Paris 2024 Olympics: opening ceremony - live

The Minions make an appearance. The little yellow animated figures are from French animation even though the language they speak is made up of a host of languages. We see them acting out some Olympic events in comical fashion. And it turns out they stole the Mona Lisa, which then appears on the Seine in real life (a copy, not the original, don't worry) as we hear the French national anthem sung from a rooftop.

It is interrupted as a host of new statues of famous women appear out of the ground on the river side. A quiet moment of reflection amid the madness and all done to make up for the fact there are too few statues of women in Paris compared to men. From explorers to journalists, these are inspiring figures that many did not know, but should have known.

Honestly, the directing tonight has been pretty remarkable. Talk about managing moving parts...

Now we're racing through the boats.

Denmark, then Spain with Estonia hanging off the back, and then Gabonon a tiny boat. They're loving it. Interestingly, this is apparently the first Olympics in history to have an equal number of male and female athletes. About time really.

Then we get some live piano to accompany us. Lovely really. I feel like I'm in a classy hotel bar, although it is raining.

Here comes Great Britain, in rain ponchos but used to it probably. Grenada, Guam in sum funky blue shirts and Guatemala share the boat with Team Great Britain.

The rain, by the way, hasn't put people off, but goodness it does look wet out there.

We're in the library and seeing books about love and then there are multi-colored dresses everywhere as performers dance in the name of love. Then we see three people kissing and closing a bedroom door. Think the message there is clear.

The mysterious figure though, remains unclear. Any guesses? I have no idea.

Aya Nakamura is now performing in a pretty amazing gold dress. The French-Malian singer is massive in France. She has the most streamed French-language album. Kudos. She is performing with the marching band as we get a mix of traditional and modern music.

And then we're in the Louvre, probably the most famous museum in the world. And guess who is back? The mysterious figure.

Oh, and in case you forgot, we're back to the boats for the athletes, who you know, are the reason we're all here. Cyprus is next. Yes, we've got a long way to go yet. Aand the rain has picked up too.

The boats keep coming. Some cool outfits on show. Would definitely order some outfits from the Bahamas and Cameroon teams. Fresh.

In between all of this, we keep cutting to footage of the mystery person with the Olympic torch, who has now moved from a boat to running across the rooftops of Paris. No clues there, maybe we'll never know. Now we turn to 100 dancers in recycled, bright pink outfits dancing the can-can. Energy!

That we return to the mysterious torch holder, First he's at a dancing reconstruction of the Notre Dame (the bells then ring, which is rare and an honor). Then he's running through a Louis Vuitton production house — that's where the medals are stored. We're shown the making of the medals and then a box of them is transported down to the river as we switch between live and recorded. 

We get some ballet (of course), a scene from the famous French novel "Les Miserables" and then heavy metal accompanying a woman holding her own head, a nod to the beheading of Marie Antoinette that started the French Revolution. And then some Carmen, one of the most performed operas in the world. A history, music and sports lesson all happening tonight!

Back to the boats! Now athletes from Bangladesh are next, on a smaller boat all to themselves. The same is true for Bhutan a little later. Love to see it.

Then comes another joint boat, with Barbados, Belgium, Belize (just four I think), Benin and Bermuda in Bermuda shorts (of course). A nice spread of flag and outfit colors there. Then comes Brazil on a massive boat — 274 athletes all on board.

There are apparently 10,500 athletes representing 206 countries at these Games, with 20,000 accredited journalists covering it all. Around 1 billion people are watching on television and online, while 320,000 are expected to line the route. I believe all of the tickets were sold out but the last ones available apparently cost nearly €2,000 ($2,169). Yikes.

Astoundingly, I read that 8.8 million tickets have already been sold for these Games, which is more than at any other Olympics. That is astounding really, and perhaps a sign that people are desperate to enjoy the Games live after the COVID-19 Games in Tokyo three years ago.

So far, so good for the organisers as the boats continue, Aruba, Austria and Bahamas all wave their flags. There's a man playing the accordian on a bridge. I'm told the show is to be mixed with parts of Parisianculture and although not French, Lady Gaga enters the show singing in French among dancers holding up pink, fluffy balls. A friend of mine who is French tells me her accent is very good. A lady of many talents right there and a nice change from the boats.

The boats are moving. I hear there are cameras on every boat so viewers get to see the athletes close up and even local boat firms were brought in to help. Sounds pretty cool to be honest, and we haven't even got to all the performers that are expected.

Greece are out first, as is custom, and it’s NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo is sort of holding the flag. To be honest, everyone is holding a flag. There are two security boats right beside them.

Then comes the Refugee Olympic Team, which reminds me that our man in Paris Jonathan Crane spoke to swimmer Alaa Maso about being a member of that team.

