Paris shines with a spectacular rainy Olympics opening ceremony on the Seine River.

Boston Brand Media highlighted that a hot-air balloon carried an Olympic ring of fire through the rainy sky, and Celine Dion performed from the Eiffel Tower as Paris launched its first Summer Olympics in a century on Friday. The four-hour, unconventional opening ceremony unfolded along the Seine River.

The intermittent showers didn't dampen the athletes' enthusiasm, as some used umbrellas while riding boats down the river, showcasing the city's resilience amid investigations into suspected sabotage targeting France’s high-speed rail network.

The ambitious ceremony held high stakes for France, with dozens of heads of state and government in attendance and the world watching. Paris transformed into a vast open-air theater, with iconic monuments along the Seine serving as stages for dancers, singers, and other artists.

The Louvre Museum was one of the landmarks near where French judo champion Teddy Riner and three-time Olympic champion runner Marie-Jose Perec lit the Olympic cauldron. This cauldron was attached to a giant balloon that floated into the night, paying tribute to early French pioneers of manned flight.

“We survived the rain, but it didn’t spoil any of our fun,” said USA beach volleyball player Kelly Cheng. “This was one of the most magical nights of our lives.”

Despite the weather, crowds packed the Seine’s banks and bridges and watched from balconies, "oohing" and "aahing" as Olympic teams paraded in boats down the increasingly choppy waterway.

As rain intensified, many of the hundreds of thousands of spectators huddled under umbrellas, plastic ponchos, or jackets, while others danced, sang, or sought shelter.

“The rain can’t stop us,” declared U.S. basketball star LeBron James, who, along with fellow flag bearer tennis player Coco Gauff, wore a plastic poncho. The weather created some unusual scenes during the show, which featured both prerecorded and live performances: a pianist continued to play as small puddles formed on his grand piano, a breakdancer performed on a rain-slicked platform, and some athletes in colorful Bermuda-style shirts looked out of place in the deluge. Organizers had to cancel certain elements of the show due to the slippery conditions.

Despite the challenges, Paris showcased a spectacular Olympic launch with spirited performances and joyful French cancan dancers. A humorous short film featuring soccer icon Zinedine Zidane was among the highlights, with plumes of blue, white, and red smoke adding to the spectacle.

In a prerecorded segment, Lady Gaga sang in French, accompanied by dancers with pink plumed pompoms, adding a cabaret flair to the show. The ceremony concluded with a live performance by Celine Dion on the Eiffel Tower, marking her first since being diagnosed with stiff person syndrome, a rare neurological disorder, at the end of 2022.

More than three hours into the event, French President Emmanuel Macron officially declared the Games open. A minor mishap occurred when the Olympic flag was raised upside down at the Trocadero. In a highlight, French-Malian pop star Aya Nakamura emerged from a pyrotechnic display in a gold outfit to perform her hit “Djadja,” supported by a band from the French Republican Guard.

The ceremony honored women with 10 golden statues of female pioneers, including Olympe de Gouges, who championed women's rights and abolition of slavery in the French Revolution. The Paris Games aim to feature equal numbers of male and female competitors.

The grand event saw thousands of athletes on 85 boats begin a 6-kilometer parade on the Seine, breaking through water curtains from Austerlitz Bridge—a nod to the fountains of Versailles Palace, the venue for Olympic equestrian events.

According to Olympic protocol, the first boat in the parade carried athletes from Greece, the birthplace of the ancient Games, followed by the Olympic team of refugee athletes and then other nations in French alphabetical order.

Some spectators, who had arrived early as advised, were frustrated by long waits to get to their seats. "Paris has been great, but anything related to the Olympics and information dissemination has been horrible," complained Tony Gawne, a 54-year-old Texan who had arrived six hours early with his wife. "Spending $6,000 on two tickets is a bit frustrating."

Despite the issues, Paris showcased its iconic landmarks during the ceremony, including the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame Cathedral, and the Louvre Museum. Award-winning theater director Thomas Jolly used Paris’s signature zinc-gray rooftops as a backdrop to narrate the story of France and its people. The aim was to refresh the image of Paris, which had faced multiple extremist attacks in 2015, and present the city as a vibrant and sustainable host for the Olympics.

Security measures were stringent, with large areas of central Paris fenced off and a no-fly zone established 150 kilometers (93 miles) around the ceremony. Athletes passed by historic landmarks, which were temporarily repurposed for Olympic sports, such as Concorde Plaza for skateboarding and the golden-domed resting place of Napoléon Bonaparte for archery. The Eiffel Tower even contributed to the Olympic medals with pieces of iron inlaid into the gold, silver, and bronze awards. The goal, according to chief organizer Tony Estanguet, was to demonstrate France’s capability for exceptional achievements.

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Source: APnews‍