The Paris Olympics opening ceremony: Here’s everything that happened during the event

5:35 p.m.

That’s how it’s done

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Put that opening ceremony in the Louvre. It was a masterpiece.

– Robyn Doolittle

5:35 p.m.

The marks of an impactful Olympics opening ceremony

Not sure about everyone else, but between the return of Celine Dion singing like that; the floating cauldron; the parade of joyful athletes; Serena Williams, Nadia Comaneci, Zinedine Zidane and Rafael Nadal with the Olympic torch; the trippy Eiffel Tower laser light show; the audacious performances; the bumping music; the wild fashions; and the heartstring-tugging commercials, I am feeling inspired to push through obstacles and do something sporty, wear something incredible, go dancing, and visit Paris as soon as I humanly can. (Meanwhile, what I’ve actually been doing: sitting on my couch, brunching on a stale bag of tortilla chips in a pair of shorts I bought on a recent supermarket run and a T-shirt from a previous decade.)

Here’s to a good, safe Olympics for all. Let the Games begin.

– Marsha Lederman

5:30 p.m.

Celine Dion finally takes the stage in much awaited appearance

And that’s a big cheer here at the Paris fan zone for Celine. At least among those still here. Not many.

– Paul Waldie

Celine, performing in public again, doing Edith Piaf in the rain under the lights of the Eiffel Tower. Oh yeah: It’s all coming back to her now.

– Adrian Lee

Celine in full voice and sparkling gown, on the Eiffel Tower under the Olympic rings. Mon Dieu; you could not possibly write a better moment than this.

– Marsha Lederman

5:25 p.m.

Passing the torch takes its sweet time

This tableau is called Eternité. Seems on the nose.

I can only imagine what it has felt like for Charles Coste, the 100-year-old French Olympian who has been waiting in the rain for all this.

– Adrian Lee

5:15 p.m.

In a sea of celebrities, the world looks for Celine Dion

We’ve got a trippy Eiffel Tower laser light show; Zinedine Zidane, Rafael Nadal, Nadia Comaneci, Serena Williams and Carl Lewis with the Olympic torch; some French disco. But where is Celine Dion? The world awaits.

– Marsha Lederman

5:05 p.m.

Eiffel Tower light show stuns viewers and the rain only livens the night

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It’s hard to get a good look at anything because there are about 20,000 cellphones positioned at the Eiffel Tower light show right now. It’s still spectacular.

It’s raining again but now it’s only adding to vibes. Trocadéro has all-night dance-party vibes right now, between the beat and the green and blue lights. People are jumping and cheering. (You won’t hear from me if Celine comes out soon because I will die. Of joy.)

– Robyn Doolittle

4:40 p.m.

Paris sparkles with energy

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A woman dressed in faux armour has ridden into the stadium on a white horse carrying the Olympic flag, followed by individuals carrying every flag for every country here. She is slowly marching towards the stage as dramatic music pumps through the speakers.

As the screens show:

Faster

Higher

Stronger

Together.

The Canadians start chanting along loudly.

– Robyn Doolittle

4:37 p.m.

Celebrities, they’re just like us

One thing I’ve always liked about the opening ceremony is that you get to see superhuman athletes just stand around and be normal and move at normal human speeds. Seeing shots of competitors and flagbearers like Canadian gold medalist sprinter Andre de Grasse walk around the Trocadéro is like watching jets taxi on the tarmac, and I think that’s fun.

– Adrian Lee

4:35 p.m.

The host country makes its way in

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Here comes France. Huge cheers as our hosts enter the stadium.

– Robyn Doolittle

4:30 p.m.

A rendition of John Lennon’s Imagine and a silver horse take stage

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I ask you: Is it really a huge production that pays tribute to a simplistic kind of world unity if we’re not getting a stripped-down performance of John Lennon’s Imagine? (No. It’s the law.)

The Paris fan zone came to life with Imagine and sang along with Juliette Armanet in perfect English, with all the wooo hooos too.

Speaking of the law, it should be illegal in 2024 to present audiences with a silver horse and not involve Beyoncé. As the robot horse boat races towards the Eiffel Tower, the rain has mercifully stopped. Athletes are shedding their plastic ponchos. People are on their feet. Here we goooooo!

– Adrian Lee, Paul Waldie and Robyn Doolittle

4:25 p.m.

