It’s D-Day! The Paris Olympics open on Friday with a highly anticipated spectacular ceremony, combining a parade that is meant to be grandiose, despite a risk of rain, with the delegations’ embarked parade on the Seine, right in the center of Paris. A ceremony placed under maximum security.
Published on: 07/26/2024 – 04:41Modified on: 07/26/2024 – 09:33
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It’s on for Paris 2024! While the events have already started for two days, the Olympic Games will be officially launched on Friday, July 26, with a ceremony on the Seine surrounded by mystery and security.
Organised for the first time outside a stadium, the show, which will start at 7:30 p.m. and end at night, may be affected by the vagaries of the weather. “We had prepared ourselves a little for all the eventualities, the very big heatwave, the rain. So we will adapt,” warned Tony Estanguet, president of the Games Organising Committee (Cojo), on France Inter on Friday.
“It represents a real gamble,” confided Tony Estanguet on Thursday, who sees the sequence as “revealing our state of mind,” with “the idea of interweaving sport and culture.”
The project of a large popular festival, bringing together several hundred thousand onlookers strolling along the banks, has gradually disappeared, on the altar of security pragmatism. The capacity has been reduced to 320,000 spectators – 220,000 on the free high quays and 100,000 paying spectators closest to the river.
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The areas bordering the Seine have resembled an entrenched camp for almost ten days: access is restricted to those with a precious QR code. All boats traveling on the river have been checked and the 85 boats that will carry the athletes’ delegations are under tight surveillance.
A few hours before this ceremony, which has a strong image impact for France, the SNCF “was the victim last night of several simultaneous malicious acts affecting the Atlantic, North and East high-speed lines”, the railway group said, specifying that “deliberate fires were started to damage (its) installations”.
The attack comes as many travelers plan to converge on the capital.
Also read: SNCF denounces “a massive attack to paralyze the network” TGV, major disruptions in progress
Aya Nakamura, Lady Gaga, Celine Dion?
Never have so many police forces been mobilized, with a “peak” announced at 45,000 police officers and gendarmes deployed on the ground. In addition, there will be approximately 2,000 private security agents and 1,000 municipal police officers from the City of Paris. And a contingent of 10,000 soldiers will provide support for the system.
A police officer stands guard before the start of the football match between Mali and Israel during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Parc des Princes in Paris on July 24, 2024 © FRANCK FIFE / AFP/Archives
Some 200 RAID police officers will monitor security on the river, 350 GIGN gendarmes will be responsible for the air and a hundred elite police officers from the BRI (Research and Intervention Brigade) will protect the quays.
Finally, mine clearance divers will be ready to intervene if an explosive charge is detected during the parade.
As for the show itself, its one-man band Thomas Jolly has been working on it for 18 months. Even if the director has admitted wanting to promote French heritage, its content is being carefully kept secret. All we know is that the parade of delegation boats will be punctuated by twelve scenes that will be spread out over the six kilometers of the river.
“The idea is to say that there is not one France but several Frances,” conceded Thomas Jolly.
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For months, questions have been flying about the identity of the singers who will accompany the procession. Celine Dion, Lady Gaga, Aya Nakamura, the most listened to French-speaking singer in the world, are given as favourites by the bookmakers, who also cite the repertoire of Edith Piaf and Charles Aznavour. The metal group Gojira is said to be associated with the French-Swiss opera singer Marina Viotti.
Diplomatic Ballet
The parade on the Seine will be accompanied by an intense diplomatic ballet. Around a hundred people, including 85 heads of state and government, will attend the ceremony from the official stand set up on Place du Trocadéro.
This photograph shows a giant screen and the stands on the Seine on the eve of the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games, in Paris, on July 25, 2024 © STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP
Vladimir Putin will be the notable absentee, as Russia was banned from the Games due to the war in Ukraine. China will be represented by Vice President Han Zheng, and the United States by Jill Biden, whose husband, Joe, has just given up his re-election to the White House.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog will be present, under very high surveillance. He is expected to meet President Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines of the ceremony.
The head of the Palestinian Olympic Committee, Jibril Rajoub, will represent Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
To allow the athletes to take part in the ceremony, the competitions, some of which began on Wednesday, will take a break. Only shooting training is scheduled for the morning, at the decentralized site in Châteauroux. Far from Paris and its great spectacle.
With AFP
