Which I’m looking forward to. I don’t quite know where it came from, maybe it was the opportunity to see Paris in the evening light with all the world’s artists and athletes gathered for a ceremony that seems to be magical, but I think maybe mostly it was the intentions behind it. Director Thomas Jolly says he wants to give the world and France hope, create a future message about an outgoing and welcoming country; a ceremony that contrasts with the misery of the world. Thomas Jolly, the man behind the direction of the opening ceremony. Photo: JOEL SAGET / AFP The opening ceremony at major championships has gradually become the same, and quite boring. Tonight, however, the Seine will be used as a stage with historic Paris as a background. Spectacular opening ceremony The athletes will be transported in boats along the river, which is divided into 12 themes that deal with French history, art and culture. For those particularly interested, the fashion houses Dior and Louis Vuitton are responsible for the costumes. The procession is six kilometers long, and sails past Notre-Dame, the Louvre, and ends at the Eiffel Tower. The TV broadcast is expected to gather well over a billion viewers, and there is speculation as to whether Lady Gaga and Céline Dion will perform together. All over the city preparations have been made for the Olympics. Here in front of the Sacré-Cœur in Montmartre. Photo: Fredrik Varfjell / NTB And as I dread. The airspace over Paris is closed. 45,000 police officers will be on guard, and intelligence and security services have been involved for a long time to protect the ceremony from terror. The terrorist attacks on Paris in 2015 were one of the worst we have seen on Western European soil since the Second World War. It also helps to make tonight’s ceremony so important and moving, and we have to hope and believe that the French authorities are in control. A divided world gathers for the Olympics It is also a divided world that Emmanuel Macron and France will welcome tonight. Nothing symbolizes that more than one of the great bridges the cortege will sail under, the Alexander the Third Bridge, the one with all the golden statues. It is named after the Russian Tsar, and symbolizes the friendship between France and Russia. As you know, Russia is not participating in this year’s Olympics, and Vladimir Putin has not been invited. Some athletes participate as individuals, but there will be no flag and no national anthem. The reason why Russia does not participate is, of course, the war in Ukraine. The news is grim for Ukraine this summer. The Russian occupation army has advanced in Donetsk in recent weeks, and the Ukrainian army risks being surrounded in several places. An apocalyptic drone war is taking place all over the front line, and civilian targets are bombed almost daily. An office building belonging to a humanitarian organization, which was damaged during a Russian missile attack. The photo was taken on 24 July in Mykolaiv, Ukraine. Photo: Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy / Reuters The full-scale invasion of Ukraine began immediately after the 2022 Winter Olympics. It is also worth recalling that Russia invaded Georgia shortly after the 2008 Summer Olympics, both in Beijing, and annexed Crimea after its own Olympics in 2014. This means that Putin will not be seen together with the more than 100 heads of state who are in Paris tonight. Neither is China’s President Xi Jinping, who is in a close alliance with Russia against the West. The dramatic weeks in American politics, and a possible victory for Donald Trump, also characterize the ceremony. Neither Joe Biden nor Kamala Harris is coming. Instead, spouses Jill Biden is sent to the opening ceremony, and Doug Emhoff to the closing. The spouses of Biden and Harris will be present at the opening and closing respectively. The picture is from this year’s 4th of July celebration. Photo: Elizabeth Frantz / Reuters The Gaza war is perhaps the conflict that creates the most engagement and protests. In the last few days alone, over a hundred Palestinians have been killed, even more injured, and Israel has brought home five dead hostages. The Palestinian Olympic Committee has demanded that Israel be banned, but has not been heard by the International Olympic Committee. Displaced Palestinians flee between different locations in Gaza, after the Israeli army issued a new evacuation order on July 2, 2024. Photo: EYAD BABA / AFP 88 Israeli and eight Palestinian athletes participate. The Israeli athletes are looked after extra well. The fear of terrorism is great. Macron opens the Olympics in a weakened position France and Macron have their own struggles at home. It is a politically weakened president who will open the Olympics tonight. His party suffered a stinging defeat in the European Parliament elections. Macron then decided to call new elections, and lost that too, although they did slightly better than expected. Jordan Bardella, Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen. Photo: BERTRAND GUAY, LUDOVIC MARIN / AFP The left won, and has rallied around the previously unknown Lucie Castets as the new prime minister. France has a political system with both a prime minister and a president with great power. But Macron has the final say as president and appoints the prime minister. To major protests, he has decided to wait until after the Olympics. He may delay the problems a little, but he no longer dominates French politics as he has for the past seven years. A bright spot from his point of view is that he does not have to share the stage tonight with a prime minister from the far-right party Nasjonal Samling. There was no guarantee of that, and the far right with allies gathers a third of French voters. Even if they are not to be found in the stands tonight, there is noise in the background for tonight’s French party. Those who make the ceremony have kept their cards very close to their chest, but from the interviews they have given it is clear that those who have been behind the ceremony want to celebrate the diverse and open France, and give the world a positive message. We can all need that. Published 26/07/2024, at 06.30
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Dark clouds over spectacular Olympic party in Paris – Statement
