Rain disrupts Paris Olympics grand opening ceremony
Thousands of specialists worked tirelessly for the first opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris in exactly 100 years. Meanwhile, the decision to host the prestigious event outdoors turned out to be a complete organisational failure. The rainy weather played quite the trick.
115 boats with delegations of athletes, the presence of leaders from nearly a hundred countries, journalists, photo reporters, and a sea of fans - the inauguration of the Summer Olympic Games was marked by great pomp. Spectators marvelled at spectacular visual displays and performances by the biggest stars along the River Seine. The organisers' decision to hold the costly outdoor ceremony backfired on them.
Despite perfecting every detail, one thing could not be predicted - the erratic weather. Even the morning weather reports did not mention possible rainfall in the French capital. However, in the late afternoon, the Parisian sky became entirely covered with clouds, and the torrential rain impacted not only the quality of the broadcast but also the moods of the world's dignitaries attending the event.
Chaotic inauguration of the summer Olympic Games in Paris
Nearly 320,000 participants in the ceremony experienced the changing weather firsthand—cameras captured, among others, famous athletes and members of the royal elite in raincoats. There were also technical problems. At one point, the large screen placed at Trocadero Square, in front of which a huge crowd was closely watching the event, stopped working. Additionally, the heavy rain effectively drowned out the music, and millions of television viewers could better see the raindrops than the Olympic River parade.
Fortunately, the downpour did not affect the ceremony programme. It started promptly at 6:30 PM, and just a few minutes later, the audience could applaud the highly anticipated performance by Lady Gaga, who paid a remarkable tribute to the legendary French artist Zizi Jeanmaire. Significant moments of the Olympic Games opening ceremony also included Zinedine Zidane passing the Olympic torch to three children and a dance referencing the reconstruction of Notre Dame Cathedral.
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