Why the Paris Olympics opening ceremony is set to be the most unique, spectacular and riskiest ever

By Dean Bilton in Paris, ABC News

The River Seine runs for some 777 kilometres but crescendos in the heart of Paris, where it becomes the soul of the city.

The Eiffel Tower emblazons the postcards and the Louvre attracts the daytrippers, but nothing speaks to Parisian culture like the Seine. The waters within, subject of much attention and scrutiny at present, are the symbolic lifeblood of one of the world's great cities and one of Western civilisation's great accomplishments.

It is for that reason that the 2024 Olympic Games will open not in the bellowing Stade de France or through the glittering Champs-Élysées, but along the Seine for a 6km boat ride that will welcome the world to Paris like never before.

This opening ceremony is a startling feat of human ambition, unshackled creativity and meticulous preparation, and yet right up until these final days before showtime, there have been doubts as to whether it could or should go ahead.

The boldest opening ceremony in Games history is also by far the riskiest, and despite the scale of the security operation that has been unfolding through the city for weeks and which will reach unprecedented levels on Saturday morning, nobody can truly forecast with total confidence a seamless event.

But if everything goes as planned - and those in charge of ensuring it does are radiating confidence - this will be an evening Paris will never forget, and arguably the greatest opening ceremony in Olympic history.

Bold ambition in the face of enormous risk

The first strands of the idea to take the 2024 opening ceremony to the Seine can be traced to Buenos Aires in 2018.

The World Youth Olympic Games got underway with the first-ever outdoor opening ceremony, a party through the streets that went off without a hitch and was widely praised as a resounding success.

Among those attending was IOC president Thomas Bach, who says he immediately turned to Tony Estanguet, the head of the Paris 2024 organising committee, and shared a similar vision for his city.

After initial discussions took the ceremony down the Champs-Élysées, eventually thoughts turned to the Seine. In December 2021, after years of planning, discussions and debates with relevant authorities, an official announcement was made.

Somewhere close to 94 boats of athletes will make the 6km journey from the Austerlitz bridge to the banks alongside the Trocadéro, where athletes and spectators will gather in perfect view of the Eiffel Tower on the other side of the river.

Along the way the boats will travel alongside the river's two islands, allowing them a glimpse of Notre Dame Cathedral and Sainte-Chapelle a little further ahead.

As they move beneath the Pont des Arts - the famous Love Lock Bridge - the Louvre will pass by on the right, before the Jardin du Carrousel and Jardin des Tuileries give way to the Place de la Concorde.

The iconic golden sculptures will guide the delegations beneath Pont Alexandre III before they approach the final turn and arrive at their destination, flanked by the Jardins du Trocadéro on one side and the Eiffel Tower on the other.

There the athletes will disembark their boats and gather in a ceremony space within the Trocadéro, flanked by spectators. Paris will glide from sunset into night throughout the estimated four-hour opening ceremony, with elaborate light shows, acrobatics, music and dance performances promised along the Seine and throughout the surrounding region.

Nothing like this has been attempted before, and as a spectacle, it is hard to imagine anything more awe-inspiring.

But getting the right balance between safety and splendour has not been easy, and the scale of the event has been pared back in the years following the ceremony's grand announcement.

These Games are falling at a time of significant global unrest and conflict, and France itself has endured months of political turmoil punctuated by a snap parliamentary election which saw a progressive uprising thwart the nation's far-right party, sparking a number of protests and riots.

Four terrorist plots involving the Games are said to have been foiled already, and a number of incidents in the lead-up to the Olympics have put nerves on edge.

In previous years, tightened security around an opening ceremony of this nature would be imperative. At this moment in history, it is the absolute first priority and greatest concern.

For months organisers had boasted that 600,000 spectators would be able to watch the opening ceremony live in Paris, including tourists and fans from all over the world.

Security concerns forced a reassessment which saw that number nearly cut in half earlier this year. Now the only people who will be able to watch the opening ceremony along the banks of the Seine are specifically invited and vetted locals of areas hosting Olympic events.

Tickets have been offered to those people for free, but there are also expensive and lavish packages to be bought for those who want a front-row seat. For the many thousands of people travelling to Paris from around the world, access to the ceremony will be denied.

Perhaps that gesture will help make amends with the Parisian locals whose lives have been up-ended in preparation for the opening ceremony.

A strict exclusion zone has been set up around the ceremony area for days in the lead-up to the big event, with local residents requiring a QR code to pass through the security perimeter to get to their own homes.

All of it in action is quite a sight to behold.

The fencing around already crowded areas in the heart of Paris makes for heavily guarded choke zones, where frustrated locals fight through confused tourists for the right to access their own homes.

They flash passes or get QR codes scanned by armed police at the barriers, who spend the bulk of their time explaining to others why they are not allowed to get any closer to the river, Eiffel Tower, Trocadero or any number of other landmarks.

