Factbox: How the world's press rated Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony

South China Holdings

27/07/2024 10:14

PARIS, July 27 (Reuters) - Paris broke with tradition on
Friday by turning the Olympic Opening Ceremony into a parade
down the River Seine rather than a stadium-based show. 
    TV viewers around the world were treated to a spectacle
performed on bridges, the riverbank and rooftops, culminating
with French athletes Marie-Jose Perec and Teddy Riner lighting
the Olympic cauldron and a performance from Canada's Celine
Dion.
    However, the 6,000-odd athletes, 3,000 performers, 300,000
spectators and dozens of world leaders had to endure heavy rain
for much of the event.         
    Here's how the world's media judged Paris's ambitious
ceremony:
    
    FRANCE
    Newspaper Le Monde wrote in a rave review that director
Thomas Jolly "succeeded in his challenge of presenting an
immersive show in a capital transformed into a gigantic stage".
    Right-leaning Le Figaro said the show was "great but some of
it was just too much". It said viewers "could have been spared"
images including an apparent recreation of the painting of The
Last Supper of Jesus and his apostles in front of a fashion
show.
            
    UNITED STATES
    "Opening Ceremony Misses the Boat" headlined the New York
Times's television review.
    It wrote that the river parade "turned the ceremony into
something bigger, more various and more intermittently
entertaining. But it also turned it into something more ordinary
— just another bloated made-for-TV spectacle". 
    The Washington Post was more glowing, noting that the
organiser's "bold thinking" brought a shine back to an event
that has seen its popularity wane in recent years. 
    
    CHINA
    China's Xinhua state news agency said the ceremony succeeded
in showcasing France. 
    "There were Can-Can girls, a homage to the reconstruction of
Notre Dame and of course the French Revolution, with fireworks,
heavy metal and singers who appeared to have lost a battle with
the guillotine.   
    "If there was a downside to the ceremony, it is that any
event performed over such a long distance has to struggle with
continuity, and the big difference between this ceremony and
others is that the parade of athletes was mixed in with the
performances."

    SOUTH KOREA
    South Korean media noted the "impressive" imagination of
using the whole city as the backdrop but the event was
overshadowed by the country's team being misintroduced as North
Korea. 
    South Korea's CBS radio said while the incident was no doubt
an honest mistake, it was disappointing the Paris organisers
failed at what should have been a very basic part of the event. 
        
    BRITAIN
    British tabloid The Sun joked 'Wet The Games Begin!’ on its
front page alongside an image of the Eiffel Tower surrounded by
laser beams, and described the ceremony as spectacular. 
    The Daily Mail's headline read 'La Farce!', mainly in
reference to the train disruption earlier in the day, but the
paper also judged Paris's gamble on the weather had "backfired
spectacularly".
    A writer for the Guardian newspaper described the parade of
boats on the Seine as "like watching an endless series of
weirdly nationalistic office parties" but concluded Celine Dion
had rescued the event with a "jaw dropping" performance. 
    
    ITALY
    La Gazzetta dello Sport said the ceremony was "something
unprecedented, even extraordinary. A great show or a long,
tedious work, depending on your point of view and sensibility."
    The mainstream Italian newspaper Il Corriere della Sera
likened the show to a contemporary art performance, noting that
"some (spectators) were bored, others were amused, many found
the spectacle disappointing".
    The left-leaning Italian daily La Repubblica said the
ceremony overshadowed the athletes.
    "A lot of France, a lot of Paris, very little Olympics.... a
mirror that the immortal Paris turned on herself and discovered
that she was so much, too much and soaking wet".

 (Reporting by Reuters Bureaux, writing by Rachel Armstrong,
editing by Ed Osmond)
 ((rachel.armstrong@thomsonreuters.com; +44 207 5423365; Reuters
Messaging: rachel.armstrong.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))