Olympics
How the Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony unfolded
The Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony began at the Stade de France with the screening of a film starring local comedian Jamel Debbouze and former footballer Zinedine Zidane, and ten minutes later the boat carrying the Greek delegation began the traditional parade of athletes.
An impressive wall of water in the shape of the French flag opened up under the Pont d’Austerlitz to clear the way for the boat, the first of 85 that would carry the 6,500 or so parade participants to the Trocadero. Unfortunately, the rain dampened the spectacle and lightened the crowds, which was watched by 320,000 people on the banks of the Seine.
The opening musical spectacle was a performance by American pop queen Lady Gaga, who sang the emblematic French music hall song “Mon truc en plumes” by Zizi Jeanmaire, who died in 2020 and was one of the voices of a brazen and uninhibited Paris.
At the edge of the quays, several performers waved flags, all dressed in pink. ‘La vie en rose’ was the chic image of this ceremony. The masked Olympic torchbearer crossed the Seine on a cable car, just after the wild choreography of the dancers of the legendary Moulin Rouge.
A mix of live performance along the Seine and filmed images, the show was a succession of twelve scenes that follow the journey of a mysterious masked flamethrower on a zip-line across the rooftops and bridges of Paris.
Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral, badly damaged by fire in 2019, was honoured in one of the choreographed sequences of the Olympic opening ceremony. Performers in construction uniforms danced on the scaffolding of the cathedral, which is due to reopen on 8 December after years of work.
In an early afternoon clip, Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa had disappeared, a reference to the ‘robbery of the century’ of 21 August 1911. But it reappeared in a sequence featuring the Minions, an animated film directed by Kyle Balda and Pierre Coffin. It is the meeting of two French artistic worlds.
From Olympe de Gouges to Simone Veil, via Gisèle Halimi, ten statues paying tribute to French women pioneers in their respective fields emerged from the Seine on Friday.
The Olympic rings installed on the Eiffel Tower since June to celebrate the upcoming Olympic Games were removed from the Parisian monument early on Friday morning, as confirmed by an AFP photographer. But the Paris City Hall intends to replace them with a more permanent structure until 2028.
The five-coloured rings, measuring 29 metres in length and 15 metres in height, were placed between the first and second levels of the iconic iron structure on 7 June.
According to Inside the Games publication, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo wants the Olympic symbol to continue decorating the monument until the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.
But the descendants of the tower’s creator, Gustave Eiffel are opposing the move. They are insisting that the Olympic rings are aesthetically in conflict with the concept and design of the Tower.
The 30-tonne rings initially installed on the Eiffel Tower were also not designed to withstand winter weather conditions.
Olympics
Despite Egypt winning 3 medals at Paris Olympics, President Al-Sisi orders sports system overhaul
Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi ordered a comprehensive evaluation of sports federations that participatedat the Paris Olympic Games, following a mission report submitted by the country’s sports minister.
The mandate includes a thorough expenditure check and a performance review to better highlight areas of improvement and fund allocation in future Games.
Additionally, the president plans to take necessary measures against federations —such as limiting funds— that had negative results in the Paris Games.
Egypt’s participation in sports where it lacks a competitive advantage will also be limited, as the president aims to direct resources to promising athletes to ensure optimal results. The president also aims to reduce administrative and technical staff within Olympic delegations and task relevant ministries with preparing future Olympic athletes.
Al-Sisi’s Olympic overhaul is to be presented to the cabinet for approval and urged the government to prioritise amending the sports law for the House of Representatives for review.
Egypt took home a total of three medals in the Summer Games. Ahmed El-Gendy triumphed in modern pentathlon, Sara Samir claimed the silver in weightlifting, and 21-year-old fencer Mohamed El-Sayed earned the bronze.
-Insidethegames
Paris 2024 sold a record 12 million tickets for the Olympics and Paralympics, beating the Games record previously set by London 2012, organisers said on Sunday.
Some 9.5 million tickets were sold for the Olympics and 2.5 million for the Paralympics, which end on Sunday.
In 2012, London organisers set the record for the Paralympics with 2.7 million tickets sold but only 8.2 million were sold for the Olympics.
-Reuters
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