Top moments from the 2024 Olympics opening ceremony:
- Follow live coverage of the Olympics here
- Despite rain, the roughly four-hour 2024 Paris Olympics opening ceremony went off without a hitch.
- Athletes arrived via boat and cruised down the Seine for the Parade of Nations. The ceremony highlighted historic Paris landmarks, including the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral and the Louvre.
- Céline Dion closed out the night by singing “L’Hymne à l’amour” from the base of the Eiffel Tower. It marked her first performance since she announced her diagnosis of stiff-person syndrome in 2022. Lady Gaga also performed earlier in the opening ceremony.
- Stream every moment and every medal of the 2024 Paris Olympics on Peacock, including coverage of the opening ceremony. Read more NBC News coverage of the Games. Rewatch (or tune in again) to the opening ceremony when it airs during prime time at 7:30 p.m. ET.
What to expect tomorrow
That’s a wrap! NBC’s prime-time broadcast of the opening ceremony of the Paris Games has concluded, but the Olympics are only just getting underway.
Here’s some of the events happing tomorrow:
Shooting — Mixed Team Air Rifle — 10:30 a.m. Paris/4:30 a.m. ET
Diving — Women’s Synchronized 3m Springboard — 11a.m. Paris/5 a.m. ET
Cycling, women and men Individual Time Trial — 2:30 p.m. Paris/8:30 a.m. ET, and 4:32 p.m. Paris/10:32 a.m. ET, respectively
Skateboarding — Men’s Street final — 5 p.m. Paris/11 a.m. ET
Judo, Women’s Extra Lightweight (48 kg/106 lbs) — 5:18 p.m. Paris/11:18 a.m. ET
Judo Men’s Extra Lightweight (60 kg/132 lbs.) — 5:49 p.m. Paris/11:49 a.m. ET
Rugby — Men’s Tournament — 7 p.m. Paris/1 p.m. ET
Fencing — Women’s Individual Epee — 8:40 p.m. Paris/2:40 p.m. ET
Men’s Individual Sabre — 9:05 p.m. Paris/ 3:05 p.m. ET
In swimming, the Men’s 400m Freestyle final is scheduled for 8:42 p.m. Paris/ 2:42 p.m. ET
The Women’s 400m Freestyle final will be at 8:52 p.m. Paris/ 2:52 p.m. ET
The Women’s 4x100m Freestyle Relay final nis at 9:34 p.m. Paris/ 3:34 p.m. ET
The Men’s 4x100m Freestyle Relay final is at 9:44 p.m. Paris/ 3:44 p.m. ET
The rain only added to the party atmosphere
The build-up to every Olympics always involves anxious headlines about what could go wrong. They miss the mark almost every time.
Who predicted that this history-making opening ceremony would be remembered for rain?
There were concerns over security, whether the river would be ready and the heat. But no one said, "what happens if it pours through almost the entire opening event?’
The rhythm of the Olympics is that all the fears fall away after the first night and the party begins.
That’s what happened tonight, despite the wet weather. It was a party. And the adversity of downpours just added to the determination to have a good time.
Before her big moment, Dion took in the sights of Paris
Singer Céline Dion, who performed “Hymne à l’amour” at the opening ceremony of the Paris Games earlier today, took in the sights and sounds of Paris before her performance.
“I’m so happy to be here with you this week! I’d like to also extend a warm thank you to the local Gendarmes for keeping us safe," she wrote on a social media post that included a photo she snapped with police.
She also made a stop at the world-famous Louvre earlier this week.
"Every time I return to Paris, I remember there’s so much beauty and joy still to experience in the world," she wrote.
Paris played a crucial role in history of flight
Paris is the first place on Earth where humans fully realized our dreams of flight — all the way back in 1783.
The original hot air balloon piloted by humans was built by the Montgolfier brothers and launched in November 1783. Then, a week later, a gas balloon piloted by Jacques Alexander Charles and Nicholas Louis Robert took off from the Louvre in front of King Louis XVI and 400,000 Parisians.
From then until the Wright brother’s, the French were the rulers of the sky. For a century the balloons, not the Eiffel Tower, defined the Paris skyline.
At one point in the 1870s, a massive tethered hydrogen balloon was also tethered in front of the Louvre and carried some 36,000 royals, scholars, dignitaries and normal citizens up into the heavens.
Stay tuned for a story about the history of ballooning, airing on the Olympic Zone.
Eiffel Tower puts on a gold medal-worthy light show
A spectacular light show was displayed on the Eiffel Tower as the torch made its way to its final destination: the cauldron.
