Grand Opening Ceremony of Paris 2024 Olympics to Be Held on the Seine Today
Today, on the third day of the Olympics, the opening ceremony of the XXXIII Summer Olympic Games will take place in the French capital of Paris. This day promises to be memorable, even without any planned sporting events. The expensive opening ceremony in Paris will be the main attraction, and athletes and celebrities will be in the spotlight during the official opening of the Games.
The Opening Ceremony of the Paris Summer Games will start at 19:30 local time (20:30 Kyiv time, 13:30 Eastern time) on Friday, 26 July, when the first boats set sail from the Pont de Austerlitz.
For the first time in the history of the Summer Games, they will take place outside the stadium. Instead, this year's athletes will sail on boats along the famous Seine River across Paris from east to west. The ceremony will be attended by 206 teams from 10,500 participating countries and 94 boats. They will follow a 6-kilometre route that ends in front of the famous Trocadéro, opposite the Eiffel Tower, where other opening ceremony shows will take place, such as the lighting of the Olympic flame and the official opening speech by French President Emmanuel Macron.
Each boat will also have a camera on board so that viewers can feel as if they are in the middle of the event with their favourite athletes. Countries with more athletes will have their own boats, while countries with fewer athletes will share.
According to the organisers, 80 large screens and ‘strategically placed speakers’ will be installed throughout the city to allow as many fans as possible to watch the event.
The Games programme includes 32 sports, in which 10,500 athletes will compete for 329 sets of awards.
Ukraine is represented by 140 athletes who will compete in 23 sports.
The flag of Ukraine will be carried at the opening ceremony by tennis player Elina Svitolina and swimmer Mikhail Romanchuk.
The Olympic Games will end on 11 August.