Olympics-A parade on the Seine, Lady Gaga and rain mark start of Games

By Richa Naidu, Juliette Jabkhiro and Amy Tennery

PARIS (Reuters) -French President Emmanuel Macron declared the Olympic Games open on Friday after a soaking wet ceremony in which athletes were cheered by the crowd along the Seine, dancers took to the roofs of Paris and Lady Gaga sang a French cabaret song.

A fleet of barges took the competitors on a 6 km-stretch of the river alongside some of the French capital’s most famous landmarks, as performers recreated some of the sports to be showcased in the Games on floating platforms.

More than 10,500 athletes will compete at the Olympics, 100 years since Paris last staged the Games. Competition started on Wednesday and the first of the 329 gold medals will be awarded on Saturday.

It was the first time that an opening ceremony has taken place outside a stadium, adding to the headaches for a vast security operation, just hours after a sabotage attack on the high-speed TGV rail network caused travel chaos across France.

“I invite everybody: dream with us. Like the Olympic athletes, be inspired with the joy that only sport can give us. Let us celebrate this Olympic spirit of living in peace,” International Olympics Committee President Thomas Bach said as the ceremony came to an end at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.

A giant plume of blue, white and red smoke, resembling the French flag, was sent high above a bridge over the Seine at the start of the ceremony as part of a show that included many postcard-like depictions of France, including a huge cancan line performed by Moulin Rouge dancers on the banks.

A more modern image of the country was on display when French-Malian pop star Aya Nakamura, the most-listened to French female singer in the world, sang some of her biggest hits, accompanied by the French Republican Guard’s army choir.

Nakamura’s performance drew some of the ceremony’s biggest cheers. Rumours of her inclusion had sparked a row over French identity, with supporters saying said she represented the vibrancy of modern-day France while her detractors saying her music owes more to foreign influences than French.

POURING RAIN

While the celebration of French culture, fashion and history was warmly cheered by many of the 300,000 spectators lining the river, hundreds were seen leaving early as the rain fell.

“It was good other than the rain, it was nice, it was different, instead of being in a stadium being on the river, so that’s always a good thing – interesting, unique,” said Avid Pureval, 34, who came to the Games from Ohio.

“Once you’re wet, it’s fine,” he said. Still, he was heading back to his hotel after the French boat passed.

“It would have been better with sun,” said Josephine, from Paris, sitting beside her 9-year-old daughter and who paid 1,600 euros ($1,736) for her seat.

With many world leaders and VIPs present, the ceremony was protected by snipers on rooftops. The Seine’s riverbed was swept for bombs, and Paris’ airspace was closed.

Some 45,000 police and thousands of soldiers were deployed in a huge security operation in Paris for the ceremony. Armed police patrolled along the river in inflatable boats as the armada made its passage along the Seine.

MONA LISA

The torchbearer who will light the Olympic flame, their identity concealed, made appearances throughout the show. At first seen jumping on the roofs of Paris, they were later filmed walking through the Louvre museum’s empty corridors, in which – for the show – Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa had supposedly disappeared.

France’s La Marseillaise anthem rang out as the parade passed by the Grand Palais, before the show paid tribute to women who made French history, including former minister Simone Veil.

At the start of the parade, applause erupted for the Greek boat – the first delegation, by tradition – and there were even bigger cheers for the boat that followed, carrying the refugees’ team. The French, U.S. and Ukrainian delegations also got loud cheers.

The show began by depicting a fictional scenario in which the arrival of the Olympic flame went awry.

French soccer superstar Zinedine Zidane was shown running across Paris to bring the flame, in a pre-recorded video that included him taking it onto the metro.

The two most decorated athletes in the Games’ history, Michael Phelps and Martin Fourcade, unveiled the gold, silver and bronze medals.

At one point, there was a live crossover to the early morning welcome ceremony at the surfing venue, 16,000 km away in the Pacific island of Tahiti.

ISRAEL DELEGATION

Since the last Games – the Winter Olympics held in Beijing in 2022 – wars have erupted in Ukraine and Gaza, providing a tense international backdrop. France is at its highest level of security, though officials have repeatedly said there is no specific threat to the opening ceremony or the Games.

Israeli competitors are being escorted by elite tactical units to and from events and given 24-hour protection throughout the Olympics due to the war in Gaza, officials say.

The Israel delegation got some boos, but also a lot of cheers, as it sailed by spectators, Reuters reporters saw. Chants of “Palestine! Palestine! Palestine!” rose from the crowd as the boat passed.

Macron, who won a second mandate two years ago, had hoped the Olympics would cement his legacy. But his failed bet on a snap legislative election has weakened him and cast a shadow over his moment on the international stage.

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(Writing by Ingrid Melander; Additional reporting by John Irish, Sybille de la Hamaide, Amy Tennery, Kane Wu, Geert de Clercq, Julien Pretot, Elizabeth Pineau, Michel Rose, Tassilo Hummel, Juliette Jabkhiro, Zhifan Liu, Helen Reid, Layli Foroudi and Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Ken Ferris, Angus MacSwan, Gareth Jones and Alison Williams)