PARIS, CMC – A whole lot of spectators braved hostile climate on Friday and descended on the capital of France for the opening of the 2024 Olympic Video games.
Near 7,000 members, together with many from the a number of English-speaking Caribbean delegations attending the Video games, sailed down the River Seine in an unprecedented and impressive parade that occurred exterior of the Olympic athletics stadium for the primary time.
The procession of nationwide groups down the river and previous a number of historic monuments within the French capital celebrated the nation’s historical past and tradition. The Video games started with performances from entertainers, together with Woman Gaga and Aya Nakamura.
Organizers stated greater than 300,000 folks watched the spectacle in particular person from bleachers on the banks of the river and one other 200,000 from balconies and flats overlooking the waterway, a high-risk departure from previous opening ceremonies.
The members sailed down the river in 85 boats as an alternative of creating the standard stroll across the working observe on the Olympic athletics stadium.
The boats carrying the Olympic groups began the parade by breaking by curtains of water that cascaded down from Austerlitz Bridge, the beginning of the six-kilometer route.
The one a part of the Olympic custom that remained was the primary boat carried athletes from Greece, the birthplace of the traditional Video games.
The Olympic staff of refugee athletes adopted them and the opposite taking part nations alphabetically in French.
Scores of dancers in pink skirts offered a shocking splash of coloration on the banks of the Seine in one other memorable second from the opening ceremony.
Embattled French president Emmanuel Macron declared the Video games open about three hours into the glitzy present, which virtually got here off and not using a hitch, besides when the five-ring Olympic flag was raised the wrong way up on the Trocadero throughout from the Eiffel Tower.
Retired girls’s tennis icon Serena Williams of america and multi-time winner of the French Open tennis championship Rafael Nadal of Spain, participated within the remaining torch relay, which ended with three-time Olympic dash champion Marie-Jose Perec lighting the Olympic cauldron.
Although competitors has began on the Video games already, it will get into full swing on Saturday with sports activities akin to badminton, volleyball, discipline hockey, judo, capturing, basketball, swimming, and tennis on the menu.
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