Rafael Nadal's ‘heart’ is at Paris Games
Tennis star Rafael Nadal expressed his feelings about being at the Paris Games and opening ceremony with a heart emoji.
Earlier today, soccer great Zinedine Zidane passed the Olympic torch to Nadal during the opening ceremony near the end, close to the lighting ceremony.
USWNT forward Trinity Rodman: Claiming first goal at Olympics 'felt amazing'
U.S. women's soccer forward Mallory Swanson lauded the team's preparation after a comfortable 3-0 win in their Olympic opener against Zambia yesterday.
Swanson, who scored two of the USWNT's three goals against Zambia told NBC News: "I think that we ultimately just had a really fast start to the game. This past week, we’ve been really focusing on finishing and I think it paid off."
Teammate Trinity Rodman was also on the scoresheet for the U.S., claiming her first Olympic goal, and she couldn't have been happier about the outcome.
"It felt amazing," Rodman said when Hoda Kotb asked about her goal. "It couldn’t have gone any better, so I’m very happy."
The team's focus now turns to Sunday's match against Germany.
Beyoncé hypes up Team USA in new video
The Beyhive collectively gasped tonight when Beyoncé appeared in a pre-recorded segment to support Team USA.
The singer donned a special Team USA bodysuit and floor-length jacket for the occasion, along with a sparkly American flag cowboy hat to introduce the athletes.
“Get a look at America y’all. These hopes and dreams. These superstars that represent us, the people of this big bold beautiful complicated nation, all rooting together for them,” she said over the track of her hit “Ya Ya.”
“We’ve got superstars and we’ve got legends,” she continued. “We’ve got big dreamers, who fought their whole lives to get here. Who gave up everything for one shot and made it.”
“That pride and that joy, that’s what gets me about this team and that’s what makes me believe in this team,” she said. “And thats why I can’t wait to see what they pull over these next 16 days.”
“America, give it up for Team USA,” she concluded. “The very best of who we are. What a vision to behold. What a team to believe in. What a night to celebrate.”
As the coverage returned to the flotilla on the River Seine and Team USA floated across, the hosts were thrilled about the Beyoncé appearance.
“Y’all, and what about Beyoncé?” pop star Kelly Clarkson asked. “Just kicking everything off and getting everybody amped for this. I couldn’t think of a more perfect artist to do that for these athletes.
“If I’m Steve Kerr, I’m showing that video before my game,” former NFL player Peyton Manning replied, referring to the Team USA men's basketball coach. “Let Beyoncé do all the talking.”
Cover of ‘Imagine,’ an Olympic fixture, symbolizes a call for peace
John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s song “Imagine” has been a mainstay of the Olympics ever since Stevie Wonder performed it at the 1996 Atlanta Games in memory of the victims of the Centennial Olympic Park bombing.
The song is one of several symbols that represent peace at the Games — white doves and olive branches among them. While those symbols are represented at every Games, they are particularly salient in 2024 as the death toll in Gaza has surpassed 39,000, while the war in Ukraine is well into its third year.
One year ago today, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach quoted the song against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine.
“The Olympic Games must always build bridges. The Olympic Games must never erect walls. Imagine. You may say we are dreamers. We are not the only ones,” Bach said.
Only months later, the Israel-Hamas war would erupt.
This year, the song was interpreted by French singer Juliette Armanet, accompanied by pianist Sofiane Pamart. A float on the Seine included ground that appeared to be crumbling a piano aflame.
In the delayed 2021 games, a star-studded lineup including John Legend and Keith Urban sang the song.
U.S. track and field star Sha’Carri Richardson was savoring the experience of floating down the Seine with other athletes at the Paris Games opening ceremony earlier today.
“The journey that we’ve been experiencing so far has been phenomenal. The art, the culture, the love from the fans,” Richardson said.
She also called the experience "humbling" but said all the athletes worked hard to be there, and deserve to be there.
Asked what her 9-year-old self, who had just started running track, would say to the now 24-year-old Richardson cited hard work.
“No matter what happened, no matter what was going on, you stayed committed to the fact that you love what you love, you put your full self into what you’re doing,” Richardson said.
“That’s all that matters, and it’s always going to show.”
Richardson is the heavy favorite in the women’s 100-meter.
“When everyone walks away from the Paris Olympics — including Sha’Carri Richardson — I will be saying, and the world will be saying, that Sha’Carri Richardson put her best self and her full self in front of the world,” she said.