PARIS (Reuters) -The Olympics will officially start on Friday evening with an extravagant opening ceremony in the heart of Paris, hours after a sabotage attack on the high-speed TGV rail network caused travel chaos across France.
The Olympics opening ceremony, starting at 7:30 p.m. (1730 GMT), will go ahead as planned, organizers said.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, which took place far from Paris and other Olympic sites.
Some 45,000 police and thousands of soldiers have been deployed in a huge security operation in Paris for the opening show, leaving security resources elsewhere stretched.
The parade will feature a fleet of barges which will take nearly 7,000 athletes along the River Seine past Paris’s most famous landmarks while more than 300,000 spectators will watch from the banks.
However, weather forecasters are predicting heavy rain showers at some point during the show, with one meteorologist even calling it a “disaster” for the open-air ceremony.
Since the last Games – the Winter Olympics held in Beijing in 2022 – wars have erupted in Ukraine and Gaza, providing a tense international backdrop. France is at its highest level of security, though officials have repeatedly said there is no specific threat to the opening ceremony or the Games.
Israeli competitors are being escorted by elite tactical units to and from events and given 24-hour protection throughout the Olympics due to the war in Gaza, officials say.
Scores of world leaders will be in Paris for the opening ceremony, which will be protected by snipers on rooftops. The Seine’s riverbed has been swept for bombs, and Paris’ airspace will be closed.
For the Games more generally, radar-surveillance planes and Reaper drones will monitor sensitive sites from above, and Mirage 2000 fighter jets will be on standby to intercept aircraft straying into restricted airspace.
EVERYTHING READY
“Everything is ready,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in a video posted on X. “Even the (Olympics) rings are there,” he said, overlooking the Eiffel tower. “Enjoy the Games!”
Macron, who won a second mandate two years ago, had hoped the Olympics would cement his legacy.
But his failed bet on a snap legislative election has weakened him and cast a shadow over his moment on the international stage.
High security has also prompted much grumbling among Parisians after police imposed a security zone along the river ahead of the opening ceremony, erecting metal barriers to fence off neighborhoods and requiring authorization – passes with QR codes – to enter.
But some shrugged away the scepticism.
“It’s very Parisian to complain a bit,” said Emilie Zhou, a 34-year-old Parisian, referring to the restrictions around the Seine.
Zhou will watch the ceremony from the banks with her husband and two friends, having got four of the free tickets allocated to residents of the Paris region.
“I don’t sense anxiety (about security),” she said. “There is a huge number of policemen present, it’s heavily secured.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine means Moscow’s usually huge delegation of athletes has been reduced to 15 who met and accepted eligibility requirements to compete as neutrals, according to a list published by the International Olympic Committee on July 20.
Belarus will send 17 athletes competing as neutrals.
Ukraine is sending 140 athletes – its smallest contingent since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
FLOATING PARADE
The ceremony will pass by many of the French capital’s most beloved landmarks, including the Louvre museum and Pont des Arts bridge.
“We’re going to take advantage of all the historic monuments around the Seine, and there won’t be a single riverbank or bridge that won’t be filled with music, dance, or performance,” the ceremony’s choreographer Maud Le Pladec has said.
It will be the first time that an opening ceremony has taken place outside a stadium.
Details have been kept secret, including on some of the artists taking part, who will be the last to carry the torch and light the Olympic cauldron to mark the start of the Games.
The artistic team said they had been rehearsing in private to keep it all under wraps.
More than 10,500 athletes will compete at the Olympics, 100 years since Paris last staged the Games. Competition started on Wednesday and the first of the 329 gold medals will be awarded on Saturday. The closing ceremony will take place on Aug. 11.
(Writing by Ingrid Melander; Additional reporting by Geert de Clercq, Julien Pretot, Elizabeth Pineau, Michel Rose, Louise Dalmasso, Juliette Jabkhiro and Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Ken Ferris, Angus MacSwan and Gareth Jones)
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