Paris 2024 Olympics: opening ceremony - live

Ah! Here comes the Olympictorch. It was lit in Olympia, Greeceon April 16 by the rays of the sun, according to ancient tradition, and after an 11-day relay across the Olympic homeland, it then went around France. Across 68 days, 11,000 chosen torchbearers representing all ages and genders took part in the process that ends tonight with the lighting of the flame.

Zinedine Zidane returns, and looks as calm as he did on the football field. What a man. He takes the torch off our mysterious rider. Still no clues to who that is, but Zidane then hands off the torch to Rafa Nadal. Talk about sporting legends!

Nadal takes the flame down the steps and the Eiffel Tower goes dark, with shimmering lights pulsing across it. What a finale this is!

Nadal is now on a boat, and we're back off around Paris while a laser light show continues around the Eiffel Tower. Serena Williams is in the boat, as is Carl Lewis and Nadia Comaneci - wow! No idea what is happening next, but there are sporting legends everywhere! Paris has pulled out all of the stops.

Time for speeches, of course. 

Tony Estanguet, a three-time Olympic champion in caneoing, is the man in charge of organising all of this. He gives thanks to everyone involved and for not being put off by the rain.

"That we French, who can never agree on anything, came together to make this possible," Estanguet says, raising a smile or two in the crowd. He's really very grateful. "Tonight you have shown how beautiful people are when they unite."

"For the next 16 days, this is your city. Paris 2024 is your Paris," Estanguet says to the athletes of the world, before adding some words of motivation to the French team.

And now comes Thomas Bach. He too has a lot of thank yous, and waxes lyrical about Paris. "Thank you for this magical welcome this evening."

"In our Olympic world there is no global south or global north," Bach says. "We all follow the same rules and we all belong to the Olympic family. We live in solidarity with each other."

"In a world torn apart by wars it is thanks to this solidarity that we can all come together tonight."

"Welcome to the best athletes of the world, welcome Olympians."

Bach then asks Emmanuel Macron to officially declare the Paris 2024 Olympics open, which he does swiftly. Then comes the Olympic oath, read aloud to all the athletes, which is met by cheers.

And now we have arrived at the most unknown part of the whole ceremony.

The aforementioned hooded rider appears underneath the Trocadero, but their horse has "transformed" into a real white horse. Who is this mysterious rider? Probably a handful of different people tonight, but who is the one we are going to meet?

The rider leads the way, and as they pass through the flag bearers fall in behind them. Quite the sight really.

The rider climbs off their horse and walks up the stairs with the Olympic flag, all the athletes watching on right beside the stage (most filming on their phone). The flag is delivered and hoisted to the sound of the Olympic anthem. I guess we'll never know who the mysterious figure is. Shame.

Now we get the Olympic vision, with talk about the Refugee Olympic Team. And Filippo Grandi is given an award by the IOC for his work in the field, and he gives thanks. Fair to say there is no Refugee Team without him, so major kudos.

Still can't get over the size of that French boat...

Anyway, it's time for lots and lots of dancing, on the runway and on a boat in front of the Eiffel Tower. The rain was certainly not part of the plan, but it's almost adding something at this point. 'Final Countdown' and 'Free From Desire' make the playlist. The latter really has become an absolute staple of major sporting summers. Crazy really. I blame Will Grigg.

After a diverse group of dancers collapse onto a volcano floor in an apparent reference to the struggle of the younger generation, we cut to a man playing a piano that is on fire and a woman singing... Imagine, by John Lennon. That is a surprise, and feels a bit out of place in the show so far. 'We stand and call for peace' is the message on show afterwards.

Then a hooded rider, wearing an Olympic flag as a cape, speeds down the river on a metal horse (powered by a hidden engine). As we do so, we take a quick trip through the history of the modern Olympics with black and white, and grainy colored images of historic moments appear. As the flags of all the countries start to be carried out in the Trocadero, it's clear the climax is near!

Flying by now. Tanzania, Chad, and Czechia. Boat 76 is Thailand. We're nearly there!

Then we get Turkeyin right and white blazers as the lights start to come on across Paris. Here comes Ukraine, in what is perhaps their most charged Games ever.

And, after 460 Australians, hosts of the 2032 Olympics by the way, comes the arrival of the USboat, which means we are nearly at the end of the boat show. LeBron James and Coco Gauff are flag bearers for the US. James (39) is nearly twice Gauff’s (20) age, which says so much about the pair’s achievements at opposite ends of their careers. James, who made his Olympic debut in 2004 and won bronze, is aiming to win his third Olympic gold after winning in Beijing and London. The US men’s basketball team are aiming for their fifth straight gold medal. Gauff is making her Olympic debut after missing out three years ago because of COVID-19. The last American woman to win gold in singles tennis? Serena Williams in 2012. It has been a while.

Our mysterious torch bearer is back, and now he's dancing on the runway. We then cut to a live drone shot of Tahiti where the surfers at this Olympics are competing. It's cool, and the weather is certainly better there, but it's also a little ridiculous really.

The biggest cheer of the night though, unsurprisingly, comes for the last boat, the French one. This looks the biggest boat of the night, which seems fair really. They're hosting after all.

As the evening sets in — it's definitely darker now — we get some French rap as Rim-K steps in to sing about being the prince of the city. 

Then we get Barbara Butch — an icon of the French Pride scene — mixing some music on a fashion runway featuring disabled and gender non-conforming models. This show would have been incomplete without some fashion — it is Paris after all.

We flip back and forth between the runway and the boats. The Netherlands look in a good mood, as do Poland, who are in some pretty cool outfits. North Korea are back, too, after missing the last Games due to COVID concerns. COVID, gosh, that feels like a decade ago now. 

The dance music has started and the opening ceremony is in full swing! We're closing in on the end of the alphabet — the boat with Slovakia, Slovenia and Somalia goes by. The main show and the big reveal isn't far away.

More boats, and more rain, but the show must go on.

Some men in white perform impressive tricks on BMX bikes and skateboards, and we get some breaking (breakdancing) too. A nod to the street events, and on that note, some of the youngest athletes at the Games are competing in such events. With such youth, comes a lot of responsibility for all involved. Indeed, should children even be at the Olympics?

Maldives, Mali, Malta — we're into the Ms. Hats off to Mauritius, who are dancing and living their best lives, and shout out to Mongolia, who might well have the best outfits out of everyone. Water fountains are spraying everywhere, which seems a bit unnecessary given the weather.

The Minions make an appearance. The little yellow animated figures are from French animation even though they speak a mixture of different 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 riverside. 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 enough about before, but should have known.

Honestly, the production 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! 

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