The Paris Olympics 2024 opening ceremony left many Australians frustrated, fearing they had missed the Aussie team’s grand arrival. The event began at 7:30 pm local time (3:30 am Saturday AEST) and featured athletes parading in barges along the River Seine for six kilometres.
Hundreds of thousands of people, including 320,000 ticket-holders, lined the Seine’s banks, while an estimated three billion viewers tuned in worldwide.
French President Emmanuel Macron acknowledged the ambitious nature of the river ceremony, saying, “At the beginning, it seemed to be a crazy and not very serious idea. But we decided it was the right moment to deliver this crazy idea and make it real.”
As the host of Brisbane 2032, Australia was positioned third last in the order of nations, before the United States (hosts of Los Angeles 2028) and France.
However, as rain and cold weather dampened the atmospherea little bit, and Australian sports fans were left puzzled. With countries joining the parade in alphabetical order, viewers took to social media when Bahrain appeared before Australia, thinking Australia had been left out.
This detail was unclear, and when Lady Gaga appeared on screen, many believed the Australian athletes were excluded.
Eventually, the Australian team did appear and seemed to enjoy themselves. Proudly waving the flag from the top deck of the boat as they led the Australian Team, both Jessica Fox (canoe slalom) and Eddie Ockenden (hockey) carved their own history on the eve of the Games.
Jessica, as the first Australian to compete in Canoe Slalom at four Olympic Games, and Eddie, the first Australian hockey player to compete at five Games, joined the illustrious list of Australians to have carried the flag before them.
Paris Olympic ceremony was notably different, featuring dancers on every bridge along the parade route and performances by Lady Gaga and Celine Dion. The ceremony fused sport and art to take athletes and spectators out of a stadium and onto the streets of Paris.
Over the next 16 days, the country will rally together to cheer on the 460-strong Australian Team competing across 33 sports.
Support Our Journalism
Global Indian Diaspora and Australia’s multicultural communities need fair, non-hyphenated, and questioning journalism, packed with on-ground reporting. The Australia Today – with exceptional reporters, columnists, and editors – is doing just that. Sustaining this needs support from wonderful readers like you.
Whether you live in Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States of America, or India you can take a paid subscription by clicking Patreon and support honest and fearless journalism.