Plans for the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics – the first time a Summer Games will start outside a stadium – have been a closely guarded secret.
Here’s what we know about the concept, the artists and the music!
– WHEN IS IT? –
The opening ceremony starts on Saturday morning (July 27) at 3:30am AEST. This is expected to last until 7:15 or 7:30 AEST.
Australia will be the third to last country in the parade due to hosting the 2032 Olympic Games in Brisbane. In 2028, the US will be in penultimate place, before hosting France in 2024.
– WHO ARE THE FLAG BEARERS OF AUSTRALIA? –
Kayaker Jessica Fox and hockey player Eddie Ockenden will lead the Australian team at the ceremony.
Fox is competing in her fourth Olympic Games – and is strongly tipped to add to her list, which already includes gold, silver and bronze medals.
Eddie Ockenden has become the first Australian hockey player to compete in five Olympic Games – and he will play his 450th game for Australia during the Olympics. He has played the third most games for any country in international men’s hockey and will be hoping to add to his previous silver and bronze Olympic medals.
FULL SCHEDULE: Every sport and race with Australian start times and medal odds
EVERY AUSSIE: Who represents us in each sport and our medal hopes
– WHAT IS THE CONCEPT? –
Instead of using the main athletics stadium for the opening parade, as usual, organizers have moved the event to the heart of the capital – in keeping with their motto ‘Games Wide Open’.
About 6,000 to 7,000 athletes will sail down a six-kilometer stretch of the River Seine, from the Austerlitz Bridge in the east to the Eiffel Tower, on 85 ships and boats.
Up to 500,000 people will watch in person from purpose-built stands, where tickets have been sold for up to 2,700 euros, for free on the banks of the river and from the balconies and apartments with views.
“Organizing a ceremony on the Seine is no easier than doing it in a stadium… but it packs more punch,” lead organizer Tony Estanguet told AFP earlier this month.
Due to the size and complexity of the parade, it has never been fully rehearsed.
– What about the entertainment? –
The show was designed by theater director Thomas Jolly, a 42-year-old child prodigy known for the hit rock-opera musical “Starmania.”
He brought on board a creative team that includes the writer of the French TV series “Call My Agent,” Fanny Herrero, as well as best-selling author Leila Slimani and renowned historian Patrick Boucheron.
The show is split into 12 different sections, with approximately 3,000 dancers, singers and entertainers set up on both banks of the river, the bridges and on top of nearby monuments.
A tribute to Notre-Dame Cathedral, currently under renovation after a devastating fire in 2019, is guaranteed, possibly with dancers on the scaffolding.
From 7.30pm local time, two-thirds of the ceremony will take place in daylight – the weather forecast shows cloudy skies and moderate temperatures – and will end with a light show.
The music will be a mix of classical, traditional ‘chanson francaise’, but also rap and electro.
French-Malian R&B star Aya Nakamura is set to be one of the top performers, despite criticism from far-right politicians including Marine Le Pen, who suggested in March that a performance by her would “humiliate” France.
Nakamura, 29, is the most listened to French-language singer in the world, with seven billion streams online. Far-right politicians and conservatives have accused her of “vulgarity” and disrespecting the French language in her lyrics.
Lady Gaga and Celine Dion have both been spotted in Paris, fueling rumors that they will make an appearance. If she performs, it will be 56-year-old Dion’s second time participating in the Games, following the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.
French electro superstars Daft Punk have turned down an invitation to play, while globetrotting French DJ David Guetta has been overlooked – much to his chagrin.
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– WHAT IS THE MESSAGE? –
When Jolly was asked to summarize his message last week, he said it was “love.” Despite the risk of irritating conservatives, he said his work would be a celebration of cultural, linguistic, religious and sexual diversity in France and around the world.
“I think the people who want to live together in this diversity, this otherness, are much more numerous, but we make less noise,” he told AFP.
It’s fair to assume it will be nothing like the far-flung retro-style opening ceremony of last year’s Rugby World Cup, with a succession of French clichés, from baguettes to berets and the Eiffel Tower.
And don’t expect a three-hour tribute to French greatness to match the nationalist spectacle of the 2008 Beijing Games.
“The opening ceremony in Beijing in 2008 was exactly what we didn’t want to do,” Boucheron told Le Monde newspaper.
– WHAT WILL THE BIG MOMENTS BE? –
Because so much is still hidden, it is difficult to predict.
After so much controversy over her role, Nakamura’s appearance will be an important moment so soon after the parliamentary elections, in which the anti-immigration far right won a historic 143 seats in the national parliament.
Jolly has strongly hinted that at some point a submarine or submarine will emerge from the waters of the Seine.
The identity of the final torchholder who will light the Olympic cauldron in the gardens in front of the Louvre also remains unknown, although three-time gold medal-winning sprinter Marie-Jose Perec is among the leading contenders.
The greatest moment of all could simply be the end when everyone gets home safely. The ceremony has given French police cold sweats since its unveiling in 2021 due to the difficulty of securing so many people in such a vast urban area.
Central Paris will be closed off on Friday evening by 45,000 police and gendarmes, 10,000 soldiers and about 22,000 private security guards.
Most bridges and riverbanks have been off-limits for a week and more than 40,000 metal barriers erected along the shipping route make some residents feel like they are living behind bars in a zoo.
In a TV interview this week, President Emmanuel Macron called on Parisians to remain optimistic.
“We will all see from Friday why it was worth it,” he promised.
