The 2024 Paris Summer Olympics are here. Just three years after the Tokyo Games — which were postponed from 2020 to the summer of 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic — more than 10,000 athletes from more than 200 competing Olympic committees will spend 19 days chasing gold, silver and bronze in the City of Light.
Every Olympic year brings with it the tradition and spectacle of the Opening Ceremony, and the biggest change you might notice is that this year’s parade will be a boat parade along the Seine River in the heart of Paris. The river is also set to be used for some open-water swimming competitions — a decision that has drawn some criticism due to pollution levels in the river.
For Team USA, it’ll be an accomplished Olympian in basketball icon LeBron James (two gold, one bronze) and first-time Olympian — and tennis superstar — Coco Gauff as the team’s two flag bearers.
Atop the Eiffel Tower (where else?), Celine Dion makes her return to performing after years of struggling with Stiff Person Syndrome. And she sounds as incredible as ever.
Olympic cauldron has been lit, and it is flying, attached to a hot air balloon
After several more handoffs between French Olympic legends, the flame is now flying high above Paris in spectacular fashion. Marie-José Pérec and Teddy Riner had the honor.
Yahoo Sports Henry Bushnell is at the Opening Ceremony and has this breakdown of the spectacular flying cauldron:
“Olympic organizers said in informational material distributed to media that the cauldron was “a tribute to the first flight in a hydrogen-filled gas balloon,” which took place in Paris in 1783. In December of that year, the hot-air balloon became the first human-carrying aircraft when two of its French inventors, physicist Jacques Charles and engineer Nicolas-Louis Robert, took flight from Tuileries Gardens.”
Parker, Mauresmo joined by three French Paralympic legends
The group is jogging the flame through Paris, led by three-time Olympic champion handball player Michael Guigou. Usually the flame is handed off, but the whole group continues to walk with the flame as it makes its way through the City of Light.
The Olympic Flame is back on land
After Nadal and company took the flame for a boat ride, the French connections resumed with tennis great Amélie Mauresmo taking the flame through the Louvre and handed the flame off to NBA legend Tony Parker.
Where is the Olympic flame headed?
Nadal left the Eiffel Tower with the flame and hopped on a boat, where he met Serena Williams, Carl Lewis and Nadia Comăneci, making the reverse commute from the earlier parade.
It’s been a while since we’ve seen Zidane (nearly three and a half hours), but he’s back with the torch, handing it off to … Rafael Nadal?!
After one of the most spectacular openings I’ve ever seen, the Opening Ceremony has screeched to a painful halt. A truly bold idea would’ve been scrapping these self-serving, momentum-killing speeches, but that ain’t happening.
As always, Olympic Opening Ceremonies drone on far too long.
This is the extent of the athlete presence at the final stage. A majority of the thousands, surely, have gone home after the boat parade pic.twitter.com/MXRIKWD7gu
Flags of participating countries are carried on the Iena bridge during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (Photo by Jonathan NACKSTRAND / AFP) (Photo by JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP via Getty Images)
Another uniform that was sadly missed on the broadcast comes from Guatemala. There are many national details in this one, with the athletes wearing blue shirts and blue shorts or a green dress with a little blue vest. The hats are also blue with a Guatemalan pattern on the underside of the brim. A step above the safari-style outfit, which is always a common theme among Olympic outfits from several countries.
🤩 Presentamos la indumentaria que portarán nuestros atletas en la ceremonia de inauguración de los Juegos Olímpicos de #París2024 🇫🇷, diseñada para representar la fuerza, la resiliencia y la belleza de nuestro país.
With the parade of nations at an end, here are a few eye-catching uniforms that didn’t get their moment to shine on the NBC broadcast.
Czech Republic’s uniforms are among the most admired. Bold colors and patterns, breathable fabric and design, and a jacket that goes with almost everything. Their athletes are well-dressed and comfortable.
Team France and their 571 athletes were wearing uniforms that included sleeveless blazers for the women. The French are known for their fashion, but those long sleeveless bl vests may not catch on in the United States.
The final three countries in the parade are Australia, Team USA and France, in that order. France finishes last as the host country; with the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles and the 2032 Olympics in Brisbane, Australia, those countries are getting honored as future hosts.
Team USA’s uniforms were designed by Ralph Lauren again, and these three women’s soccer stars show exactly how they should be worn.
France makes its entry as the final delegation in the parade
Team USA has arrived
Hope no one on Team USA is claustrophobic…that boat is jam-packed with American athletes!