Bridge fashion show does justice to the fashion capital

I was wishing for a non-stop feed of this fashion show on a bridge, which seems to have been going on for quite some time. It’s a very dynamic nod to French fashion. In the brief glimpses we’ve been given, I’ve spotted a model hit the catwalk en pointe, another strutting his stuff on prosthetics, and other spectacular moves. The heels are high, the colours are bright. There are a lot of skin and skin-tight options and much gender-bending.

But watching this dance sequence – ooh la la. This is so joyful, so fun, so beautiful.

Oh, and the fashions are pretty great too.

– Marsha Lederman

4:15 p.m.

Ceremony music mix shows a good time

This megamix of Eurodance songs isn’t just taking me straight back to my school dances – it’s as compelling an argument for a united European Union with full freedom of movement as any (give me more Darude and La Bouche immediately). Also, congrats to the band Europe for making untold royalties whenever the EU wants to play its anthem, The Final Countdown, which I assume is all the time.

– Adrian Lee

4:10 p.m.

Drag Race France stuns at opening ceremony

That last segment was Drag Race France, folks, and they werked that downpour, honey.

– Robyn Doolittle

4 p.m.

Spirits are high despite grey skies and puddles

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People with brooms are scraping water off the Eiffel Tower-shaped stage here at the final. Giant puddles are pooling everywhere. Athletes still seem in good spirits, though.

– Robyn Doolittle

Biggest team cheers in the Paris fan zone: Brazil, Palestine, Tunisia, Ukraine, USA and, yes, France.

So-so for Canada and Britain.

– Paul Waldie

3:40 p.m.

Fans keep energy up in the rain

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Maybe it’s just that time of night or just a mood thing. But as I shelter from the rain under a tree at the fan zone in western Paris, the guy beside me, from Brazil, lights up a joint and shares how he is looking forward to seeing Celine Dion sing.

– Paul Waldie

The Canadians have arrived! And for the record, many walked into Trocadéro dancing. It does seem like some athletes are choosing to skip standing in the rain here, based on the size of the delegations on the boat versus the numbers showing up here. Can’t blame them. Standing in the rain for four hours probably isn’t great.

– Robyn Doolittle

3:33 p.m.

Celine Dion in high spirits

A video of a joyful Celine Dion purportedly preparing to leave her hotel and get to her performance at the opening ceremony is circulating on X. And what a thrill to see her in what appears to be classic-Celine high spirits.

The Canadian icon has not performed live since 2019. In 2022, she announced that she had been diagnosed with stiff-person syndrome. She’s expected to perform Edith Piaf’s L’Hymne à l’amour at the Eiffel Tower, which would also mark her first opening ceremony performance since 1996 in Atlanta, when she sang Power of the Dream. She would shoot to superstardom the year after, with the release of My Heart Will Go On in the film Titanic.

It’s great to see all these athletes from around the world so happy to float down the Seine at this pinnacle moment in their careers, but at this point, I’m mostly hanging in there for this performance. That stilted performance by rapper Rim’K (it’s okay to just acknowledge you need to lip-sync in this kind of production) didn’t do anything for my energy.

– Adrian Lee

3:25 p.m.

Ceremony highlights include torch bearer in a fencing mask carrying Olympic flame into the Louvre

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In one of those prerecorded scenes that seem to be aimed at TV audiences, an unidentified torch bearer in a fencing mask carried the Olympic flame into the Louvre. (Do not try this at home, kids, or at any art museum.)

As a TV viewer, I’m getting glimpses of breaking performances on stages in the river along the route, including some sick bicycle and Double Dutch routines. Would love to see more of this.

French mezzo soprano Axelle Saint-Cirel stood atop the Grand Palais in a flag-like gown for a performance of the French national anthem, La Marseillaise, as the ceremony celebrated French women. Golden statues of female groundbreakers in a number of areas – activists, thinkers, writers, athletes – rose up in the pouring rain.

A highlight among many highlights of this ceremony.

– Marsha Lederman

3:20 p.m.

Snapping selfies with the Eiffel Tower

More and more countries are arriving at Trocadéro. They’re coming up by the Eiffel Tower and then crossing the bridge into the venue. The road is lined with clapping volunteers. Once the athletes arrive, they’re being marshalled around the stage. Many are taking selfies with the Eiffel Tower and their teammates. Some are snagging prime locations along the stage. Meanwhile, the crowd is starting to thin out here at the fan zone in Parc Monceau. We’re down to about half but there’s still lots of enthusiasm. A few Americans started a “USA, USA” chant that was met with polite silence.

