Paris Olympics kicks off

After a global pandemic and in the shadow of at least three ongoing wars, the 2024 Paris Olympic Games kicked off Friday with a spectacular open-air opening ceremony.

The ambitious celebration was unlike any other in the 128-year history of the modern Olympiad, reports NBC.

Instead of parading inside a stadium, around 10,500 athletes sailed in a 3.5-mile flotilla of 94 boats down Paris’ iconic Seine River. The uniformed athletes cheered and waved to spectators, keeping the mood boisterous despite the rainy skies.

The ceremony featured a series of high-energy song-and-dance acts, including a cabaret medley from Lady Gaga (who belted out the 1960s-era tune "Mon Truc En Plumes"), a performance from Mali-born French pop star Aya Nakamura, and a tribute to "Les Misérables." Meanwhile, a hooded and masked figure darted across the rooftops of Paris with the Olympic torch in tow.

Following the procession of boats, flagbearers from every competing nation lined up at the foot of the Eiffel Tower for an orchestral rendition of the Olympic anthem, the raising of the Olympic flag, and the lighting of the massive Olympic cauldron.

The final musical number of the ceremony came from Céline Dion, who performed "Hymne A L’Amour," a song made famous by the legendary French singer Édith Piaf. It was Dion's first public performance since she announced her diagnosis of stiff-person syndrome in 2022.

Tony Estanguet, the president of the Paris 2024 committee and a three-time canoe slalom gold medalist, addressed the athletes in introductory remarks and praised them for their dedication.

Gloomy skies notwithstanding, the ceremony was a blockbuster return for the summer sporting festival, which is hosting spectators for the first time in eight years after the coronavirus-plagued days of Tokyo in 2021.

France heightened security ahead of the games, following a terrorist attack in Moscow in April. The raised threat level “is absolutely warranted,” said François Heisbourg, one of France’s top terrorism experts.

Not all events will be held in the capital, with sailing in the southern Mediterranean city of Marseille; handball and basketball in Lille, to the north; and surfing posted on the other side of the world, on the French Polynesian island of Tahiti.

A 13-member contingent represent Bangladesh in the Paris Olympics 2024, the biggest sports extravaganza on earth, scheduled to be held in France's capital Paris from July 26 to August 11.

Some 20,714 athletes from 206 countries around the world will compete in 32 sports disciplines in the battle for 329 medals.

Ace archer Mohammad Sagor Islam, who directly qualified for the Paris Olympics, carried the Bangladesh national flag in the march past the opening ceremony.

The Bangladesh contingent, which consists of five athletes and eight officials, will compete in four disciplines of sports: archery, athletics, swimming, and shooting.

M. Sagor Islam will compete in archery, M Samiul Islam Rafi and Sonia Khatun in swimming, and Bangladesh's fastest man, Imranur Rahman, in athletics.