Paris Olympics 2024: Opening Ceremony live updates and news

The 2024 Paris Olympics opening ceremony has wrapped up with a flying cauldron and a performance from iconic songstress Celine Dion.

If the 1992 lighting of the cauldron at the Barcelona is considered the greatest of all time when Antonio Rebello shot a flaming arrow to start the Games, a floating cauldron in Paris is something else again.

When 400m athletics great Marie-Jose Perec and judoka star Teddy Riner lit a cauldron that was sent skyward by a balloon, it floated across the Paris sky as Celine Dion’s vocals soared from the Eiffel Tower. And there it hovered to be seen across the Parisian skies.

It was a remarkable ending to a night of mixed fortunes. The rain forced many fans to scurry to the exits, but for those who stayed they were treated to a wonderful - and at times - weird display of music, art and theatre from some of the world’s most famous artists.

The athletes’ parade in boats on the Seine was a mixed bag, as parades go, they can at times be tiresome and this was no different. But it would cut away to some of the absorbing acts that kept the action going. It was again far too long but the cauldron was the highlight of the night, preceded by an extraordinary laser show on the Eiffel Tower.

It’s now time for the Games to begin.

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Originally published as Paris Olympics 2024: Opening Ceremony live updates and news