The Paris Olympics kicked off with an extravagant opening ceremony on Friday night when an armada of boats carried 10,500 athletes along the Seine — the first outdoor version of the spectacle that was expected to be watched by a billion people.

Earlier, a shadow was cast over the event by an act of criminal sabotage that hit France’s high-speed rail network in the early hours of the morning causing nationwide transport chaos. Heavy rain then began to fall about 30 minutes into the three-hour show, a nightmare scenario for the planners of the theatrical performance that featured a massive cast of dancers, two orchestras and a clutch of pop stars, including Lady Gaga doing a cabaret-tinged song.

Before the ceremony, interior minister Gérald Darmanin said: “We are ready for this magnificent event,” adding that no specific threats had been detected. The railway sabotage would “not have direct consequence on the Olympics or the ceremony”. 

By mid-afternoon long queues had formed for ticket holders to get into the highly secured perimeter along the Seine river where 320,000 spectators were expected along the medieval-era cobblestone quays. The format of the event required heavy security: 45,000 police were deployed on the ground and in the air, using helicopters, drones and snipers positioned on roofs. 

The weather also tested the dozens of experienced ship captains powering the parade, who navigated at precisely the right speed to keep the show on line. Some spectators fled the quays for cover as rain poured down.

President Emmanuel Macron hosted more than 100 heads of state at Trocadero plaza across the river from the Eiffel tower where the athletes disembarked for a final parade and a performance by francophone favourite Céline Dion. Jill Biden, wife of the US president, and other leaders attended a reception at the Elysée palace beforehand. 

The idea for such an ambitious opening was the brainchild of one man, Thierry Reboul, an event specialist known for punchy marketing stunts, but pulling it off it needed more than 15,000 performers, technicians and firework specialists.

The performance featured ballet dancers on the roof of the Louvre, while hundreds of modern dancers and breakdancers performed along the quays and on some of the boats. Performers were clad in handmade outfits stitched by French couturiers, and LVMH’s Louis Vuitton trunk suitcases were prominently displayed in a lengthy segment. Bernard Arnault’s LVMH was an Olympics sponsor.

Organisers had to scale back some elements, such as BMX riders set to do tricks on a ramp because rain made it too slippery.

When Reboul pitched the idea for the river ceremony to Tony Estanguet, head of the Paris organising committee, the two-time gold medal winner reacted with stupor that quickly became enthusiasm. “It will be ambitious, audacious and totally crazy,” said Estanguet, recalling the moment. 

Reboul said the idea came to him on a walk along the Seine, the snaking river whose banks were chosen by a Gallic tribe called the Parisii to found a settlement about two thousand years ago. He told himself: “It should be here, of course it should be here, and nowhere else.”

The organisers hired Thomas Jolly, a 42-year-old theatre director known for a musical called Starmania, who started imagining how to convey the spirit of France from literature and culture to history. “I’m used to designing performances on a stage, and this time the entire city was my canvas,” he told reporters earlier this week. 

Jolly hired a team he has long worked with — a musical director, choreographer and a costume designer, all renowned in their fields — and also included author Leila Slimani, scriptwriter Fanny Herrero, who created the show Call My Agent!, and others to help him write the 12 tableaux that make up the ceremony.

Before they started writing, they took long walks along the Seine for inspiration and researched the history of its bridges, such as the oldest, Pont Neuf, finished under King Henry IV in 1607, and the Pont d’Austerlitz, commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte, from which the parade will begin.

“We drew on the past of each site and monuments: almost each stone tells something about our history of France, of the history of Paris, a history which is connected to the world,” he said. 

But Jolly and Estanguet did not want the theatrics to overshadow the athletes, instead putting them at the centre of it by giving them the best spots to view the show — the decks of the boats on the river. 

“The athletes are the heroes of the show,” said Estanguet.

Although officials remained vague about the price, French media reported that the ceremony cost about €120mn, roughly four times that of the opener of the London 2012 Games. The overall cost for the Paris Games, which was pitched as a greener edition because little new infrastructure was built, is expected to reach €9-10bn, according to the national auditor. About one-third of that will be paid for by sponsors.

Jolly’s show was filled with memorable, kitschy moments: a hooded figure leaping across the zinc roofs of Paris, drag queens dancing to electro, beheaded royals of the French revolution set against heavy metal music, and a silver horse with an armour-clad rider gliding down the Seine.

Cheers rose when France’s beloved footballer Zinedine Zidane passed the torch to tennis champion Rafel Nadal.

The spectacle climaxed with an elaborate light show beaming out from the Tour Eiffel before a final flame relay to the Louvre led to a hot air balloon ascending into the night sky bearing a fiery Olympic cauldron.

Framed by the Eiffel tower, Canadian singer Céline Dion, in her first performance in years because of illness and wearing a white, beaded dress featuring 500m of fringe custom made by Dior, belted out Edith Piaf’s Hymne à l’amour.