– Paul Waldie and Robyn Doolittle

3:23 p.m.

Rain pours down on opening ceremony in Paris

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In the fan zone in western Paris, a few people sing along to La Marseillaise, but the big excitement is for the fly-past as the jets scream overhead. And the rain is now pouring down. Some are calling it a night at the last stop. The vast majority of people are sticking around but there are definitely some empty seats popping up.

– Paul Waldie and Robyn Doolittle

3:02 p.m.

Gojira becomes first-ever heavy metal band to play an Olympic opening ceremony

In the interest of combining two of my focuses in this live blog – the musical performances and the questionable greenness of the Games – I want to belatedly note that the heavy metal band that played amid fire and an array of Marie Antoinettes in an early highlight of the show was Gojira. That marked the first-ever heavy-metal performance during an Olympic opening ceremony, and as it happens, Gojira is a good fit for the Greenest Games: They’re well-known for setting their fiery licks to environmental issues, including marine-mammal preservation and deforestation.

– Adrian Lee

2:55 p.m.

Cheers, and some boos, in the fan zone

The first Olympians are arriving at Trocadéro to cheers from the crowd. Rain isn’t bothering them. They’re waving to the crowd and lots of big smiles. Meanwhile, a few boos in the fan zone as the Israeli team appears on the big screen. But they quickly end with cheers for the Italians.

– Robyn Doolittle and Paul Waldie

2:45 p.m.

Screen goes dark at ceremony’s finale spot

Code red at the finale: One of the big screens has gone down. There are four. I feel like this is a plane engine situation where we can lose one but if another goes down, it’s going to be serious trouble.

– Robyn Doolittle

2:40 p.m.

Steady rain doesn’t stop fans from celebrating

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Lots of steady rain here in a fan zone in Parc Monceau in western Paris. But most people are sticking around amid a few shouts of “sit down.” Some are even dancing.

So far the biggest cheers have been for the Brazilian team. Canada got a decent round of cheers, too.

– Paul Waldie

2:30 p.m.

Opening ceremony performances grow stronger, featuring French singer Aya Nakamura

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The medium-sized line of pink-adorned can-can dancers performing on a strip of pink along the Seine was so small-scale and off-kilter from the scale of the rest of the event, giving the feeling of a halftime show at regular-season NBA games, in which touring old-timey circus performers often come to fill the space, even in the year of our lord 2024. (This is not to shade the icon herself, the bowl-catching Red Panda.)

We went behind-the-scenes of their performance. Read Robyn Doolittle’s story here.

But this ‘Liberte’ section is proving incredible, and not just because I think Do You Hear the People Sing was a high-water mark for contemporary musicals. Also, we saw a powerful representation of women with their heads removed, which of course I assume is less about Marie Antoinette and more a reference to Canadian soccer.

And the Egalite tableau kicks off with the incredible Aya Nakamura performing Pookie and Dja Dja, which despite appearing lip-synced is the most charismatic performance I’ve seen today. (I’m on the record as being a huge sucker for pop songs mixed with marching bands.)

– Adrian Lee

2:15 p.m.

Team Canada makes their way down the Seine River

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Here at Trocadéro, Canadians in the crowd cheered and held up the flag as the Canadian team was announced. President Macron and his wife are among the bigwigs in the crowd. (It’s started raining again if you’re interested, but the current performers are dancing in water so that’s worked out okay.)

– Robyn Doolittle

2 p.m.

Lady Gaga takes the stage with the ceremony’s first musical performance

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I’ll admit I thought this idea – a floating opening ceremony down the Seine – was crazy when I first heard of it. But watching it now, it’s crazy good. (So far, anyway.) You really get a sense of the athletes’ joy and delight. As a viewer, it’s both more visually dynamic than watching a bunch of people walk in. And somehow more personal.

Love the wall of water that acts as a curtain before the barged-in teams show up.

Speaking of curtains, pink feather boas were employed strategically before the big reveal in the first musical performance of the ceremony: Lady Gaga.

“Bonsoir. Bienvenue à Paris,” she shouted before Lady Gaga-ing en français, and at the grand piano.

