olympic Committee, David Lappartient, told reporters.

Macron is seeking to take advantage of this more positive mood, having faced widespread criticism for his decision to call snap parliamentary elections in June which blindsided Paris 2024 organisers.

The vote resulted in a hung parliament and historic gains for the far-right National Rally party.

Instead of making a speech, he recorded a poetic voiceover over images of the Olympics and Paralympics, saying it was “a summer that had already become part of French sporting legend.”

The 46-year-old was the main instigator of Saturday’s event, which was not originally part of the Olympic or Paralympic programme.

The centrist has also announced his intention to create an Olympics-inspired “national day of sport” every year on September 14.

“We need to spend time together at a day of sport, which would take place in the street, schools, in dedicated sports centres,” he told the Parisien.

Saturday night’s concert featured singer Chris, formerly of Christine & the Queens, who performed at the Paralympics opening ceremony, as well as blind Malian duo Amadou & Mariam among others.

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