“I declare the Paris games open,” said Macron.

Additional reporting by Adrienne Klasa

An autopsy released on Friday confirmed that Sonya Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman who was fatally shot by a former sheriff’s deputy, died from a gunshot wound to the head. The full report, made public by Sangamon County Coroner Jim Allmon, supports earlier findings that her death was a homicide.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, representing Massey’s family, criticized the shooting as “senseless, unnecessary, and excessive.” Crump highlighted the physical disparity between Massey and the now-fired deputy, Sean Grayson, during a press conference.The autopsy revealed that Massey, who was 5-foot-4 and 112 pounds, was shot just beneath her left eye, with the bullet exiting her lower neck in a downward trajectory.
Grayson, who is white and stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 228 pounds, has pleaded not guilty to charges including first-degree murder and official misconduct. Fired from the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office last week, he is currently being held without bond.
Crump used an enlarged autopsy diagram to emphasize the physical mismatch between Grayson and Massey, arguing that her position at the time of the shooting—stooped and apologizing—demonstrates the excessive nature of the force used. “When Sonya Massey was staring at the barrel of his gun, she stooped down, said, ‘Sorry, sir, Sorry,’ and the bullet was shot while she was in this stooped position,” Crump said.
Authorities reported that Massey had called 911 to report a suspected prowler. Two deputies responded to her Springfield home, located about 200 miles southwest of Chicago. Video footage confirmed that Grayson, aiming his 9mm pistol at Massey, threatened to shoot her in the face if she did not set down a pot of hot water. He fired three shots.
After the shooting, Grayson reportedly dismissed the need for medical assistance, stating, “She done. You can go get it, but that’s a head shot. There’s nothing you can do, man.” Despite his initial refusal, the second deputy attempted to provide aid until emergency medical professionals arrived.
Massey had a history of mental illness, and her family reported that she had recently entered and briefly exited a 30-day inpatient program in St. Louis. Her son, 17-year-old Malachi Hill Massey, mentioned that police had been called to their home the day before the shooting. Malachi indicated that his mother had sought medical help but returned home without explanation.

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Four of the so-called Magnificent Seven technology stocks that have powered the US market rally for the past nine months ended the week in correction territory, having fallen by more than 10 per cent from recent peaks. 

Another two — Microsoft and Amazon — are close to the double-digit falls that define a correction. Investors are looking ahead to further tech earnings updates next week amid worries about punchy valuations and the risks that returns from vast artificial intelligence-related spending may not live up to early hopes.

Nvidia and Tesla are each down 17 per cent from their recent peaks while Meta and Google parent Alphabet have fallen 14 per cent and 12 per cent. Apple is the best performer in the group, having lost just 7 per cent while Microsoft and Amazon have slid about 9 per cent each.

On Wednesday Alphabet sparked a wider market sell-off when, despite it reporting solid quarterly operating numbers, its shares fell more than 5 per cent on concerns about AI-related investments. Its $13bn quarterly capital expenditure was almost double the levels of a year ago.

“For a long time investors were really sold on the premise that AI investment in and of itself — spending money — is good,” said Max Gokhman, a senior vice-president at Franklin Templeton Investment Solutions. “What we’re seeing now is . . . investors saying, ‘Hold up a sec, what are the productivity gains here, when do you expect to see them?’”

Alphabet’s fall helped drag the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite to its worst one-day decline in 18 months on Wednesday, down 3.6 per cent. The index ended the week down 2.1 per cent.

Microsoft, Meta, Apple and Amazon earnings next week may set up a fresh test of investor faith in the AI narrative that has been a crucial driver of market gains.

“Expectations are high and valuations for the Mag Seven aren’t cheap. We’re also closer to the point when we see some decelerations in earnings from them as a group — from the beneficiaries of AI in general,” said Josh Nelson, head of US equity at T Rowe Price. 

Investors this week also showed they were prepared to punish companies that missed expectations, with Tesla losing 12 per cent on Wednesday after slowing sales and its own AI spending shrank profits more than expected. And Ford shares tumbled 18 per cent on Thursday when its profits fell short, hurt by unexpectedly high warranty costs.

On average, companies that missed expectations had seen their shares drop 3.3 per cent in the days surrounding their earnings, according to data from FactSet, more than the five-year average of 2.3 per cent.

Companies that beat expectations saw on average no gains in their share price, FactSet reported.

“The trend of misses getting punished more than beats get rewarded is getting a little bit more significant,” said Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab. “There is uncertainty and skittishness with regard to just how fast the market, driven by those names ran, without the commensurate improvement in their forward earnings prospects.”

Sonders also pointed to the fact that the earnings season under way had coincided with a “rotation” among investors taking profits in the biggest tech names in favour of backing smaller companies that were more likely to see big benefits if the Federal Reserve begins to cut interest rates in September.

This week, the Russell 2000 index of small-cap stocks added 3.5 per cent while the blue-chip S&P 500 fell 0.8 per cent.