She’s performing a tightly choreographed version of Mon Truc En Plumes by Zizi Jeanmaire, which is a great fit for this French cabaret portion (reminiscent of her work with Tony Bennett), except for her real iffy French. Emmanuel Macron’s bemused face speaks to that.

Gaga reportedly has been studying French for months. But remember she sang La Vie en Rose – rumoured to be the show-stopping duet with Celine Dion later – in the 2019 film A Star Is Born.

– Marsha Lederman, Adrian Lee and Brad Wheeler

1:55 p.m.

Snoop Dogg takes on the Olympic torch

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We’re going to see a fair few famous faces during the opening ceremony, and I just want to add a note here about an Olympic torch-bearing celebrity that got a lot of buzz earlier today. What’s his name? Calvin Broadus, aka Snoop Dogg. I’d argue there’s no one in rap history who better represents (and who more profited from) the genre’s 50-year transition from dangerous countercultural force into societally accepted cross-cultural commercial juggernaut.

In the 1990s, he was gang-affiliated and charged with first-degree murder (a charge that was dropped); by the 2010s, he was prancing with Psy through the candy-coloured streets of Seoul and hawking Bic lighters on ads with Martha Stewart. In some ways, the marijuana-loving multimillionaire who grew up in the rough neighbourhood of Long Beach, Calif., is just keeping it as real as he can, as the years go on and as his bank account expands. Earning thousands for appearances or endorsements – now that’s nothing but a G thing.

Two years after appearing at the Super Bowl – a curated exhibition of what American culture is today, distilled like pure heroin – the next episode of the charismatic sports lover’s ever-evolving career has arrived.

He’s now reached the absolute pinnacle of the global mainstream, walking the Olympic torch (notably shaped like a blunt, of course) through a Parisian suburb before taking his seat as a “special correspondent” for the rest of the Games on one of America’s biggest TV networks. (He got that NBC job after delivering excitable and viral commentary about a dressage horse that was “cripwalking” like a “gangsta” in 2021; his penchant for earnest virality is likely why he got to run with the torch, too.) Of course he’ll gin-and-juice that for all it’s worth.

And while reports say that the torch was hot, he did not drop it.

– Adrian Lee

1:50 p.m.

Opening ceremony montage strikes a powerful chord

Goosebump alert: a very powerful opening performance piece about athleticism, The Gold Within, featuring Ontario’s first poet laureate Randall Adjei and Canadian Olympian Phylicia George.

“On the path to manifestation, where does your finish line lie?”

The video montage included sporting international greats – including Simone Biles, Michael Phelps, Nadia Comaneci and Muhammad Ali. Plus some tremendous Canadian content – Olympians current and historic, including Steve Nash and Silken Laumann. Even Ben Johnson.

“From human to hero, our time is now.”

Nice work.

– Marsha Lederman

1:30 p.m.

The opening ceremony is officially underway along the Seine River

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The Paris Olympic Games officially kick off with an ambitious opening ceremony along the Seine River and will include a flotilla of 94 barges carrying around 7,000 athletes. It is expected to run for four hours.

The opening ceremony can be viewed live on the CBC’s Paris 2024 website. Viewers can also tune in via the CBC Gem app, which will carry live telecasts of all events during the Olympics.

– Khushy Vashisht

1:20 p.m.

Tennis superstar Serena Williams makes an appearance on the red carpet

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Serena Williams is walking the red carpet and alongside hubby Alexis Ohanian – who is holding an umbrella over her – and their daughter Alexis Olympia (a recent big sister). She’s also doing interviews en français, which she speaks fluently. The tennis GOAT (who is also a four-time Olympic gold medalist) told The Fader in 2016: “One of the reasons I learned French was I wanted to win the French Open, and I wanted to speak French when I won. The second was because, most African countries, the main language outside of their local language is French or English. So I figured: I know English, maybe I can learn French.”

10 minutes to go!

– Robyn Doolittle

1:15 p.m.

Team Canada’s soccer scandals weigh heavy while awaiting the opening ceremony

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Good morning/afternoon/evening from British Columbia, where, like many of my fellow Vancouverites, I am thinking about the 2010 opening ceremony at BC Place and wondering how it might compare to what we’re going to see today. More river, less airlock. If you have time, I highly recommend this informative and laugh-out-loud piece about past opening ceremonies by Cathal Kelly.

