PARIS — They said it could not be done, and for an hour on Friday evening it seemed the rain might agree. But by the time the cauldron — a ring of flame beneath a tethered balloon — rose above the Tuileries Gardens, Paris had pulled off the most ambitious opening ceremony in Olympic history: not in a stadium, but on the Seine itself.
Some 6,800 athletes from 205 delegations sailed six kilometres down the river on a flotilla of boats, past the Louvre, Notre-Dame and the Eiffel Tower, cheered by more than 300,000 spectators lining the quays and bridges — the largest audience ever to watch an opening ceremony in person.
The show, directed by theatre artist Thomas Jolly, scattered its set pieces across the city: Lady Gaga on the riverbank, a metal horse galloping down the Seine, and finally Céline Dion, singing from the Eiffel Tower in her first performance since revealing her illness. One tableau — a riverside bacchanal featuring drag artists — has since drawn complaints from some religious groups and a defence from the organisers.
Security, the great pre-Games anxiety, held. Some 45,000 police and soldiers sealed the riverbanks, and the ceremony passed without serious incident despite a coordinated arson attack on the rail network hours earlier.
The Olympics that promised to bring the Games back to the city have begun exactly as advertised. Now the sport must live up to its overture.
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