Paris will launch its Summer Games opening ceremony on Friday night along the Seine, marking the first time the event is held outside a stadium.
ADVERTISEMENTThree years after the official announcement, the big day is finally approaching. The opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics will be held on Friday starting at 7:30 pm local time.
For the first time in history, the ceremony will not take place in a stadium but instead along the Seine River, in front of more than 300,000 spectators.
More than one billion people are expected to be tuning in around the world.
More than 10,000 athletes from 206 delegations will parade aboard nearly 100 boats for a spectacle lasting almost four hours.
It's a meticulous organisation that required more than three years of preparation for the multiple actors involved.
"Whatever the weather or flow of the river, we are ready"
Whatever the weather or the flow of the Seine might be on Friday night, organisers insist they are ready for any scenario.
“The parade and the ceremony are going to go very, very well. There's nothing to worry about," said Arnaud Daniel, the director of Sodexo Live! boats.
He is in charge of a fleet of 22 boats carrying various delegations throughout the evening.
"If the flow rate of the river goes up by a tiny bit, that's no problem, we'll just adapt the speed. We'll go from nine kilometres an hour to ten kilometres an hour, for example," he told Euronews.
Organisers have been analysing the flow of the Seine after heavy rainfall this summer, worried this could impact boat speed and manoeuvrability during the parade.
As per tradition, Greece will lead the way and France’s delegation will be the last boat.
The other countries will parade in alphabetical order, except for Australia and the United States as they are the future hosts of the Games in Brisbane in 2032 and in Los Angeles in 2028.
An impressive feat led by the actor and director Thomas Jolly. He worked hand in hand with multiple playwrights, choreographers, and historians to imagine an extravagant performance showcasing France’s history, art and culture with twelve massive paintings that will be displayed during the route.
"The inspiration for our writing was, of course, France. Its great heritage and culture, which has been rich for centuries. And Paris and this route, which borders Parisian monuments that are rich in culture and history like the Louvre museum," said Damien Gabriac, one of the four scriptwriters commissioned to work on the ceremony.
For the past three years, Damien Gabriac, along with the screenwriter Fanny Herrero (Call my Agent! series director), writer Leïla Slimani, and historian Patrick Boucheron, worked around the clock imagining how to construct a narrative that adapts to the capital.
ADVERTISEMENT"The main challenge was the city: its nature and landscape, the Seine, its current, the wind. Sometimes we imagined things that weren't technically possible. So we changed the idea and modified it. We also adapted it to the reality of the terrain, which doesn't adapt to us," said Gabriac in an interview with Euronews.
A star-studded night including Snoop Dogg, Lady Gaga, LeBron James...
The contents of the show have been kept tightly under wraps but a few big names have been mentioned such as performances from singers like Celine Dion, Lady Gaga and French-Malian sensation Aya Nakamura.
Known flag bearers include NBA star LeBron James for the United States, Polish hammer thrower Anita Włodarczyk, high jumpers Mutaz Essa Barshim for Qatar, and Gianmarco Tamberi for Italy will have the honour of carrying their respective flags, three years after winning gold medals in their discipline in the previous Olympics in Tokyo in 2020.
The Olympic flame will be the focal point of the ceremony with more than 30 flame carriers including rapper Snoop Dogg but the final one is kept secret.
ADVERTISEMENTArnaud Daniel is one of the lucky few to have caught a glimpse of the decor. "It's going to be grandiose. It's going to be the equivalent of the Superbowl, it's insane. I invite everyone to watch the show. It's going to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience," insisted the director of the Sodexo Live! boats.
When asked for more information, Damien Gabriac refused to give any more details: "It's like when children want to know what their Christmas present is. You wouldn't tell them what's under the Christmas tree. So I will not reveal more," he laughed.
More than 30,000 French police officers mobilised and foreign personnel
Two security perimeters have been set up: one red around each of the competition sites located near the Seine and a grey zone along the banks of the river where the ceremony will be held.
In total, more than 30,000 French police officers are mobilised every day in the capital.
ADVERTISEMENTThey are assisted by foreign police officers from Spain, Qatar, South Korea, Germany and the United Kingdom, among others.