Inverted Olympic flag at opening ceremony

The rain-soaked Paris Olympics 2024 opening ceremony saw the Olympic flag lifted upside down, which was embarrassing. The clip shows the Olympic flag being hoisted wrongly and the five coloured rings of the insignia in the wrong places.  A veiled rider brought the flag into Trocadero after galloping down the Seine on a metal horse with an Olympic rings cape, The Independent said. She finished her ride at the ceremony’s end and handed it over to be hoisted. Netizens slammed the opening ceremony organisers over the mistake.

Lady Gaga, Celine Dion, and French-Malian singer Aya Nakamura performed at a Paris Olympics opening ceremony with dancers, an opera diva, and a heavy metal band to celebrate French tradition with a modern twist. The first outdoor inauguration ceremony on the Seine was drenched by rain that gloomy Paris. The fast-moving, multi-location ceremony, directed by famed French theatrical director Thomas Jolly, was meant to dazzle the global TV audience and those who defied the weather and security to see live.

It is now. World eyes are on us. Open the Games with style!” Macron posted on X while watching the ceremony in a VIP stand with other dignitaries. Lady Gaga sang “Mon truc en plumes” (“My Thing With Feathers”), a Zizi Jeanmaire classic, from behind a fan of pom-poms held by her dancing troop, a tribute to her love of French culture. Gaga posted on social media after the performance, “It is my supreme honour to sing for you and cheer you on,” stating she always “felt a very special connection with French people and singing French music.”

Franco-Malian R&B diva Aya Nakamura, the most-listened-to French-speaking singer in the world, sang a medley of her hits “Pookie” and “Djadja” with Charles Aznavour’s “For me Formidable” 100 years after his birth. French far right extremists and racists on social media reacted to rumours she will appear. She performed with French Republican Guard musicians, a stunning symbol. After recovering from a severe illness, Canadian singer Celine Dion sang from the Eiffel Tower at the ceremony’s finale with a stirring rendition of Edith Piaf’s “Hymn to Love”.

‘World united’
Jolly said the 12 segments of the ritual showed a country rich in “diversity”, “inclusive”, “not one France but several Frances”, and “the whole world united”. He has the support of famous novelist Leila Slimani and screenwriter Fanny Herrero, who wrote “Dix pour cent” (“Call My Agent”). A Paris rooftop performance by Paris Opera “etoile” dancer Guillaume Diop was another highlight. French fans were thrilled when heavy metal band Gojira broke out onto platforms on the Conciergerie, where Marie-Antoinette was confined during the French Revolution.

They sang “Ah! Ca ira” with a headless Marie Antoinette mannequin after her guillotine execution. Their odd collaborator was French-Swiss mezzo-soprano Marina Viotti, who enjoys metal as well as classical. Polish counter-tenor and break-dancer Jakub Jozef Orlinski performed an aria from Jean-Philippe Rameau’s “Les Indes Galantes” using both talents. A footage showing French actor Djamel Debbouze carrying the Olympic flame into the Stade de France, only to learn he should have gone to the river, started the four-hour celebration.

He takes the torch on an underground journey through Paris with French football legend Zinedine Zidane and gives it to a group of children who are instructed by a mysterious masked person who passes it on to the last relay for the cauldron.

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