Team USA Lights Up Paris In The Opening Ceremony
by Peggy Shinn
Rain couldn’t darken the City of Light. Or the Olympic spirit.
Team USA, along with nations on 84 other boats, floated down the Seine to open the Olympic Games Paris 2024. En route, they passed 320,000 fans in 124 grandstands and witnessed a performance that was, in words repeated over and over on social media, “So French.”
The second-to-last boat down the Seine — a position marking their role as the host of the next Olympic Games (Los Angeles in 2028) — Team USA was undeterred by the weather, with athletes in their Ralph Lauren Opening Ceremony outfits waving flags, only a few covering their outfits with the organizer-provided clear rain ponchos. As they floated along the six kilometer route, they got a glimpse of Paris and the venues that will soon host the competitions.
Led by flag-bearers LeBron James and Coco Gauff (the youngest flag bearer in this Opening Ceremony), the U.S. athletes chanted “USA!” and reveled being at a Games with fans and friends, a party atmosphere undampened by the rain.”
“We’ve seen a lot of water,” joked Gauff, when asked about the Ceremony.
But she also remarked about all the amazing athletes she had seen and met so far.
“The rain can’t stop us,” added James.
The Opening Ceremony was particularly meaningful to Olympians who competed in the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, when athletes had to wear masks and paraded into an empty stadium.
A performance by Lady Gaga, in a nod to the original performance on Mon Truc En Plume and farther along, Cabaret; costumes by Dior and Yves Saint-Laurent; footage of Notre Dame; scenes from Les Misérables, the Mona Lisa and the Louvre made it clear who is hosting these Olympic Games: Paris. And it was a performance that summed up Paris’s rich artistic contributions to the world.
The Opening Ceremony was meant to show the world the best of France, “it’s boldness, creativity, avant-garde spirit and openness,” said Tony Estanguet, president of Paris 2024.
“Through this ceremony, our country will show the world what it is,” French president Emmanuel Macron said before the Ceremony. “Because France is not just the product of history, heritage, and culture passed down through the centuries. It is an epic tale, a constant quest for freedom and progress.
"True to its history, and like this exceptional ceremony, it is universal. Let the party begin!"
Breaking with the unexpected — a theme of the 2024 Olympic Games — this marks the first time the Opening Ceremony was held outside a stadium, with the Seine — and Paris itself — serving as a backdrop. Team USA was on the second-to-last boat, ahead of only France. The host of the next Olympic Games (Los Angeles in 2028) now parades into the Opening Ceremony ahead of only the host country of the current Games.
This Opening Ceremony was a contrast to 100 years ago, when Paris hosted the 1924 Olympic Games. Back then, the Opening Ceremony took place in the Olympic Stadium de Colombes (about 8 miles northwest of the 2024 Ceremony). At the time, Colombes could seat 45,000.
Paris also hosted the 1900 Olympic Games. A five-month-long athletic festival, the 1900 Games had no special Opening or Closing Ceremonies.
As for the rain, well, it was the only thing that the Parisians could not orchestrate. Or even predict. It has not rained at the Opening Ceremony of a Summer Games since 1952 in Helsinki. But the lights, and smiles, shined on.
Let the Games begin!