Official! The opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris is really going to be held on the Seine

Paris, 13 Dec (Xinhua) -- For the first time in history, the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympic Games will be held from the stadium to an open urban area, and it will be on the world-famous Seine River!

Creative renderings of the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics. (From the official website of the International Olympic Committee)

On the 13th, the Paris Olympic Organizing Committee officially announced the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games, as previously revealed by the organizing committee, the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games will break through the restrictions of the stadium and be held in the 6-kilometer-long Seine River channel and along the river.

According to the vision of the organizing committee, about 10,500 athletes will take more than 160 boats along the Seine River from east to west, starting from austerlitz Bridge to the Ponte Jenère, passing through the most central area of Paris, including famous Landmarks such as Notre Dame, the Louvre, the Grand Palais and the Eiffel Tower.

Finally, the athletes will come to the Trocadero Garden, across the river from the Eiffel Tower, where the final part of the opening ceremony will be held.

"We have been working on this programme for the past 12 months. This is the result of the joint efforts of all parties involved, including the International Olympic Committee, and this programme is too exciting. Estangai, president of the Paris Organising Committee, said in an interview.

The organizing committee expects at least 600,000 people to be able to watch the grand opening ceremony live. According to the plan, the nearest area near the river will be designated as a ticketing area, and the outer area slightly farther will be open to spectators for free. More than 80 giant screens will also be erected along both sides of the river for the audience to enjoy the most exciting parts of the opening ceremony in real time.

Estangai said that the 6-kilometer waterway brings unlimited possibilities for the opening ceremony of the cultural performance, and the ideas of hanging art, water curtain projection, floating, symphony and so on are all considered.

The perfect integration of the beauty of the city with the Olympic Movement has always been one of the important concepts of the Paris Olympic Organizing Committee.

Many of the venues of the Paris Olympic Games will even be located directly at famous attractions, such as the Place de la Concorde, which will become a venue for three-person basketball, break dancing, skateboarding and other sports; beach volleyball, triathlon, etc. will be held near the Eiffel Tower; fencing and taekwondo competitions will be held in the Grand Palais de Paris; and near the Palace of Versailles on the outskirts of the city, it will become a venue for equestrian and modern pentathlon competitions.

In addition, the Paris Olympics will be held in the Pacific Ocean, 15,000 kilometers away from mainland France. Tahiti (Tahiti), a famous tourist destination in the French Polynesian Archipelago, will host the surfing competitions of the Paris Olympic Games.