The opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games was watched by more than a billion spectators around the world on Friday, July 26. The spectacle, marked by its originality, was praised abroad, whether in Washington, Rio de Janeiro or Kiev.
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In the USA, the opening ceremony impressed and surprised. I can not talk “, is the reaction of the NBC commentator, after the final performance of the singer Celine Dion on the Eiffel Tower. The story of the return of the Quebecer, who is facing a long illness, who lives in Las Vegas and has therefore been adopted by the country, could only move. But this is not her only moment of amazement. Discovering that the French could both assume and have fun having decapitated their queen, she this time let out a ” what ? » (« What ? ”) incredulous.
The commentator, however, said nothing about Philippe Katherine’s performance, which was ultimately quite restrained by her standards, as a naked and blue-tinted Dionysus: it was during an advertising break. But this did not escape social networks, triggering the fury of American far-right circles, shocked that the painting The Lord’s Supperby Leonardo da Vinci, depicting Jesus’ last supper, is being reinterpreted by drag queens. The ultraconservative Fox News channel devotes an entire web page to it.
Billionaire Elon Musk, present on site, denounced a disrespectful choice for Christians. On the other hand, the Wall Street Journalone of his friend Rupert Murdoch’s newspapers, speaks of a ” tour de force »a bit like the whole of the American press, amazed by this successful bet, as written by the Washington Post.
In the United States, shock at the French opening ceremony
Aya Nakamura’s performance for a city that wants to be multicultural
In Brazil, The city of Rio hosted the Olympic Games in 2016and eight years later, Brazilians are still keen on sport and followed the French ceremony, reports our correspondent in Rio de Janeiro, Sarah Cozzolino.
On Copacabana Beach, wearing a yellow beret and a Brazilian women’s soccer team jersey, Carla Lemos designed her outfit to blend the two countries. And it was Aya Nakamura’s performance against the Republican Guard that particularly moved her: ” It is important to show that Paris is also a multicultural city, that the references have different origins and thus broaden our cultural perception of what France is today. »
Transgender influencer Jo Raposo was eagerly awaiting the performance of another diva, Lady Gaga. I loved it, I think it represented very well what the spirit of cabaret is to the whole world. »
Taking the ceremony out of the stadium and anchoring it in the city of Paris pleased many, but not Bruno Chateaubriand, a former Brazilian gymnastics champion. As an athlete, I feel a pang in my heart. Because when you do an Olympic competition, the protagonists are the athletes. Except that here, the athletes are not really participating in the show and cannot attend it either. »
The Parisian spectacle seen from Copacabana beach, Brazil
Olympic Games leave a bitter taste in Ukraine
In kyiv, a fan zone has been set up to watch the opening ceremony, our correspondent on the ground explains, Emmanuelle ChazeAmong the spectators, a Ukrainian athlete explains the difficulty of celebrating sport while the country is still in the grip of Russian aggression.
Vladyslav Heraskevych, 25, has just returned from training abroad. A two-time Olympian in the discipline of skeleton, a sliding and winter sport, for him these Olympic Games have a bitter taste: “ Ukrainian athletes are the same as civilians. We are affected by this war, I lost a classmate a few weeks ago, she was killed in a bombing, and we lost so many athletes, so many great athletes. If you think about it, it’s crazy, they were 22-23 years old. »
In these trying conditions, since nearly five hundred Ukrainian athletes were killed by the Russian army on the front or during air attacks, Vladyslav Heraskevych questions the presence of Russian athletes under a neutral banner: ” Is it a lack of expertise of the IOC, or some kind of game or hypocrisy because I don’t understand how they can allow athletes who are in the Russian army to take part in the competitions. »
In Ukraine, the games will be followed out of respect for the 140 Ukrainian athletes present in Paris, but in kyiv, as in the rest of the country, these Games do not erase the ongoing war.
The opening ceremony seen from kyiv
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