The town of Paris was a colossal amphitheater, and the long-lasting river Seine served as a monitor for the athletes’ parade as France showcased its cultural range, spirit of revolution, impeccable craftsmanship and architectural heritage in a riveting opening ceremony for the thirty third Olympic Video games on Friday. The spectacle began with a dreamy break from custom as ‘Parade of Nations’ kicked off the proceedings wherein athletes from 205 nations and one refugee staff sailed down the Seine on boats regardless of heavy rain, within the run-up to and in the course of the ceremony, threatening to play spoilsport.
The ceremony additionally gave a candy nod to ‘Hindi’ because it was among the many six languages utilized in infographics to pay tribute to the contribution of outstanding French girls in the course of the section titled ‘sisterhood’.
However the spotlight was no doubt the athletes’ march on the Seine river.
The present started with digicam panning to French President Emmanuel Macron and Worldwide Olympic Committee head Thomas Bach after World Cup-winning soccer legend Zinedine Zidane was proven sprinting down the streets of Paris with the Olympic flame in a pre-recorded video.
The six kilometer parade started from Austerlitz bridge and 85 boats carried greater than 6800 athletes amid loud cheers from the gathered crowd. A very good variety of athletes additionally skipped the unbelievable present attributable to their competitions on Saturday.
The sequence of arrivals adopted the French alphabetical order. The primary to reach was the Greek contingent, for being the religious residence of the Video games, adopted by the Refugee staff.
The Indian contingent was led by two flag-bearers — two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and desk tennis legend A Sharath Kamal and was 84th on the decision sheet. The ladies within the contingent have been draped in sarees, whereas the lads sported the normal ‘kurta-payjama’ within the colors of the nationwide flag.
A complete of 78 Indian athletes and officers participated within the ceremony.
The boats handed by way of the long-lasting landmarks of town such because the restored Cathedral of Notre Dame, which was gutted in a fireplace 5 years in the past, the long-lasting Louvre Museum and likewise a couple of of the Video games venues.
In April 2019, the photographs of the Cathedral on hearth and the autumn of its spire had shocked the world.
American Pop celebrity Woman Gaga was among the many first worldwide artists to enthral the assembled crowd. The ceremony was helmed by inventive director Thomas Jolly.
Amid the colorful proceedings, a mysterious torch-bearer additionally turned a spotlight of consideration as he darted across the metropolis and its most well-known landmarks, holding the flame.
He additionally crossed the Seine from the Ile Saint-Louis on a zip-wire after the cabaret performers accomplished their act.
Including a component of childlike enjoyable to the ceremony have been the world-famous Minions and the lacking Mona Lisa, which was finally discovered floating on Seine.
The bridges dotting the parade route featured dance performances for the followers, who had gathered at completely different spots after greater than two lakh free tickets have been distributed except for the over one lakh that have been offered.
A glimpse of the workshops of the Monnaie de Paris, the place the medals for the Video games have been solid, was offered to honour town’s famed craftsmanship. A complete of 5,084 medals are being produced for 2024 version of the Video games and all of them could have a chunk of the Eiffel Tower.
The ceremony additionally had a political theme within the section titled ’emancipation’, which was an ode to the 18th century ‘French Revolution’, triggered by the then monarch King Louis XVI’s profligacy.
A figurine of his executed spouse Marie Antoinette’s decapitated torso was a part of the act.
Antoinette is infamously quoted to have mentioned, “Allow them to eat cake”, when informed in regards to the monetary misery of French commoners at the moment.
The organisers had promised an unforgettable spectacle, overcoming unprecedented logistical and safety challenges to make a complete metropolis the venue of the ceremony.
The organisers have claimed that the ceremony would be the largest in Video games historical past with greater than 300,000 individuals watching on the banks of the Seine and billions tuned in on tv.
That is the third time Paris is internet hosting the Olympics after 1900 and 1924.
India is being represented by 117 athletes, together with 47 girls, within the sporting spectacle.
Subjects talked about on this article
