Not a single person who attended the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics left with a dry skirt, dress, pair of jeans, or shirt. And what they saw in their seats – from appearances and performances by Lady Gaga, Céline Dion, Aya Nakamura, Juliette Armanet and a litany of French singers, rappers, and dancers – is what kept them there.
The French couldn’t have everything their way, en route to pulling off the first ever opening ceremony on the water. Earlier, arsonists set fire to France’s high-speed train network, in what officials called widespread sabotage – delaying thousands of people trying to reach Paris.
Attendees may remember some of the early morning worries, but what they won’t forget was a seemingly endless armada of yachts, speedboats, and barges sailing along the Seine River.
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Train attacks and a downpour couldn’t stop the Paris opening ceremony. Hundreds of flags waved as thousands of the greatest athletes on earth smiled, unbothered by the rain.
Hundreds of flags waved as thousands of the greatest athletes on earth smiled, unbothered by the downpour. Olympians from more than 200 countries got soaked and donned umbrellas and ponchos like the cheering crowds waving at them.
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Maybe what the world wanted and needed was on the water Friday night, where no threat could spoil a good thing. French President Emmanuel Macron was seduced early on by the idea of having a parade on the water, despite local and national security officials, who bemoaned the logistical nightmare. That fits with Mr. Macron’s image as a risk taker (see this month’s snap elections that veered first right, and then unexpectedly left).
To know the topography of Paris is to know that the Seine runs right through the heart of the capital city. The backdrop for the acrobats and torch bearers were some of the most iconic structures in the world, such as Notre Dame Cathedral, the Louvre Museum, the gold-bedecked Alexander III Bridge, and the Eiffel Tower. There were Minions pilfering the “Mona Lisa,” and of course, a Can Can kick line. Plus an accordion player.
With an estimated 300,000 people watching live, including heads of state from around the world, and millions of eyes watching globally, Paris Olympics opening ceremony artistic director Thomas Jolly sought to tell the story of France.
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“France is like a long story – a story that keeps expanding and rewriting itself,” he said, when he began planning the show. He wanted spirited young people and the art and ideas created in famous Paris cafés such as Les Deux Magots and Café Flore, by the likes of Jean-Paul Sartre, Elsa Triolet, Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway, and James Baldwin.
He got all of that in the form of French singers belting out songs atop of buildings, rappers performing on barges, a piano player playing on a bridge as his instrument stood soaked in rain, and a fashion show where models in heels twirled over puddles and danced without slipping. Performers near the banks of the river road bikes and skateboards up ramps. They jumped rope, twirled in Hula-Hoops, and took turns during breaks brushing excessive water out of their way.
A torch bearer skimmed over rooftops while running through the city and acrobats flipped flawlessly and held onto each other in the rain. There were French history displays and appreciation of French visionaries. There was a call for unity in the world, and through it all, the flag bearer continued, galloping on a horse along the Seine before reaching the Eiffel Tower and walking solemnly up a steep set of stairs and toward a pole where the Olympic flag was raised.
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The torch itself was passed from French soccer star Zinedine Zidane to icons including Olympians Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams, Nadia Comăneci, and Carl Lewis. Then the Olympic flame was carried by a growing fraternité of French Olympians through Tuileries Garden, including the oldest living one, cyclist Charles Coste. He was born in 1924 – the last time Paris hosted the Olympics. They sent the flame 100 feet in the sky in a caldron shaped like a hot air balloon. That, too, honored French history: In the 18th century, the gardens were the site of the first hydrogen hot air balloon flight.
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Friday’s ceremonies featured the return of two beloved icons. The bells of Notre Dame rang out for the first time in Paris since a fire devastated the 800-year-old cathedral five years ago.
And even without the rain, there wouldn’t have been a dry eye in the house as Ms. Dion closed out the ceremony with “L’Hymne a l’amour” by Edith Piaf. The French-Canadian singer has been diagnosed with a progressive neurological disease, but Friday’s performance featured her trademark high notes and utter command of the stage.
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The French love to party, and that is to their credit. They didn’t have perfect weather. Mr. Macron didn’t complain. He stood with them and applauded his countrymen. They danced until the end without seemingly getting tired. Paris set a goal when it was named as a host city, and expectations were high. Rain and arsonists’ fires tried to stop them, but they kept bouncing and dancing just as the drops kept falling.