Key events
One of the features of the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony is the emphasis on fashion in the uniforms worn by the participants. Team USA have raised some eyebrows by pairing what looks like a very traditional red and white hemmed blue jacket with a blue striped shirt and… jeans?
There will be 85 boats on the water today, 30 of which are electric boats. river seine was the site of the test of the very first electric boat, in 1881 by a Parisian inventor named Gustave Found.
The Team GB Tonight’s flag bearers are divers Tom Daley and rower Helen glove. They spoke to the BBC.
Daley said he felt “honoured” and told viewers in the UK:
I remember walking behind Mark Foster in 2008 and thinking how cool it was to just be part of a ceremony like that. Now that I’m going to a fifth Games and I can start like this, it’s pretty, pretty special.
I mean, in our team meeting just before we got here, the performance director said, you know, to be an Olympic champion is a very elite group, but to then also become a flag bearer is an even smaller group. So I feel very honored, and it’s going to be a special night.
Glover said something similar:
It’s a real honour because we have an incredible Team GB, and they’re going to deliver some of the most amazing performances over the next two weeks. So to lead them together into the start of the Games. It’s a real honour.
Each week, our Saturday edition newsletter features a message from our editor-in-chief Katharine Vinerand in tomorrow’s newsletter she outlines some of the challenges facing Paris 2024, and The Guardian’s reporting on them:
The run-up to the Paris Games has been dominated by political unrest in the host country, where a rising far-right was fended off at the last minute in snap parliamentary elections. Paris correspondent Angelique Chrisafis wrote of hopes across France that the greatest sporting event on earth could help unite a divided country. With any luck, it could also bring some unity to a divided planet. As sports journalist Andy Bull put it, these are Games reframed by the shadow of conflict in Ukraine and the Middle East.
There certainly wasn’t much brotherhood in the final days before the Games began. This morning, the French rail system was left in chaos after a massive coordinated attack on the TGV network. Before that, there was a Russian espionage scandal, in which a 40-year-old chef was arrested on suspicion of conspiring with a foreign power to commit “large-scale” acts of “destabilization” during the Games. There was also a sports espionage scandal, in which the reigning women’s soccer champions Canada were caught using drones to spy on their opponents. Then there was chaos in the men’s tournament during a match between Morocco and Argentina, which saw a pitch invasion, the fallout from a racism scandal and even a two-hour wait for a VAR decision. And Charlotte Dujardin – a British multiple medalist – was forced to withdraw from the equestrian event after a disturbing video emerged on Tuesday of her repeatedly hitting a horse.
Elsewhere, the Guardian went on location with the refugee team in training and profiled boxer Cindy Ngamba, the team’s flagbearer. Simon Hattenstone interviewed British cycling legend Victoria Pendleton, who spoke of how she was crushed by the pressures of the sport that made her name. We also met surfer Sam Sills, who lived in a van on her way to Olympic recognition; gymnast Becky Downie, who exposed abuse in her sport; and 2012 gold medallist Etienne Stott, now a climate activist who was training with the Ukrainian swimming team when the bombs fell.
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In what order do the countries appear during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games?
Well, that’s a really good question. One of the joys/fears of covering an Olympic opening ceremony live is that everyone is very secretive about it beforehand. There are certain protocols – but protocols are there to be broken.
What we expect is that Greece will lead the athletes’ parade as tradition dictates, respecting the origins of the Olympic Games. It has become customary for those in the IOC Refugee Olympic Team to go second.
France come last, as host. We expect the two teams to come before them Australia (as hosts in 2032) and the US (as host in 2028).
The rest of the countries and territories are then placed between those countries and territories in alphabetical order in French. For example, Germany will come in with the ‘A’ boats as Allemagne, instead of ‘G’ for Germany or even ‘D’ for Deutschland.
There is a caveat, however. It has been suggested that the smaller delegations could share boats, so some places sending just one or two competitors, such as Andorra, Belize, the Cook Islands, Liechtenstein, Mauritania, Nauru, Somalia and Tuvalu, could become wild cards.
The route runs from Pont d’Austerlitz in the east of Paris to Pont d’léna in the west, between the Eiffel Tower and Trocadéro Esplanade.
Welcome to the Opening Ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games
Bonjour! Salut! Bienvenue! Hallo! Γειά σου Welcome to our live broadcast of the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games Paris 2024!
The opening ceremony is not decisive for the success of the Games, but it can set the tone. It is often a moment when a host country understands the Olympic spirit and gets behind organizing the Games.
Paris 2024 promises to be a unique spectacle, as for the first time the ceremony will take the form of a parade through the city, along a 6km route on the River Seine, rather than a stadium tour.
It was a creative part of the city’s bid to host the Games, but it has also become a complex affair. Residents complain that large parts of the city have been closed off during the preparations. There are also concerns about safety, which has limited the chance of large crowds on the banks of the river.
Nevertheless, with the world watching, we’re expecting a great show. We’ll bring you all the best pictures, analysis and reaction as it all unfolds from 7pm BST tonight. My colleague David Hills has five things to look out for…