And then it continues. The next boat has several nations as some countries have fewer athletes involved. Afghanistan, South Africa, Albania, Algeria and Germany (it's alphabetical but in French remember) are all on this one.

Germany’s flag bearers glide forward. Dennis Schröder, a man who has been in the NBA for over a decade and was MVP of Germany’s World Cup winning team last year, makes history tonight as the first Black flag bearer in Germany’s Olympic history. "We did this together and in doing so, have sent a strong statement. I will carry this flag with great honor," Schröder posted on Instagram. He will share the duty with Anna-Maria Wagner, Germany’s star judoka who won bronze in Tokyo, and who enters these Olympics as world champion after beating the world number one from France, Madeleine Malonga, earlier this year. What a moment for the pair.

Off we go!

The show has begun and it's football legend Zinedine Zidane running through the streets of Paris with the Olympic torch. He gets into the metro, which gets broken and he hands off the torch to some kids who take it and run down the side of the track and into the tunnels. It's all very Enid Blyton. Then a mysterious rower comes by and takes the children on board. Then we cut to real-time, and it's applause for IOC boss Thomas Bach and French President Emmanuel Macron. Then back to the tunnel, where the video meets real time as the mysterious rower and the children appear. Blue, white and red smoke bellow from above the first bridge and the show is very much underway! 

Missing some knowledge on the Olympics this summer? Don’t worry. DW has you covered.

There are approximately 120 heads of states, sovereigns and heads of government expected tonight. French President Emmanuel Macron is here and while he hopes these Games will provide a "summer of French pride", it shouldn’t be forgotten that France is still in the remarkable position of hosting an Olympics without having a proper parliament after the snap election in early June. Also, the IOC faced trouble (stop me if you’ve heard this one before) after hotel staff in a luxury hotel where many IOC VIPs were staying went on strike days ago, claiming they haven’t had a pay rise in seven years. Never mind the Eiffel Tower, it is quite the backdrop to an Olympic opening ceremony.

Worth remembering that Russian and Belarusian athletes are not involved tonight, after an IOC ruling. Athletes from both countries are banned following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, but individuals can compete in Paris as neutrals. This is not an easy situation for any Ukrainian athletes competing in Paris, as our reporter Jonathan Crane revealed before the games started.

Also, here’s a deep dive from Oliver Moody on Russia and Ukraine at Paris 2024:

With just around an hour to go before the boats motor off down the river, athletes are starting to get into their clothes for the opening ceremony. American flag bearers Coco Gauff and LeBron James look slick in their white blazers (with added waterproof cover), and have been given a pink sash. It's all happening!

According to many on the ground, including our very own Jonathan Crane, rain has come to Paris. Here's hoping the opening ceremony has plans to deal with wet weather, especially given the forceast says the raindrops won't be clear of Paris until midnight at the earliest. Mind you, given this has all cost somewhere around $10.8 billion (€10 billion), I imagine they have a plan or two to deal with rain.

Security has been a big topic for this Olympics. There are reportedly 45,000 officers at the opening ceremony tonight, and 44,000 barriers have been put up. QR codes are required for residents and others looking to gain access to the Seine. An elite squad of police have spent two years training for emergency situations. It's reportedly the largest deployment of security forces in French history. The aforementioned attack on the train network is a less than ideal start, but here's hoping a peaceful Games follows from here on out.

You can watch more about Paris and the unprecedented measures in DW’s Marianna Evenstein report.

So much of the opening ceremony has been kept a secret, which if you think about it is pretty impressive in an age of insider knowledge and constant live streams.

Snoop Dogg was one of the final torch bearers, which represents quite the latest chapter for the famous rapper. He's in Paris as a reporter for American channel NBC, and I for one am excited to see what his coverage looks like this summer. Beautiful, I'm sure he hopes.

As for tonight, it looks like Lady Gaga is going to be performing tonight as photos have emerged of her warming up ahead of the start tonight. What a treat!

There has also been talk of Celine Dion being involved tonight, and performing Edith Piaf's classic "La Vie en Rose" with Gaga. Dion hasn’t performed live since 2020 and had her world tour cancelled in 2022 after announcing she was suffering from stiff person syndrome, a rare neurological disorder, so that would be quite the comeback.

Hours before the opening ceremony, some less than ideal news out of the Paris Olympics.

Firstly, travel chaos has descended upon Paris after arson attacks disrupted France’s high-speed rail network, causing delays across the country. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said the situation would not affect the opening ceremony, but there are already reports of a few athletes set to miss out as a result of travel issues. Tough break, having an invite for the big night but not being able to make it.

You can read more about the travel chaos here.

Also, the International Testing Agency revealed today that a first-time Olympian judoka from Iraq tested positive for two anabolic steroids. More doping news is not great for all involved, especially not on the eve of the opening ceremony. The sports world is still not finished dealing with whether China covered up a doping scandal.