{"id":5870,"date":"2024-08-01T00:37:04","date_gmt":"2024-08-01T00:37:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/spectacular-photos-from-the-paris-2024-olympic-opening-ceremony\/"},"modified":"2024-08-01T00:37:04","modified_gmt":"2024-08-01T00:37:04","slug":"spectacular-photos-from-the-paris-2024-olympic-opening-ceremony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/spectacular-photos-from-the-paris-2024-olympic-opening-ceremony\/","title":{"rendered":"Spectacular photos from the Paris 2024 Olympic opening ceremony"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\"Fran\u00e7ois-XavierFran\u00e7ois-Xavier Marit\/AFP<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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The Olympic opening ceremony presents the host country with the opportunity to wow the world with a uniquely spectacular show. <\/p>\n

The opening of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games was just that – the organisers ditched the traditional ceremony, and became the first Games to hold the opening event within a city as a whole rather than in a stadium.<\/p>\n

Thousands of athletes and performers paraded along the River Seine on a wet evening, before the night sky and the Eiffel Tower were lit up in dramatic technicolour, creating a hugely ambitious, one-of-a-kind spectacle.<\/p>\n

Below are some of the most eye-catching photos from the night.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\" Pawe\u0142 Kopczy\u0144ski\/Reuters<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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After a three-month journey from Greece to Paris, the Olympic torch was handed to former French footballer Zinedine Zidane, before being passed on to tennis stars Rafa Nadal and Serena Williams.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\" Cameron Spencer\/Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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\" Evgenia Novozhenina\/Reuters<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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In an epic climax, French judo great Teddy Riner and sprinter Marie-Jose Perec used the Olympic torch to ignite a cauldron powering an enormous hot air balloon.<\/p>\n

The giant, glowing balloon then flew over the city of Paris to signal the start of the greatest show on Earth.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\" Marko \u0110urica\/Reuters<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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\" Miguel Tona\/EPA<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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\"JungJung Yeon-Je\/AFP <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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The opening ceremony began with a stunning display of coloured smoke resembling the French flag rising over the Pont d\u2019Austerlitz.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"LarsLars Baron\/Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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Fans and spectators were in keen attendance, and – for the most part – were undeterred by the wet weather.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\" Tingshu Wang\/Reuters<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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\" Steph Chambers\/Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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\"OliOli Scarff\/AFP<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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French President Emmanuel Macron was watching alongside President of the International Olympic Committee Thomas Bach. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\" Martin Div\u00ed\u0161ek\/EPA<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was also spotted watching the ceremony, seemingly well-prepared for the rain.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\" Kai Pfaffenbach\/Reuters<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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Various celebrities attended the evening, including American singer Ariana Grande with her British Wicked co-star Cynthia Erivo.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\" Christophe Petit-Tesson\/PA Media<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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As expected there was a heightened security presence, with tens of thousands of police deployed across the city.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\" Franck Fife\/AFP<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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\"TeresaTeresa Suarez\/EPA<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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Throughout the event, a mystery masked torchbearer was running and parkour-ing their way through the city on riverside rooftops.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\" Bernat Armangu\u00e9\/Reuters<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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\"PeterPeter Cziborra\/Pool\/Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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Fleets of team boats, with countries from all around the world, sailed down the Seine, flying their flags with pride. <\/p>\n

British diver Tom Daley and rower Helen Glover bore the flag for Team GB.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\" Naomi Baker\/Reuters<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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\" Amanda Perobelli\/Reuters<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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\" Aijaz Rahi\/AP<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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\"MichaelMichael Reaves\/Reuters<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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\" Violeta Santos Moura\/Reuters<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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\" Steph Chambers\/Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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The event was interspersed with elaborate performances of all kinds, from Lady Gaga, cabaret performers, ballet dancers, acrobats to a finale from Celine Dion, a distant figure on stage halfway up the Eiffel Tower.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"MajaMaja Hitij\/Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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\"WangWang Dongzhen\/Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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\" Maddie Meyer\/Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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\" Bernat Armangu\u00e9\/AP<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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\" Pilar Olivares\/Reuters<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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\"LudovicLudovic Marin\/AFP<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n


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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fran\u00e7ois-Xavier Marit\/AFP The Olympic opening ceremony presents the host country with the opportunity to wow the world with a uniquely spectacular show. The opening of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games was just that – the organisers ditched the traditional ceremony, and became the first Games to hold the opening event within a city as a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5871,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[2408,3071,385,2982,2429,3710],"class_list":["post-5870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-pictures","tag-ceremony","tag-olympic","tag-opening","tag-paris","tag-photos","tag-spectacular"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5870"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5870\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5872,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5870\/revisions\/5872"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}