The iconic Paris river hosts the opening ceremonies of the 2024 Olympics
The 2024 Summer Olympic Games kick off in Paris, making history as the first iteration of the long-running athletic tradition to host an opening ceremony — as well as many events — outside the confines of a stadium.
The reason for this decision is not for a lack of stadiums — Paris has several sporting venues, which, like Stade de France, could accommodate large-scale crowds. The organizers preferred to have the ceremony, rather romantically, lit by sunset.
Due to kick off the festivities at 10:30 a.m., the opening ceremony sees the 10,500 athletes parade in by way of 94 boats on the Seine, leaving the Pont d’Austerlitz, in the east, and headed to Pont d’Iéna, six kilometres to the west. With one boat to carry all the athletes from each competing country, as well as 80 jumbo screens with speakers and free viewing areas for the public, there is little doubt that the colourful procession will be the busiest and most beautiful start to any Olympics yet.
According to Olympics.com, “athletes on board the parade boats will get glimpses of some of the official Games venues, including Parc Urbain La Concorde, the Esplanade des Invalides, the Grand Palais, and lastly the Iéna bridge, where the parade will come to a stop before the ceremony’s finale at the Trocadéro.”
Along the parade route, 12 “artistic tableaux” are presented, drawing attention to the capital city’s famous monuments, architecture and history.
“We are delighted to have an opening ceremony that illustrates the meeting between sport and the city in the most beautiful way,” said Tony Estanguet, president of the Paris 2024 organizing committee. “With the natural light of the setting sun, the event will be even more sublime, with a truly poetic dimension, inviting both athletes and the public to appreciate the natural beauty of the City of Light.”
While the list of opening ceremony performers is still unreleased as of writing, an early-June news event offered journalists in France the opportunity to sit in on an opening ceremony dance rehearsal, guided by none other than Paris 2024 director of dance, Maud Le Pladec.
A successful dancer in her own right, Le Pladec has been focused on choreography since 2010, and according to an article by Céline Penicaud on Olympics.com, the artist has been hard at work training dancers for the big spectacle.
“We train eight hours a day, all week long, and then we’ll get together a week before the Olympics to resume training and try it out under real conditions,” explains a 25-year-old dancer Penicaud refers to as Louise.
In order to safeguard some of the ceremony’s magic, each dancer reportedly learns their part alone, only seeing it with the others for the first time a week ahead of the Games — a rather impressive feat given that “nearly 3,000 artists will take part in the four opening and closing ceremonies of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games” (per Penicaud).
Featuring broadcasts from every venue and including every Canadian medal-winning moment, from the opening to the closing ceremonies, CBC’s comprehensive coverage of Paris 2024 is set to total “more than 3,000 hours of live content across the public broadcaster’s multiple platforms” (per CBC).
Announcing his impending retirement earlier this year, veteran CBC sports reporter Scott Russell, who’s worked in public broadcasting for 40 years, will make Paris 2024 the 17th and final time he’s covered the Olympic Games. Russell is set to go out on a high note, providing his signature coverage for the Olympic and Paralympic Games before bidding farewell to audiences across Canada.
“CBC Sports has been my home for my entire career in broadcasting,” he stated in a news release. “The places I’ve been, the friendships I’ve made, and the sport I’ve witnessed, leave me with a lifetime of memories. On top of that, I’ve been fortunate to work with the best people in the business.”
Alongside Russell, who will host Bell Paris Prime Live, CBC’s lineup of hosts includes Anastasia Bucsis and Rob Pizzo for RBC Olympic Morning; Andi Petrillo, Craig McMorris, Perdita Felicien and Waneek Horn-Miller for Toyota Olympic Games Primetime; Julie Stewart-Binks for Bell Paris Prime Live; and CBC Olympics reporter Devin Heroux.
As for NBC’s coverage of the event, Sunday Night Football host Mike Tirico covers his fourth Olympic opening ceremony, this time alongside NFL Hall-of-Famer Peyton Manning (Peyton’s Places) and the first American Idol, Kelly Clarkson. NBC morning favourites Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb will also host a special edition of Today from a bridge over the Seine.
Rapper/entrepreneur Snoop Dogg also has plans to report for NBC from various live evening events over the Games’ 16-day run — no doubt a followup performance to his and actor Kevin Hart’s Olympic Highlights commentary series for Tokyo 2020 (which was delayed to the summer of 2021 due to the pandemic).
2024 Paris Olympic Games: Opening Ceremony, airing at various times on Friday, July 26 on CBC; and NBC