The great irony, of course, is in order to celebrate the Seine and its rich significance to Paris, it has been necessary to rip it out of the city entirely for a period. The river has been almost invisible and entirely inaccessible for days.

Much of the rest of Paris has been unaffected by Olympic preparations. Take a left turn down one street and you will be greeted with the city in its purest, most picture-book form.

But a right turn, provided that is in the direction of the river, is a city in lockdown. There is no Olympic grandeur here, only pure self-preservation.

Frequent interruptions weigh down the metro system, with a number of key stations in proximity of the ceremony zone shut entirely. One of an incalculable number of delays forces an entire train to empty due to a bag left briefly unattended several stations away.

It is likely the single biggest security endeavour the Paris police have ever faced. An estimated 47,000 police officers and private agents will be working in the city on that night with fears of terrorism and civil unrest at the forefront.

The airspace around Paris will be shut for six hours on the night, river cruises along the Seine were shut down a week ago, the Eiffel Tower has been closed to visitors for two days and a significant anti-drone protocol will be in place throughout.

If it sounds elaborate, that is because it has to be. Some security experts are still warning against the outdoor ceremony to this day, and it is true that a number of contingencies had been prepared in the event a threat meant a change of course was needed.

Plan B was limiting the outdoor element purely to the Trocadéro and its immediate surrounds. Plan C was taking the whole thing to the Stade de France and resorting to a more traditional Opening Ceremony.

But right from the very top, from President Emmanuel Macron to Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin and everyone else besides, there has been total commitment to Plan A.

And what a plan it is.

'The Seine was a goddess'

The man in charge of creating the most unique Opening Ceremony of all time is artistic director Thomas Jolly.

Jolly, a renowned actor, director and producer of French theatre, was awarded the job of directing the Paris '24 opening ceremony in August 2022 and has spent every waking moment since in dedication to the project.

He has a flair for the elaborate and spectacular, and even within the sphere of conventional theatre is known for pushing creative boundaries to breaking point.

In 2022 he put on a 24-hour Shakespearean tetralogy, combining Richard III and Henry VI into a marathon production that featured audience members napping in corridors and breaking off for their own conversations and snack breaks. It was a resounding hit.

The hope throughout that project was for the audience to "share an adventure", Jolly recently told Vogue UK. That sense of community, of art working as a force for unity and in creation of a collective experience, is what he is hoping to take to the opening ceremony.

The show will extend from the river to other key nearby areas of Paris and will tell stories of Paris's history, all with the city's inclusivity and multicultural roots at the centre.

Maude Le Pladec, the dance director chosen by Jolly and the organising committee to bring the vision to life, says the cultural mix of her troupe "represents the part of France I love".

Of course, the Seine itself, a rich source of inspiration for artists and creatives from Paris and abroad for centuries, plays its part as one of Jolly's critical muses.

"The Seine was a goddess," he told Vogue UK.

"The Seine is a woman who resists a violent man. That's a very big symbol, and one I'm going to use because it makes the river a female force of resistance."

No stone has been left unturned in preparing this ceremony. Tests have been run to determine how many dancers each bridge could safely hold, and there are contingencies in place for almost any conceivable weather event - current forecasts suggest an evening shower or two may be on the cards.

Any details more specific than that are being kept closely under wraps. As always at these events, the element of surprise is crucial.

The secrecy has helped fuel the rumours. Is Lady Gaga in town? Has Celine Dion been booked? Surely Daft Punk makes sense?

Jolly's lips are sealed - "it will be very meaningful for the artists that will perform" is the best you can get out of him.

The first official dress rehearsal was delayed by several weeks due to poor weather and high tides in the river, but was marked down as a success once it was completed in mid-June. Another one went ahead last Saturday, less than a week before the big event.

All of it will add up to the biggest, most elaborate and longest opening ceremony the Games has ever seen - which brings with it its own set of unique problems.

For athletes, the ceremony is a significant investment of time and energy on the eve of the biggest moment in many of their careers. The decision to take part in this ceremony is one that will weigh on each individual athlete, but do not expect to see any of Australia's champion swimmers - for whom competition begins the day after the ceremony - on the boat.

"The issue for athletes, and it is understandable, is it is almost an eight-hour commitment, particularly for athletes who have already started their competition such as the rugby sevens players, or the swimmers who start the following day," AOC chief executive Matt Carroll said earlier this year.

"We will work with the sports and athletes, and it will be their decision. A lot of athletes are keen about it obviously, because it is a fantastic part of being at an Olympics.

"But they are all very mindful they're there to do a job and compete, and do as best as they possibly can."

From Saturday morning, local time, in Paris, the Olympic Games will be about medals won and lost, dreams realised and crushed, records broken and glory seized.

But on the night before, Paris is a party town. The epicentre of European culture, the city of love, brought to life by a unique celebration of what makes it special.

All upon the River Seine, bronzed by the fading light of a Parisian sunset.

- ABC