The Paris Olympics 2024 opening ceremony concluded, where more than 10,000 athletes joined a rainy celebration parade along the Seine River, with Céline Dion making a triumphant return to the stage.
It marked the first time the parade of nations took place outside of a stadium. NBC Olympics production president and executive producer Molly Solomon said the 2024 Summer Olympics organizers threw out the “tradition playbook” this year.
LeBron James and Coco Gauff were Team USA’s flag bearers. Snoop Dogg, NBC’s special correspondent, carried the Olympic torch on its final leg. During the ceremony’s final moments, Celine Dion gave a stirring performance as the Olympic cauldron took off in a hot-air balloon over the City of Light.
The star, diagnosed with stiff person syndrome, a neurological disorder, sang Édith Piaf’s Hymne à l’amour on the Eiffel Tower for a global audience of millions in her first live onstage performance since early 2020.
She wrote on Instagram: “I’m honored to have performed tonight for the Paris 2024 opening ceremony, and so full of joy to be back in one of my favorite cities! Most of all, I’m glad to celebrate these fantastic athletes’ stories of sacrifice, determination, pain, and perseverance.
She posted an image of herself making a heart sign with her hands and another of fans carrying a flag with the “o” in her name written using the Games’ rings.
On Friday night, Dion delivered a stirring rendition of the 1950 song accompanied by a pianist, with the Olympics rings above her. Piaf wrote the song to her boxer lover Marcel Cerdan, who died in a plane crash after it was first performed.
