Opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Games: the figures for a historic evening
- ️Pierre Sarniguet
- ️Wed Jul 24 2024
Unique, incomparable, exceptional... There aren't enough superlatives to describe the magical moment the world will witness on 26 July 2024, the opening date of the Paris 2024 Games.
The world's biggest sporting event, the Summer Olympics are the stage for legendary sporting moments every four years. The opening ceremony of such an event has to live up to the stakes, and as far as Paris 2024 is concerned, it is clear that the bar will be set very high, even higher than anything that has been done before.
With its unprecedented concept (the Seine will replace the usual track, and the quays will become spectator stands), the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Games is sure to leave its mark on history and on people's minds. In short, this event is simply unmissable, for a number of reasons.
A moment out of time in figures
With family, friends or on your own, on the banks of the Seine, in France, around the world or on your sofa, there are plenty of reasons to watch the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Games. The figures below will convince (if need be) the last undecided.
1: Paris 2024 marks a milestone in the history of the Olympic Games by moving the ceremony out of a stadium. The first time ever!
4 : in hours, the total duration of this opening ceremony directed by Thomas Jolly.
5: Flag bearer alongside Florent Manaudou, Mélina Robert-Michon will be the fifth Frenchwoman to have this privilege in the history of the Olympic Games. She follows in the footsteps of Christine Caron (1968), Marie-José Perec (1996), Laura Flessel (2012) and Clarisse Agbegnenou (2021).
5: the number of delegations with a single representative: Belize, Liechtenstein, Nauru, Somalia and Tuvalu.
6: the length in kilometres of the parade and the live show orchestrated by Thomas Jolly and his teams. It's a huge challenge that Paris 2024 will take up brilliantly after many months of preparation. Unprecedented!
12: the number of artistic displays throughout the show, highlighting French and Parisian heritage. To be discovered during the ceremony!
54.1: By deciding to move the Opening Ceremony away from a sports arena, the IOC had to amend Article 54.1 of its Olympic Charter. The reference to the ‘Olympic stadium’ for the first evening of the Games has been removed in favour of the less restricted notion of ‘site of the opening ceremony’. It now remains to be seen whether the future Organising Committees will make the bold choice of holding a ceremony outside a stadium or not.
80: giant screens will be set up along the Seine for the occasion.
85: the number of boats that will be mobilised to transport all the delegations along the 6 kilometres of the Seine.
100: a century has passed since the last Olympic Games were held in Paris. Back then, it was the Stade Yves-du-Manoir that hosted the opening ceremony.
110: for the 110 Heads of State who will be meeting in Paris for the occasion.
120: cameras used to record the ceremony by Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS), three times as many as in Tokyo in 2021.
140: the number of 2024 Clubs that will be broadcasting the opening ceremony throughout France. Make the most of it, the Games are coming to you!
206: the number of delegations coming to the opening of the 33rd Olympiad of the modern era (a total of 10,500 athletes, including 571 from France).
400: OBS staff will be mobilised to bring you an extraordinary evening. ‘It's the biggest production ever in terms of equipment and broadcast resources,’ explains the audiovisual subsidiary of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). 200 smartphones will also be installed on the boats to provide viewers with an ‘inside’ perspective. OBS will also be using eight drones, three helicopters and four stabilised boats.
1,500: the number of suits designed for the French athletes. This midnight blue smoking suit (with long sleeves for the men, sleeveless for the women) will be the last visible suit of the evening, as Les Bleus will be the last to parade. They have been made by Berluti, a brand belonging to the LVMH group, premium partner of the Paris 2024 Games.
3,000: under the direction of Maud Le Pladec, 3,000 artists (including 400 dancers) will perform in a demanding show. 200 dressers and nearly 300 hairdressers and make-up artists will be on hand along the Seine to prepare these artists.
326,000: the number of spectators on the banks of the Seine on 26 July. That's 222,000 free ticket holders on the raised quays of the Seine, and 104,000 paying ticket holders on the lower quays. In its aim to open up the Games, this concept of free entry for as many people as possible is perfectly in line with what Paris 2024 wants to put in place. All in all, this ceremony will go down in history because of the attendance, which will far exceed anything that has been achieved so far.