Opening ceremonies are big for me; I was in Montreal in 1976, a 10-year-old kid, and I’ll never forget the excitement of that day, especially Queen Elizabeth’s presence. I have a grainy instamatic photo of her somewhere – a tiny speck in a pink suit.

I’m also, like many Canadians, appalled by the revelations regarding our national soccer teams. (Props to Andrew Coyne for his tweet: “Drone the Podium.”)

And I’m contemplating how to break the news to my son, with whom I attended the Copa America quarter-final game that Canada won – and which was truly a life highlight for both of us. What a disgrace. What a shame.

Looking forward to sharing my thoughts on today’s proceedings. À bientôt!

– Marsha Lederman

1:10 p.m.

The ‘Greenest Games’ could have a hard time staying green

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The French do seem to iconically love a petty spat. And as the Olympic-team barges start their historic float down the Seine – the first time in Olympic history that the opening ceremonies won’t take place in a stadium – these Games are kicking off by brazenly scratching at one of Parisians’ biggest contretemps about the whole event: the river itself. It’s been almost a century since swimming in the Seine has been allowed, a rule that makes sense given that raw sewage was pumped directly into it for 50 years.

While the Olympics have prompted a €1-billion-plus rush to clean the river so that swimming events can be held in it, all in the name of what French governments have loudly billed as the Greenest Games, Parisians have groused about these latent (and inadequate, according to recent E. coli reporting) efforts to make the Seine great again. Famously, there was an anonymous (and perfectly Parisian) campaign last month calling for people to poo into the river to protest politicians’ stunt swims: #JeChieDansLaSeine.

From my perch in Toronto, it’s not obvious that driving boats through the river is going to help with hygiene, or keeping things green. According to Plugboats.com, only 31 of the 150 boats are electric – meaning the rest are likely standard-issue diesel-fuelled, which can’t be good for the health of swimmers. Last week, some delegations also revealed that they were unclear as to whether there would be toilets on board – so there’s a chance the Seine may see chie, after all.

Another thing, on the “Greenest Games” of it all: The rooms at Paris’s Olympic Village, where the athletes will be resting after exerting themselves as much or more than anyone else in the world, were not built with air-conditioning systems. I melted down while walking a dog this morning, so I can’t even imagine. While backlash led to the relaxing of rules, so that delegations can now buy AC units or bring their own AC systems on planes from home, that doesn’t help things stay green, either, if you ask me.

And of course you are asking me, so, thank you.

– Adrian Lee

12:50 p.m.

Some notable Canadian athletes will not be attending the opening ceremony

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Not all of Canada’s athletes will be taking part in the opening ceremony. Expect some notable absences when the proceedings get under way, including swimmers Penny Oleksiak, Canada’s most-decorated Olympian with seven medals, and Summer McIntosh, a contender in at least four or five races.

Athletes who compete Day 1 are expected to skip the opening ceremony, which means Canada’s swim team will be a planned no-show as they prepare for several major races on Saturday. Because their sport leads off every Summer Games, the swimmers usually don’t take part, along with soccer players and others whose Games start early.

Breaststroke and medley specialist Sydney Pickrem said even though her two individual races aren’t scheduled until later next week, she plans to stick with the team Friday night, watching things unfold from the Canadian residence at the athletes village.

Canada will contend for three medals at the pool on Saturday, including McIntosh in the 400-metre freestyle, where the last three world record holders will face each other. The men’s and women’s relay teams will also be looking for the podium in the 4x100-metre events.

– Grant Robertson

12:40 p.m.

Rain has paused but Paris weather report is cause for concern

The rain has stopped but the weather report is a nightmare for organizers. There’s a moderate rain flood warning for midnight and nothing but showers before then. 🙃 Reporters have been given an embargoed copy of the program (that means we can’t reveal its contents until after the show has started) but I can tell you I am very stressed for some of these performers. Fingers crossed the worst of it holds off until the show is over.

In other news: I’m stationed at Trocadéro, on the north side of the Seine across from the Eiffel Tower. On the other side, celebrities are walking the red carpet. We saw Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo looking wickedly chic not long ago.

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– Robyn Doolittle

12:10 p.m.

