Thomas Jolly inaugurated the Paris 2024 Games in grand style. Delivering a grandiose and erudite score of Parisian and French symbols, the young Norman delivered a historically unprecedented Olympic Games opening ceremony that will immediately make history.
“Forever first.”
This term is as fitting for the French team’s first Olympic medallists, from day 1 of the competition (vs. day 4 in Tokyo), as it is for the director of the Olympic Games opening ceremony and his faithful acolytes in charge of music, costumes and choreography.
The exploits of Shirine Boukli, France’s first official medal (bronze in judo) and Luka Mkheidze (silver in judo ), and swimmer Léon Marchand, winning a first gold medal in the 400 m medley on the second day, were just some of the challenges facing Thomas Jolly and Thierry Rebould.
Hailed by international media such as Spanish sports newspaper Marca as “the greatest ceremony in history” and the British tabloid The Sun as “Seine-sational” by the IOC, the opening ceremony, which took place in the City of Light on Friday July 26 at 7.30pm, was a grandiose performance showcasing the wealth of French know-how.
In France, the event broadcast by France 2 attracted 22 million viewers, the second-highest audience ever in France, in front of the Football World Cup final between Les Bleus and Argentina in December 2022.
. “If you’re going to get out of the stadium, you might as well get out of the frame,” said the young director. He added : “I chose to shake up the established order, interweaving show time, the athletes’ parade and protocol to create an unprecedented structure.”
In addition to the pouring rain, there were moments of grace and intense emotion, such as Céline Dion singing the Edith Piaf’s Hymn to love from the top of the Eiffel Tower, after a four-year absence for health reasons, or an array of Olympic athletes relaying the Olympic flame, including this poignant exchange between former soccer star Zinedine Zidane and tennis player Rafael Nadal, 14-time defending champion of the French Open.
Despite a wealth of ingenuity and an emphasis on representing French culture in all its diversity, the event did not fail to provoke some controversy on the web, particularly with certain international delegations.
A challenge presented as impossible
Addressing the police forces mobilized for the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, French President Emmanuel Macron hailed the decisive role of homeland security in the success of the event: “What you did yesterday, everyone seven years ago told us it was impossible to do […] all the experts who told us it’s criminal madness, it will never be done, we won’t make it, it’s impossible.
Thomas Jolly ‘s masterly performance of “twelve tableaux on all the emblems of the city of Paris and the senses they produce” lasted nearly 3 hours 15 minutes.
A feat worthy of a top-level sportsman, he mobilized so many people (18,000 only for the ceremony) and so much energy.
All with one mission in mind: to ensure that the festivities are beautiful, popular and, above all, that the gigantic Olympic bashing that raged in the country in the run-up to the competition is forgotten.
Paris 2024 opening ceremony from the Austerlitz bridge © France TV
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Featured Photo: © Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Committee
