‘We did it!’: France breathes sigh of relief after Olympics ceremony

The torchbearers French former sprinter Marie-Jose Perec and French judoka Teddy Riner arrive to light the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. Photo by AFP

Opting for a ceremony on the waters of the River Seine rather than the standard option of a stadium was a theatrical gesture typical of President Emmanuel Macron but which brought considerable risks.

The day was also far from ideal. It began with news of three attacks on signal infrastructure on the French railway network which will disrupt travel for the next days and raises the prospect of a coordinated bid by so far unknown individuals to upset the Games.

Meanwhile the weather conspired against organizers and spectators, with an unseasonable deluge drenching performers, athletes and onlookers protected by nothing more than plastic ponchos.

But the show went on.

It lasted a marathon four hours, reaching a crescendo with a spectacular climax as the Olympic flame soared into the sky aboard a cauldron tethered to a balloon and Celine Dion serenaded Paris with an Edith Piaf song from the Eiffel Tower.

The eclectic show put on by director Thomas Jolly was not to everyone’s taste — the Times of London called it “surreal” and a “damp squib” but no-one could doubt its originality and daring.

And above all the mass event had passed off safely without incident. Parisians and visitors will now again be able to enjoy most of the city without brandishing QR codes to get through police barriers put up for the event that had put much of the riverside embankment into security lockdown over the last days.

“With sabotage of railway installations in the morning and pouring rain in the evening, the opening day of the Olympics was chaotic but ended with a grandiose ceremony which broke all the rules,” daily Liberation wrote on the front page of its Saturday edition.

‘Creative genius’

Images of police snipers deployed on rooves provided a stark reminder of the constant security threat faced by France which has been hit by a spate of attacks by Islamist extremists since 2015.

The ceremony also marked a boost for Macron after two turbulent months that saw him call snap parliamentary election that at one point raised the prospect of the far-right winning and forming a new government.

That did not materialize but the country remains in political paralysis after the polls and the president generally seen as a weakened figure with three years of his mandate to run.

“Thanks to Thomas Jolly and his creative genius for this grandiose ceremony. Thank you to the artists for this unique and magical moment. Thank you to the police and emergency services, agents and volunteers,” Macron wrote in an unusually triumphant post on X.

“Thank you to everyone who believed in it. We’ll still be talking about in 100 years! We did it!”

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin added: “We did it! After four years of intense work to prepare for the world’s biggest sport event, we have never been prouder of our security forces.”

Extreme-right MEP Marion Marechal harrumphed on X that she was left to “desperately seek to celebrate the values of sport and the beauty of France in the midst of such crude woke propaganda.”

‘Can’t mess up’

Some spectators were frustrated by the rain and crowds obscuring the view but Jolly’s concept appeared focused above all on the millions watching worldwide on TV at home.

It also skillfully played on themes of French culture and history but with a modern twist and a plethora of in-jokes for those who wanted to find them. Jolly also celebrated modern France’s diversity, highlighting artists of immigrant origin.

“The opening ceremony is really the moment when you can’t mess up. It’s a successful gamble,” communications specialist Philippe Moreau Chevrolet told AFP.

“He (Macron) has very successfully carried out his communications operation for the country and for himself: it’s a moment of coming together for the nation… and he hasn’t had many in seven years in power.”