The information is reliable, since it comes from the organizing committee: the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, on Friday July 26 on the Seine, will be “set by the end of the year“. Thierry Reboul, the OCOG’s Executive Director of Branding, Events and Ceremonies, explained this on Tuesday September 19 at a round table organized as part of the “Demain le sport” day at Maison de la Radio. Not one to mince his words, Thierry Reboul also explained that the team organizing the ceremony, currently 200-strong, would be 6 to 8,000-strong for the big night, plus around 2,000 dancers hired for the show. Some elements of the ceremony would be rehearsed in secret, he said, but other passages could not be hidden from the public. “They will serve as teasers” to promote an event that has never been seen before in the history of the Games – an opening ceremony outside the stadium, in front of several hundred thousand spectators. Finally, Thierry Reboul announced that an initial camera plan had been drawn up at the very beginning of the week. On D-Day, 130 cameras will be deployed along the six kilometers of river used by the delegations. However, the final number of non-paying spectators massed on the upper quays of the Seine has yet to be announced. “We’re in the finalization phase with Paris 2024 and the city of Paris,” explained Serge Boulanger, the prefect in charge of the Games at the Paris police headquarters. A precise number will be given “in the coming weeks“, he explained. A formula already heard for several months.
