Celine Dion, Lady Gaga and 45,000 police officers ready for the greatest show on earth
By Rob Harris
Olympics organisers have promised the greatest opening ceremony ever staged despite a heightened security environment as Paris prepares a gala celebration to dazzle the world for the third Games in its history.
On the water, perched on rooftops and operating AI-augmented cameras, French security forces will lock down the French capital during the opening on Saturday morning, aiming to prevent an incident that would ruin the biggest show on earth.
While previous opening ceremonies have taken place in Olympic stadiums, Paris’ grand opening will be held on the river Seine, with about 7000 athletes transported down a six-kilometre stretch of the river in 94 boats.
Men’s hockey captain Eddie Ockenden, in his fifth Olympics, and French-born canoe slalom star Jessica Fox – who won gold in Tokyo three years ago – will lead around 80 Australian athletes who have chosen to take part. Many of the 460-member team will opt for an early night ahead of the first day of competition.
Some 326,000 people – many who have paid almost $4500 for a ticket – will watch from stands on the banks and on bridges, along with a global television audience estimated to reach 1.5 billion. About 3000 performers are due to take part in 12 shows on riverbanks, bridges and monuments, perhaps including Notre-Dame cathedral, along the way.
Celine Dion and Lady Gaga are among the stars to have arrived in Paris before an Olympic opening ceremony expected to match that of London 2012. Dion, 56, who has not performed live since March 2020 because of stiff-person syndrome, a rare neurological disorder, is expected to make a comeback at the ceremony.
Australian gymnast Emily Whitehead poses for a photographer as armed security personnel walk by in Paris.Credit: Getty
Aya Nakamura, 29, the Franco-Malian singer invited by President Emmanuel Macron to perform at the ceremony, is rumoured to be planning to sing Édith Piaf’s classic Hymne à l’amour, a move that far-right politicians within France have denounced as an insult to the national culture. Nakamura has described her critics as racists.
The three-hour-and-45-minute ceremony is designed to form a narrative around the themes of love and a “joyful, inclusive vision of France, full of shared humanity”, according to Thomas Jolly, the Shakespeare-mad French director behind the ceremony.
He said he and his advisers, including Leïla Slimani, 42, the Franco-Moroccan novelist whose works include Lullaby, wanted to rewrite French history to underline its “diversity” and “tolerance”.
The figures tell only part of the story of the enormous effort made to protect the river parade along the Seine. About 45,000 police and paramilitary officers will be on duty, along with 10,000 soldiers and 20,000 private security guards. Among the spectators along the banks of the river will be Macron, who will be joined by more than 100 heads of state and government. All at a time when France is on its maximum alert for terror attacks.
A no-fly zone 150 km wide around Paris will be enforced an hour before the ceremony starts at 7.30pm local time, grounding or diverting all aviation at one of Europe’s busiest airport hubs.
“This opening ceremony is the most extraordinary thing a country can do,” Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin told BFM television on Wednesday, adding: “As you know, in the current context of geopolitics and terrorism, it’s an enormous challenge.”
Since last week, central Paris has been turned into a fortress, with metal barriers sealing off both banks of the Seine. Only residents and people with hotel bookings are allowed into the high-security area.
Police snipers are set to be positioned on every high point along the route, scanning for potential shooters. The assassination attempt on US presidential candidate Donald Trump on July 14 helped focus minds, officials said this week.
Navy boats with divers and sonar have been scanning the depths of the water for explosives or infiltration attempts, while all boats in the parade and others moored along the route have been screened by sniffer dogs and bomb disposal experts.
The French army will run anti-drone operations, using the country’s most sophisticated electronic warfare technology. Drones operated by security forces will also be a key tool to monitor suspicious activity, while AI-augmented cameras - new technology being deployed controversially in France for the first time - will scan the crowds.
“Security of 100 per cent does not exist,” Frederic Pechenard, a former head of the French police force, told AFP. “The bigger and more difficult and complex a site is, the higher the risks are.”