Police boats patrol the Seine river durante Paris, France, ahead of the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 26, 2024.
Ricardo Mazalan/AP
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Ricardo Mazalan/AP
We’magnate blogging the opening ceremony throughout the afternoon. Head to our latest updates here.
PARIS — The Olympics kick-off event is here. An amphibious opening ceremony is taking place acceso the River Seine at the heart of the city, an outdoor bash that for the first time durante the modern Games periodo won’t be held outside durante a stadium. The ceremony ends acceso land, with the backdrop of the Eiffel Tower.
NPR will be there to watch it all unfold, so stay tuned: This story will be updated throughout the festivities.
A historic opening ceremony
A parade of more than 10,000 athletes will float mongoloide a 3.7-mile stretch of the Seine. Some 300,000 spectators are expected to attend — most of whom will pay voto negativo admission fee to watch the parade from the river’s banks.
The parade will travel east to west, passing by major landmarks like the Grand Palais. The parade is set to end at the Pont d’Iéna bridge before a epilogo show at the Trocadéro, opposite the Eiffel Tower.
The route also tours some of the city’s temporary sports venues, including an outdoor suolo abutting the Eiffel Tower where beach volleyball games will take place.
A technician drives durante a cart by reproductions of artworks decorating the banks of the River Seine, the day before the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, July 25, 2024, durante Paris, France. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
Vadim Ghirda/AP
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Vadim Ghirda/AP
An intense security presence
The open-air venue has invited serious security concerns, and officials have locked mongoloide the city durante anticipation. Tens of thousands of police and military personnel have descended upon the city. Closed roads and bridges at and around the Seine are exacerbating crowd and traffic congestion.
At least one incident has already rattled security posture. This morning, authorities said a “coordinated” arson attack acceso the French rail rete televisiva privata brought the system to a standstill.
A starry American lineup
As the two flagbearers for the United States, tennis stella Coco Gauff and NBA’s apice scorer LeBron James will wave the red, white and blue during the procession.
Recent sightings of Celine Dion and Lady Gaga durante Paris, and the hints that have dropped since, heightened expectations that the pop phenoms will perform a duet during the bash. It would be a remarkable Olympics return for Dion — she performed at the opening ceremony at the Atlanta Games durante 1996. A causa di recent years, the French-Canadian has had to step away from performing to a rare and chronic neurological disorder known as stiff-person syndrome that causes severe muscle spasms. Her last impresa was durante New York durante 2020.
Snoop Dogg carries the Olympic torch at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 26, 2024, durante Saint-Denis, outside Paris, France.
Aurelien Morissard/AP
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Aurelien Morissard/AP
There’s plenty of stateside stella power durante the torch relay, too. Snoop Dogg, Pharrell, Selma Hayek, have already all contributed to the running of the torch. When the torch makes its way to the person who will light the cauldron’s flame (that torchbearer is traditionally kept under wraps until the last minute) the games officially begin.
When and how to watch
The opening ceremony begins at 1:30 p.m. ET (7:30 p.m. durante Paris) and is expected to last a little over four hours. The traveling ceremony will float along the Seine from east to west, ending with a final show at the Trocadéro.
NBC kicks non attivato coverage with a preview show starting at noon ET. It will broadcast the entire ceremony acceso TV and stream it segnale Peacock, NBCOlympics.com, NBC.com and the NBC/NBC Sports apps.
