PARIS, France, July 26, 2024 – The Paris 2024 33rd Summer Olympic Games Opening Ceremony took place on July 26, 2024 with the theme of “Games Wide Open”. The introduction of the Olympic athletes took place in 85 boats on a six-kilometre journey on the Seine River from the Pont d’Austerlitz to the Pont d'Iéna, in front of the Eiffel Tower.
IOC President and Olympic fencing gold medallist Thomas Bach gave a welcome speech, stating “The Olympic flame will make Paris and all of France shine even brighter. What better place than Paris, to share this magic of the Olympic Games with the whole world. Paris, the birthplace of our founder, Pierre de Coubertin, to whom we owe everything. Paris, City of Light, where he created the modern Olympic Games.”
Mr. Bach then invited the President of the French Republic, Mr. Emmanuel Macron, to declare open the Games of the 33rd Olympiad, Paris 2024.
Fencing was one of the original events at the first modern Olympic Games in 1896.
Paris 2024 Organising Committee President Tony Estanguet also gave a speech to the 320,000 Opening Ceremony attendees in 124 grandstands lining the Seine River as well as the hundreds of millions of spectators watching worldwide on television and social media. “This love story was born nearly 130 years ago, just a few kilometres from here, in the main amphitheatre of the Sorbonne University, when Pierre de Coubertin proposed the rebirth of the ancient Olympic Games”, he said.
Two French Olympic champion fencers participated in the final torch relay, Laura Flessel and Jean-Francois Lamour, before the lighting of the Olympic flame for Paris 2024.
Seven fencers competing in Paris 2024 served as flag-bearers for their respective countries:
- Yousef Alshamlan (Kuwait)
- Ka Long Cheung (Hong Kong, China)
- Zaynab Dayibekova (Uzbekistan)
- Maria Luisa Doig Calderon (Peru)
- Arriana Errigo (Italy)
- Emura Misaki (Japan)
- Kruz Schembri (U.S. Virgin Islands)
The schedule for the fencing events at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games is available here.
Find official photos of this and other events on the FIE Facebook page.
Full and official results for this event are available on the FIE website.