The Opening Ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games, between the Pont d'Austerlitz and the Pont d'Iéna, had a unique format, with the French state betting heavily on the organisers and the IOC to promote gender equality and start these Olympics with a bang. A total of twenty artists took to the stage for a magnificent show lasting over four hours.

The Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony was the first in Olympic history to be held outside a stadium, with the River Seine becoming an unprecedented stage for the global sporting event watched by more than a billion people. The long-awaited moment came after a hectic day that began with rain and sabotage on the French rail network.

The fast-moving and multi-location ceremony masterminded by acclaimed French theatre director Thomas Jolly was aimed at impressing the global TV audience as much as those who braved the weather and intense security to watch live. The first-ever opening ceremony held outside a stadium -- on the River Seine -- had to battle pouring rain that cast a pallid gloom over the City of Light.

The 12 different phases of the ceremony told the story of a country rich in its "diversity", "inclusive", "not one France but several Frances", and celebrating "the whole world united". Jolly was backed by a writing team including famed novelist Leila Slimani and screenwriter Fanny Herrero, who penned the smash-hit casting agency comedy "Dix pour cent" ("Call My Agent).

The event began at the Stade de France with the screening of a film starring local comedian Jamel Debbouze and former footballer Zinedine Zidane, and ten minutes later the boat carrying the Greek delegation began the traditional parade of athletes.

An impressive wall of water in the shape of the French flag opened up under the Pont d'Austerlitz to clear the way for the boat, the first of 85 that would carry the 6,500 or so parade participants to the Trocadero. Unfortunately, the rain dampened the spectacle and lightened the crowds, which was watched by 320,000 people on the banks of the Seine.

The opening musical spectacle was a performance by American pop queen Lady Gaga, who sang the emblematic French music hall song "Mon truc en plumes" by Zizi Jeanmaire, who died in 2020 and was one of the voices of a brazen and uninhibited Paris.

At the edge of the quays, several performers waved flags, all dressed in pink. 'La vie en rose' was the chic image of this ceremony. The masked Olympic torchbearer crossed the Seine on a cable car, just after the wild choreography of the dancers of the legendary Moulin Rouge.

A mix of live performance along the Seine and filmed images, the show was a succession of twelve scenes that follow the journey of a mysterious masked flamethrower on a zip-line across the rooftops and bridges of Paris.

Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral, badly damaged by fire in 2019, was honoured in one of the choreographed sequences of the Olympic opening ceremony. Performers in construction uniforms danced on the scaffolding of the cathedral, which is due to reopen on 8 December after years of work.

On the quays of the Seine, just below, and on the rooftops, hundreds of ballet dancers and Paris firefighters performed choreographed routines. On the reconstructed Arrow, the surprise was a hunchbacked silhouette resembling Quasimodo, the main character in Victor Hugo's Notre Dame de Paris. In another highlight, the star "Étoile" dancer of the Paris Opera Guillaume Diop performed on a Paris rooftop.

 The big surprise was Gojira, a French metal band with international appeal, who teamed up with Franco-Swiss opera singer Marina Viotti to perform "Ah! ça ira", a French revolutionary song with a mannequin of headless Marie Antoinette after her guillotine execution for good measure.

Franco-Malian R&B superstar Aya Nakamura, the most listened to French-speaking singer in the world, mixed two of her hits, 'Pookie', 'Djadja' and a legendary Charles Aznavour song performed by the Republican Guard, 'For me Formidable', to mark the centenary of her birth.

The rings of the Eiffel Tower were illuminated as delegations waved to the crowds from their boats on the Seine. The anecdote of the ceremony was the mysterious figure strolling along the tops of the French capital. Dressed in a cloak, he moved across the tiles of the buildings, but who is he? The Assassin's Creed reference was obvious. During his visit to the museum, the mysterious figure discussed French films and cult books.

In an early afternoon clip, Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa had disappeared, a reference to the 'robbery of the century' of 21 August 1911. But it reappeared in a sequence featuring the Minions, an animated film directed by Kyle Balda and Pierre Coffin. It is the meeting of two French artistic worlds.

From Olympe de Gouges to Simone Veil, via Gisèle Halimi, ten statues paying tribute to French women pioneers in their respective fields emerged from the Seine on Friday. 

According to the organisers, the aim of the sequence was to highlight these women, some of whom are not well-known, and to ensure that their statues become an integral part of the French landscape. French mezzo-soprano Axelle Saint-Cirel, dressed in the colours of the French flag, sang La Marseillaise to accompany this surprise.