Overcast weather turns into pouring rain at the opening ceremony’s final stop

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It’s grey and overcast in Paris so naturally spectators lining up have brought their umbrellas. But only folding umbrellas will be permitted, Paris police have said. If they don’t fold, they can’t be brought in.

Threatening rain clouds have been hanging over the City of Light all day and with less than two hours to go until the start of the opening ceremony, our luck ran out. Here at Trocadéro – the final stop of the show along the Seine – we are being drenched. So far it’s just the reporters who have shown up early. Fingers crossed it stops in time for the performers.

– Paul Waldie and Robyn Doolittle

11:50 a.m.

How to watch the Olympics opening ceremony live in Canada?

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In Canada, the Paris Games opening ceremony will be telecast and streamed live on CBC’s broadcast network and online platforms.

The opening ceremony can be viewed live on the CBC’s Paris 2024 website. Viewers can also tune in via the CBC Gem app, which will carry live telecasts of all events during the Olympics.

– Akrit Michael

11:30 a.m.

Celine Dion, Lady Gaga rumoured to perform at opening ceremony

Celine Dion’s presence in Paris a few days ahead of the Olympic Games opening ceremony is “not a coincidence,” the French government says.

The country’s sports minister, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, made the comments Wednesday during an interview with French television network TF1, amid a frenzy of speculation about the Canadian superstar’s arrival in the French capital.

“You’ve seen that she was in Paris, it’s not a coincidence,” said Oudéa-Castéra, all smiles, on the set of the show Bonjour la matinale.

On Tuesday, images began circulating on social media showing Dion greeting fans in the streets of the French capital, and American media outlet TMZ reported that the Quebec singer would perform a song during the opening ceremony. Dion hasn’t performed publicly since revealing her diagnosis of stiff person syndrome in December, 2022.

The singer documented her trip to Paris on Wednesday with photos of her visit to the Louvre Museum.

“Every time I return to Paris, I remember there’s so much beauty and joy still to experience in the world,” she wrote on Instagram. “I love Paris, and I’m so happy to be back! Thank you to our wonderful friends at The Louvre!”

Lady Gaga is also rumoured to be performing.

About 3,000 dancers, artists and other athletes will be featured in the opening and closing ceremonies.

– The Canadian Press

11:20 a.m.

Fans line up in overcast weather along the Seine

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People have been lining up to get into the seating area along the Seine for hours. Only ticket holders are allowed access to a zone near the river, and so far the lines have been moving well.

Teresa Schroeder came from Mexico City with three friends to watch the opening ceremony. “It’s such a dream come true,” she said while waiting in line. She’s been planning the trip for a year and is heading to Marseilles tomorrow to watch the sailing competition. “Ever since I was a girl I always wanted to come to the Olympics. And being in Paris, it’s a double shot.”

The overcast weather and slight drizzle was no bother to her. “I have an umbrella. I have everything.”

Chantal Beauvais and her brother Jocelyn Beauvais came from Montreal and brought their flag from the 1976 Olympics. This is their first trip to Paris and they are going all out, with tickets for swimming, diving, rugby, volleyball and the closing ceremony.

“The French are our cousins,” Ms. Beauvais said.

– Paul Waldie

10:30 a.m.

The moments and events to watch for at the Paris Olympics

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After winning 24 medals in Tokyo three years ago – its most in a non-boycotted Summer Games – Canada will enter the 2024 Games in Paris full of hope it can build on that breakout performance.

And whether you live and die with the fluttering fortunes of the Maple Leaf, or simply enjoy the white-hot thrill of competition, the Games of the 33rd Olympiad offer something for everyone. With almost 11,000 athletes competing across 18 days in 32 sports and 329 events, there is almost too much to keep track of.

So with that in mind, here’s a look at the moments and events catching our eye.

– Paul Attfield

10 a.m.

The Team Canada heading to Paris is brimming with a new generation of Olympic athletes

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Team Canada is bringing a revamped attitude into Paris, and the group of athletes embody a new generation of Olympic ambition and confidence. Canada has been on the upswing in the warm sports for a while now, but has managed something novel in recent years – actual depth.

Ten Canadian Olympians to watch in Paris this summer

The first signs emerged in Rio in 2016, where Canada won an unexpected 22 medals, including four gold, then bettered that number in Tokyo in 2021, when it took home 24 medals, including seven gold.

