The 2024 Paris Olympics will kick off today with the Opening Ceremony at 12:30 p.m. CT, followed by more than two weeks of competitions featuring the best athletes in the world.
This year’s Opening Ceremony is expected to last roughly four hours. It will begin with the French national anthem and raising of the French flag, followed by the Parade of Nations, which will include all 206 participating countries, according to NBC News.
The parade will commence with nearly every athlete from the competing countries traveling down the historic Seine River. Beginning at the Austerlitz Bridge, it will be a four-mile march that ends near the Eiffel Tower at the Trocadéro for the finale, per the Olympics.
During the trip down the river, athletes will be able to see some of the venues where the games will take place, including the “Parc Urbain La Concorde, the Esplanade des Invalides, the Grand Palais, and lastly the Iéna bridge.”
While there has yet to be any official confirmation regarding who will be performing during the ceremony, many believe Céline Dion and Lady Gaga will make appearances after both arrived in Paris over the past few days, according to NBC News.
Actor and stage director Thomas Jolly, who has been planning the ceremony for the past two years, said he wanted to “create a show where everyone can feel represented as part of this great union,” noting that the logistics of holding the ceremony on the river provided various challenges.
“An opening ceremony has never been held outside of a stadium. There is no model; it’s absolute creation,” he explained while withholding further details about what will take place, per the Associated Press.
Although Jolly opted against providing more details, organizers said there will be 80 big-screen televisions and “strategically placed speakers” throughout the city to allow everyone an opportunity to watch, as reported by CNN.
Additionally, there will be a total of 400 dancers performing routines throughout the parade path.
The USA flag bearers will be NBA legend Lebron James and 2024 French Open winner Coco Gauff, who is set to be the youngest athlete to ever hold the flag in the history of the United States.
James has yet to comment on the honor of being selected, but Gauff said shortly after the news broke that she “wanted to cry” tears of joy when she found out.
“I truly am in shock, and I don’t take it for granted, and I’m going to try to take it all in, and I know this will be a memory I will remember for the rest of my life,” she said, according to the Olympics.
As the country set to host the next summer Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028, the United States will be the second-to-last team to travel down the river, while the French team will be the finale due to it hosting this year’s games, per NBC News.