French President Emmanuel Macron inaugurated the XXXIII Games. Olympics in Paris. It happened on Friday, July 26 at 10:55 p.m. “I declare the Paris Olympics open,” Macron said.
Photo: MOHD RASFAN / AFP / AFP / Profimedia
The Olympic flame was lit by former French sprinter Marie Jose Perecová and ex-judoka Teddy Riner.
The ceremonial formula was preceded by a unique opening ceremony, which for the first time in history was not held at the main stadium, but in the very center of the city. The athletes swam on boats along a six-kilometer section of the Seine river, whose banks were lined with tens of thousands of spectators. The Olympic flame was ceremoniously lit by former French athlete Marie-Jose Perecová and judoka Teddy Riner.
The unique plans of the organizers raised security concerns from the beginning, but in the end the event took place in a peaceful spirit. Individual expeditions did not march on the stadium area, as was the custom in the past, but sailed on boats on the Seine.
The route was completed by a total of 85 boats with approximately 7,500 athletes from 205 participating countries, while the pompous ceremony was to be watched by 300,000 spectators on the improvised stands on the banks of the river and another approximately 200,000 from the adjacent balconies and apartments.
However, the organizers eventually reduced their number by roughly half. The flotilla took the athletes across seven bridges past the most important Parisian monuments – under the iconic Notre-Dame Cathedral, near the Louvre Museum, Place de la Concorde and anchored near the famous Eiffel Tower. The ceremony culminated in the Trocadero square, where all the traditional officialities took place.
The parade of athletes was traditionally started by the expedition of Greece as the country that gave the world the Olympic Games. The team was led by basketball player Jannis Antetokunmpo. The Greek expedition was followed by a team of refugees and successively other countries in alphabetical order. The Slovak expedition, which was on the same boat with athletes from Slovenia and Somalia, presented itself as the 169th in the order. The Slovak flag was held by water slalom skiers Jakub Grigar and Zuzana Paňková.
She became the youngest Slovak flag-bearer in the era of independence, the debutant in the Olympic wild water carried the flag four months before her 20th birthday. Even persistent rain did not spoil her experience. “Despite the fact that we were completely wet, I enjoyed it immensely. When we saw the Slovak flag, it recharged us with energy. It was an incredible feeling. We are a little wet, but we are used to it. We are wet every day,” said Paňková.
Grigar is starting in Paris for his third Olympic Games, in Rio de Janeiro 2016 he finished in 5th place in K1, in Tokyo 2020 he won silver. “On the one hand, it was difficult, because the rain made our waving stronger, but it’s really a great honor and joy. I think we enjoyed it a lot. I don’t regret going here, I hope we can get to the Olympic village as soon as possible so that we can change clothes as soon as possible and, God forbid, not get sick. I tried to stay without a raincoat, we were told that flag bearers had to stay nice. It wasn’t a big problem, because we spend most of our lives in water. “Carrying the national flag at the Olympic Games is always a great honor,” Grigar confessed.
At the very end, the largest boat with the home team, led by swimmer Florent Manaudou and discus player Melina Robertová-Michonová, received the loudest ovation. The flags of other countries were picked up by basketball player LeBron James and tennis player Coco Gauffová (USA), high jumpers Mutaz Issa Baršim (Qatar) and Gianmarco Tamberi (Italy), hammer thrower Anita Wlodarczyková (Poland) and sprinter Andre De Grasse (Canada).
Traditionally, the ceremony was diversified by a rich accompanying program that mapped French history and culture. The motto of the opening ceremony was “Ca ira”, meaning “It will work”. The opening video segment featured the legendary French soccer player Zinedine Zidane, who handed over the Olympic torch to a group of children in the Paris metro. The program featured the American pop star Lady Gaga, who sang the French cabaret song “Mon Truc en Plumes”.
Her performance was a surprise as she was not featured in a program accessible to the media. Aya Nakamurová and Celine Dion also sang, there was a cancan performed by Moulin Rouge dancers, and the musical choir of the Republican Guard also played. The triumph of love was documented by a huge heart over the French metropolis, and the notes of the Marseillaise, performed by the singer Axelle Saint-Cirelová from the roof of the Grand Palais, sounded. The organizers also commemorated important women of French history. A fashion show full of various interesting creations could not be missed in the capital of world fashion. The director then cut to Tahiti, where the surfing competitions will take place.
Dancers from all over Europe celebrated diversity, which is one of the main ideas of the Olympics. The song Imagine by John Lennon, sung by Juliette Armanet, ended with a call for world peace. This was followed by a commemoration of Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the author of the idea of renewing the Olympic Games, and to the tunes of the Olympic anthem, members of the French armed forces ceremoniously raised the Olympic flag.
Neither rain nor night attacks on the railway network in France prevented the grand event from taking place. The ceremony took place under strict security measures, 45,000 policemen and soldiers were deployed. President Emmanuel Macron indicated earlier that the organizers had a plan B and C ready in case the circumstances did not favor holding the celebration on the Seine, but they did not have to do it.
The name of the person who was supposed to light the Olympic flame remained a secret. In the final stage before the ceremony, the torch was carried by, for example, IOC chief Thomas Bach, former American skier Lindsey Vonn and rapper Snoop Dogg.
The French metropolis is hosting the biggest sports holiday for the third time in history. The Olympic Games were already held in 1900 and 1924. Paris thus joined London, which has so far been the only one to host the Games three times. The Olympic Games were officially opened on Friday, but the competition program started earlier. Two days before the official start, the first matches of the soccer tournament or sevens rugby started, and on Thursday, handball players, soccer players, and archers also started their activities at the Olympics.
While up to five new sports (surfing, skateboarding, sport climbing, softball and karate) premiered in Tokyo, only breaking will be added in Paris. Almost 11,000 athletes are fighting for 329 sets of medals in 32 sports. Slovakia sent the smallest expedition in the era of independence, with 28 athletes.
Source: sportweb.pravda.sk
