LADY GAGA, HEAVY metal and a rare performance by Celine Dion helped to open the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
A total of 85 boats carried the team delegations on a four-mile journey through the centre of Paris, with more than 300,000 spectators lining the banks of the River Seine.
Among these were Team Ireland, lead by flag bearers Shane Lowry of Offaly and Sarah Lavin from Limerick.
A contingent of 26 was present, including taekwondo athlete Jack Wooley, boxers Michaela Walsh, Jenny Lehane and Daina Moorhouse, and sailors Finn Lynch and Eve McMahon; coaches and support staff. Ireland shared boat #36 with Iraq.
Sarah Lavin and Shane Lowry the flagbearers as Team Ireland make their voyage down the River Seine during the Olympic Opening Ceremony.
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The athletes followed musical performances ranging from heavy metal to Lady Gaga surrounded by a plume of pink feathers and backing dancers, in a nod to different periods of France’s musical history.
As the ceremony moved down the river, it paid tribute to the country’s culture and history including Les Miserables, a popular novel by Victor Hugo, which has subsequently been turned into a musical.
The celebrations were met with heavy rain with performers, including pianist Alexandre Kantorow, braving heavy showers during their performances.
The boats later headed under a bridge which, filled with performers, had been transformed into a temporary catwalk.
Among those highlighted during the journey to bring the torch to its destination were a horsewoman, armoured in the shiniest of metal, riding an equally metal horse.
And the Olympic flame was lit by French athletes Marie-Jose Perec (left) and Teddy Riner.
Celine Dion gave her first live public performance since revealing she is living with stiff person syndrome (SPS), with a spectacular rendition from the Eiffel Tower.
The superstar closed the ceremony from the first stage of the French landmark, singing Edith Piaf’s L’Hymne A L’Amour.
Written by Eoghan Dalton and posted on TheJournal.ie
They had nothing on naked painted blue man served on a platter of fruit.
@Stuart: yea, they left that one out. That was absolutely mental stuff. A confused mess of a ceremony. It was all over the place. Whatever happened to lighting the Olympic torch & having the event in the stadium?? Instead they had a giant ballon.. Don’t get me started and that white knuckle boat trip that Nadal, Karl Lewis & Serena had to take..