AFTER THE arson assaults, bomb threats, the locked down metropolis centre and bouts of hysteria got here plumes of blue, white and purple smoke with a splash of water — the ‘water curtains’ — on Pont d’Austerlitz. And in that prompt, shortly after 7.30 pm native time, the entire of Paris heaved a collective sigh of aid.
What adopted was a celebration by no means seen earlier than on the Seine. There was Girl Gaga singing in French, little youngsters taking the Olympic flame from Zinedine Zidane on a damaged down metro (after which re-emerging on the parade alongside the river) and cabaret together with a celebration of affection, music and sport — all in fixed, heavy rain.
This was a uncommon night when the French didn’t thoughts fun at their very own expense, taking part in on the stereotypes and, just like the creators had promised, “not being like everybody else”.
The primary Olympics opening ceremony to be held exterior a stadium started with a montage reminding simply that — folks operating with the flame into an empty Stade de France, Paris’s iconic enviornment, solely to understand that the Video games will open on the River Seine. Fittingly, it was Zindane, the legendary former captain who confirmed France the way in which on the soccer discipline, main the flame to the right location.
As soon as there, the boats sailed down the Seine, ferrying the smiling, flag-waving and drenched athletes – 6,800 of them from 205 delegations. P V Sindhu, wearing an ivory khadi georgette with orange and inexperienced print, and Sharath Kamal in an aesthetic, minimalistic design kurta led the 78 Indians out in a stunning present the place the performances and parade occurred in interludes. It ensured neither was a monotonous drag as had been the case earlier.
Former FIFA World Cup winner Zinedine Zidane in a Paris 2024 opening montage with the Olympics flame. (Paris 2024 on X)
Cheering them on from the banks of this historic river had been a whole lot of 1000’s of Parisians, who took their spots alongside the 6 km route. They gathered within the gardens on either side of the river, soaked within the rain. These residing within the Haussmannian buildings had a front-row seat, having watch events of their balconies as a mysterious torchbearer shadowed the flotilla by operating on the terraces above.
At completely different factors, following the opening ceremony on the 6 km stretch felt like watching a Formulation One race, whereby one acquired to see solely bits and items of the motion.
Amongst these within the stands on the Trocadero beneath the Eiffel Tower had been VIPs from world wide; some acquired invites whereas a couple of paid as much as 2,700 euros (roughly Rs 2.45 lakh) for tickets. They got entry to a personal practice to achieve the venue, which was largely out of bounds for many Parisians.
This was a ceremony designed to have fun Paris as an Olympic host. However on the morning of this high-risk occasion, the Parisians awoke with a well-recognized feeling of dread.
Arson assaults on the rail service, short-term closure of an airport as a consequence of a bomb hoax, gray skies and a haunting metropolis centre. It didn’t seem like how the organisers would have imagined. It did, although, resemble what the locals had lengthy been fearing.
There was a heightened sense of hysteria and stress across the metropolis after a collection of incidents that officers claimed had been designed to “disrupt the Olympics”.
Indian athletes wave their nationwide flags from a ship on the Seine River in Paris, France, in the course of the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer season Olympics, Friday, July 26, 2024. (AP Picture/Aijaz Rahi, Pool)
The state-owned railway firm stated they found arson assaults on three high-speed practice traces, whereby the cable traces had been set on hearth resulting in journey chaos throughout the nation.
Nobody claimed duty for the assaults however France Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, in line with Le Parisien, launched an investigation into the incident, including that “all our providers are mobilised to trace down, discover and clearly punish the perpetrators”.
4 key high-speed networks join Paris to the remainder of France. Out of them, three had been hit by what the SNCF described as “simultaneous malicious assaults”. The railway firm’s chief govt Jean-Pierre Farandou stated the cables used for signalling had been set on hearth.
One of many fires was at Arras, near 100 miles north of Paris, on a line connecting the nation’s capital and Lille. One other was set in Courtalain, a city 90 miles southwest of the Olympics host metropolis, which connects Excursions and Le Mans to Paris. The SNCF stated that yet one more assault, on the rail line connecting Paris to South-Japanese France, had been thwarted.
The assault, it was feared, might impression French vacationers — a lot of whom had been planning to flee Paris due to the disruption of regular life brought on by the Video games — and Olympics athletes who’re scheduled to compete in different French cities and 1000’s of vacationers anticipated for the primary weekend of the Video games.
Eurostar cancels trains
Eurostar stated it was cancelling 25 per cent of the trains on Friday and the remainder of the weekend on your complete community, primarily between Paris and London and Paris and Brussels.
France’s high-speed TGV trains, identified for his or her fast 300km/h speeds, have been severely disrupted following a collection of sabotage assaults on the rail community on Friday. Caretaker Prime Minister Gabriel Attal has described the focused websites as “nerve centres” of the infrastructure. (AP picture)
Hours later, Basel-Mulhouse, a Franco-Swiss airport, was quickly evacuated and closed for “safety causes” following a “bomb risk”.
The airport is positioned on the French aspect of the border close to Basel, Switzerland. Nonetheless, it proved to be a hoax and the operations had been restarted later within the day.
As if the dual threats weren’t sufficient, the organisers had been additionally battling nature with fixed drizzle threatening to spoil the opening ceremony.
Le Monde, quoting economists Robert Baade and Victor Matheson, reported that the associated fee for the opening parade held between the Austerlitz and Iena bridges on the River Seine was estimated to be round 120 to 130 million euros, thrice greater than the London Video games opening and shutting ceremonies that price 36.65 million in complete.
Because the information trickled in, the safety alongside each banks of the Seine was tightened. Roughly 45,000 police and paramilitary officers had been to be on obligation on Friday night and snipers had been positioned on each excessive level alongside the river the place the parade was to go.
However none of it overshadowed the precise ceremony. After the final boat crossed Pont d’lena, laser beams from the Eiffel Tower lit up the Parisian sky. And on this metropolis of affection and lights, a flame burnt the brightest.