This new depth will be on display in some of the highest-profile events – in the pool, at the track, on the basketball court, and the soccer pitch. But it extends further to judo, sprint canoe and elsewhere, with athletes expecting, rather than hoping, to make the podium.

From podium favourites like Summer McIntosh and Andre De Grasse to world champions like shot putter Sarah Mitton and hammer thrower Ethan Katzberg, the 2024 roster is going into the Games with a new brand confidence.

Read more on the Team Canada athletes heading to Paris.

– Grant Robertson and Rachel Brady

9:30 a.m.

I watched every Olympic opening ceremony I could find. Here’s what makes for the grandest spectacle

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Anyone who’s ever watched an opening ceremony (OC) knows that they all have stories and they are all incomprehensible. For a generation of Canadians, the only way you got that the terrifying inflatable head represented the power of the working class is because Brian Williams told you about it. And it still didn’t make any sense.

More than a billion people are expected to watch today’s opening ceremony. That will once again make it the most widely consumed piece of public art in the world. What is it about the OC that gets everyone from an emo teenager to a sports-agnostic great-grandparent so worked up?

Over the course of a few days, The Globe’s sports columnist Cathal Kelly watched all the OCs – or, at least, as many of them as you can find online. From the lowest lows (Tokyo 2020) to the highest highs (London 2012), he outlines a few things that occurred to him.

Read Cathal’s thoughts on every Olympic opening ceremony in recent years.

– Cathal Kelly

9 a.m.

France train network hit by ‘coordinated acts of malice’ ahead of opening ceremony

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France is confronting a series of attacks on four train lines that caused havoc for hundreds of thousands of commuters on Friday.

Rail company SNCF said in a statement that there had been “coordinated acts of malice” affecting several high-speed lines. The Eurostar service between London to Paris has also been hit by cancellations and delays. All the incidents occurred at several installations outside Paris, affecting rail service from the north, east and west of the country.

“It’s the major departures that are under attack, through the SNCF. It’s a part of France that’s under attack and it’s the French that are under attack,” SNCF CEO Jean-Pierre Farandou told France’s BFMTV. Mr. Farandou said thousands of rail workers would be dispatched to repair the lines, but it could be several days before full service is restored.

He said the perpetrators had set fire to the trenches that contain fiber optic cables that transmit safety information to drivers. Rail workers had also managed to stop another attempt to vandalize cables early Friday morning at Vergigny in north central France, Mr. Farandou said.

France’s National Agency for Information Systems Security said the rail system had not come under cyberattack. “The traffic problems on the SNCF network are not the result of a cybersecurity incident”, the agency said in a statement.

The Paris public prosecutor’s office announced that an investigation has been launched through the national organized crime agency.

Read more on the railway outages.

– Paul Waldie

9 a.m.

Paris Olympics opening ceremony set to go off against backdrop of security concerns

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The Olympic Games are officially set to kick off in Paris today against a backdrop of fanfare, celebration and more than a little political upheaval.

French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to welcome more than 100 world leaders for today’s lavish opening ceremonies.

The ceremony is set to be a historic show and feature world-renowned entertainment acts. For the first time, the opening ceremony will not be staged inside a stadium. After years of planning, these festivities will take place along the Seine, with athletes floating on boats down the river, weaving through the centre of Paris.

The Parade of Nations will start beneath the Austerlitz Bridge and pass iconic Parisian landmarks before the six-kilometre procession concludes in front of the Trocadéro.

The Canadian Olympic Committee says about 100 of its athletes will take part in the opening ceremony. Canada’s total team in Paris is 338 athletes, but some will arrive later in the Games, or they have chosen not to participate because their competition is set to begin quickly. The Canadian team will be on a barge with teams from Chile, Cameroon, and China.

Security officials have been on edge for months about potential terrorist attacks during the Games and especially at the opening ceremonies, which will attract up to 300,000 spectators.

Around 45,000 police officers, soldiers and security officials will be on patrol and much of the area along the river has been sealed off to non-ticket holders. Another 1,900 security officials from 40 countries will also be on hand.

Since the last Games - the Winter Olympics held in Beijing in 2022 - wars have erupted in Ukraine and Gaza, providing a highly tense international backdrop. France is at its highest level of security, though officials have repeatedly said there is no specific threat to the opening ceremony or the Games.

– Paul Waldie and Rachel Brady