site.btaParis Olympics Open with Spectacular Ceremony

The 33rd Summer Olympic Games opened in Paris with a spectacular ceremony on Friday night. The show lasted almost four hours and included many elements never seen before.

A unique cauldron shaped like a hot air balloon was lit with the Olympic flame by a pair of three-time Olympic champions, runner Marie-Jose Perec and judoka Teddy Riner, and rose into the sky over the Gardens of the Tuileries.

The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, declared the world's biggest sporting event open.

Lady Gaga sang a song from a cabaret close to the Notre-Dame Cathedral, and early into the show a giant cloud of blue, white and red smoke representing the French national flag was sent high up over a bridge across the Seine.

The ceremony started with a video showing football legend Zinedine Zidane carrying the Olympic torch through Paris, at one point even getting on the Metro with it.

For the first time ever, the Olympics opening ceremony was not held in a stadium. The 206 delegations were transported on 85 boats along a 6 km section of the Seine, passing by some of the most famous landmarks of Paris. The route ended opposite the Trocadero, the esplanade across from the Eiffel Tower.

Fountains in the Seine sent water spraying high into the air as the boats passed by, with the athletes in them waving at the crowd amid massive police presence. The Greek delegation, traditionally leading the procession, was met with enthusiastic applause. The crowd got even noisier when they saw the second boat, which was carrying the team of refugees. The delegation of the host country, France, was the last to sail.

A total of 10,500 athletes, including 46 from Bulgaria, will compete in 32 sports during the Games. In the procession down the river, the Bulgarian flag was carried by boxer Stanimira Petrova and swimmer Lyubomir Epitropov.

Dozens of world leaders are in Paris for the Olympics opening ceremony, among them the President of Bulgaria, Rumen Radev. The Bulgarian officials at the ceremony also include the country's Olympic Committee President Stefka Kostadinova and Youth and Sports Minister Georgi Glushkov, among other sport figures.

Heavy rain was falling almost through the whole ceremony, which caused a parade of athletes in the Trocadero to be cancelled.

The central image in the show was a mysterious torch bearer going past such cultural landmarks of Paris as the Louvre, the Notre-Dame, the Conciergerie and the Pont Neuf.

The musical part of the programme featured international stars Lady Gaga, Aya Nakamura, rapper Rim'K, the heavy metal band Gojira, actors from the musical Les Miserables and performers from the Moulin Rouge cabaret.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi received the Olympic Laurel Award. He became the third winner of this distinction of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

The Olympic flag was raised. IOC President Thomas Bach and French slalom canoeist Tony Estanguet, who is three-time Olympic champion and heads the Organizing Committee for the Paris Olympics, delivered speeches.

Bach said there can hardly be a better place to hold the Olympic Games than Paris, the birthplace of Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games and co-founder of the IOC. "Paris, City of Light [...] Paris, City of Love. Thank you, France, for this magical welcome," Bach said. He noted: "In our Olympic world, there is no 'global south' or 'global north'. We all respect the same rules and each other. In our Olympic world, we all belong. [...] In a world torn apart by wars and conflicts, it is thanks to this solidarity that we can all come together tonight."

The remarkable show was closed by Canadian singer Celine Dion, who gave a comeback performance after a hiatus caused by illness. She sang Edith Piaf's timeless classic "Ode to Love".

Tight security conditions are in place around Paris. Considerable police forces are engaged in protecting public order. About 45,000 police and gendarmerie officers will patrol the city every day until the end of the Games on August 11.