The emblematic figure of French rap appears as King for the 'Sportivité' painting. One of the most prominent opera stars of his generation, Jakub Józef Orliński, countertenor and breakdancer, performed an aria from Jean-Philippe Rameau's opera 'Les Indes Galantes' at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics.

With her angelic voice, she sang the aria 'Viens Hymen', which celebrated love and togetherness in an artistic tableau entitled 'Sportiness', featuring urban sports such as breakdancing, skateboarding and BMX. Major figures from French history (Kings Dagobert, Henri IV, Louis XIV, Napoleon and even the hero of the Second World War, General De Gaulle) performing unexpected tricks.

To celebrate in Parisian style, DJ Barbara Butch played a selection of the most famous French songs. There also was a fashion show featuring the creations of Kevin Germanier.

One of the most moving moments was when singer Juliette Armanet performed John Lennon's song ‘Imagine’, which became a hymn to peace. Set up on a barge on the Seine and accompanied by pianist Sofiane Pamart, the artist was far from her usual register.

From the Austerlitz Bridge, a horse carrying the Olympic flag and ridden by an all-metal rider glided down the river. Archival images of the Olympic and Paralympic Games were projected on the screens, as if to link the present to the past, but also to its future, with this futuristic metallic silhouette that defies the law of gravity.

Meanwhile, the flags of the various delegations were unfurled on the Trocadero. Accompanied by the Republican Guard, the horseman landed as if by magic at the foot of the Eiffel Tower and solemnly carried the Olympic flag, surrounded by athletes from all over the world. Olympic wings were placed at the feet of the Iron Lady for the occasion. 

The flag was raised as the Olympic anthem was sung by 60 members of the Radio France Choir and 90 musicians from the Orchestre National de France. This song is the oldest symbol of the modern Olympic Games and was composed by Spiros Samara.

The President of the Organising Committee of the Olympic Games, Tony Estanguet, addresses the crowd. In his speech, he thanked the "lovers of the Games". Despite the rain, he reminded everyone that 'France and the Olympic Games are a great love story.

In his speech, Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee, hailed Paris as the first Olympic Games to fully respect 'gender parity in competition'. 

French President Emmanuel Macron then declared the Paris Olympic Games open, with the Eiffel Tower in the background, uttering the protocol formula that officially marks the opening of the Olympic fortnight.

"I declare the Paris Games open, the 33rd Olympic Games of the modern era," he declared during the opening ceremony, after speeches by Tony Estanguet, patron of the Paris 2024 organisation, and Bach.

Florent Manaudou and Mélina Robert-Michon, flag bearers for the French delegation, took the Olympic oath. The ceremony continued with the ceremonial opening of the Games. The flame was carried into the cauldron by the last torchbearer.

Zinedine Zidane held the flame on the Trocadero stage before handing it over to Rafael Nadal. The Olympic flame disappeared after being carried by the Spanish tennis player as the Eiffel Tower was illuminated by thousands of lights in a mesmerising spectacle.

American tennis player Serena Williams carried the Olympic flame on a boat throough the river accompanied by Nadal, gymnast Nadia Comaneci and American spinner Carl Lewis. Cerrone's 'Supernature' set the rhythm for their parade.

The four superstars docked near the Louvre and the Olympic flame was carried by former French tennis player Amélie Mauresmo. Tony Parker, former NBA great, jogged with the Olympic flame in front of the Louvre Pyramid with Amélie Mauresmo.

Parker passed the flame to the Paralympic flag bearers, Alexis Hanquinquan and Nantenin Keita. The Olympic cauldron was lit in the Tuileries by Marie-José Pérec and Teddy Riner, the last torchbearers for the 2024 edition.

Singer Céline Dion sang Edith Piaf's 'Hymne à l'amour' under the Olympic rings in the Iron Lady. Meanwhile, the Olympic cauldron rose into the Paris sky. It had been four years since the singer had taken to the stage, and it was the perfect finale to an impressive and innovative Opening Ceremony.

The 56-year-old Canadian had already performed at the opening ceremony of the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. Few would have imagined her in Paris when they saw the shocking footage in the recent documentary 'Je suis: Céline Dion', in which she appears shaken by convulsions, overcome by pain, in the midst of a crisis because she suffers from Stiff Person Syndrome (SPR).

This rare neurological pathology, for which there is no known cure, has forced her to give up her career. Dion has a special bond with France, where he exploded onto the scene with the album 'D'eux' (1995), written by French composer Jean-Jacques Goldman.

The ceremony was no walk in the park, but the spectacle was well worth a few drops of rain, even a downpour. As soon as the flame was lit and the applause died down, the brave spectators who had gathered in the Parc de La Courneuve, despite the fury of the elements, were full of praise.