Olympics opening ceremony: when is it? what time does it start?

WASHINGTON – Paris is hosting the Olympics for the first time in a century, promising two weeks of spectacular athletic excellence.

Innovation is at the forefront of the 2024 Summer Games as several new sports debut. For the first time, the Olympics will have an equal number of female and male athletes, and track and field gold medal winners will receive prize money directly from Olympic revenues.

Paris’ innovations will be on display during the opening ceremony, when athletes parade along the River Seine during the first event of its kind.

The Olympic opening ceremony will take place at sunset on Friday, July 26.

The 2024 Paris Olympics opening ceremony will officially begin at 7:30 pm local time in Paris. That means it will start at 1:30 a.m. Eastern, 12:30 a.m. Central, 11:30 a.m. Mountain and 10:30 a.m. Pacific.

Thousands of athletes will head in a flotilla along the River Seine towards the Eiffel Tower. This will be the first time in the modern history of the Games that the opening ceremony will be held outside the stadium.

About 94 boats, one for each national delegation, will parade along the river as the opening ceremony of the event.

After the boat parade, Olympic protocols – which have been in place for 124 years – and the final show will take place.

The ambitious idea was to bring this spectacular spectacle out of the expensively ticketed stadiums and into the city, where more people could see it. A crowd of 320,000 people is expected to line the river bank along the 6-kilometre (3.7-mile) route from the Pont d’Austerlitz to the Pont d’Eina.

Unlike previous ceremonies, tickets will be free for the approximately 220,000 invited and security-screened spectators watching from the upper riverbank.

Around 100,000 paying spectators, including a lavish hospitality package, will watch from the lower riverbank and around the Trocadero Plaza – where the parade will end overlooking the Eiffel Tower.

The original plan for 600,000 spectators allowed more spontaneity but less security in the city.

French President Emmanuel Macron has acknowledged that the river-borne parade could be moved if the city suffers another terrorist attack like in 2015.

“Since we are professionals, there are obviously Plan B, Plan C and so on,” Macron said in December.

For an opening ceremony that bills itself as “the largest in the history of sports,” expect the ceremony to last a long time.

The official Olympics page reads, “The philosophy and ceremonial aspects of the Olympic Games distinguish them from all other international sporting events.” “Through music, song, dance and fireworks, the opening and closing ceremonies invite people to discover the culture of the country in which the Games are taking place.”

According to the Olympics’ official site, about 1.5 billion viewers are expected to watch the opening ceremony, which will be broadcast around the world.

The 2021 Tokyo Games took about four hours, NBC reports.

NBC and Peacock will provide live coverage of the inauguration ceremony beginning at noon Eastern on Friday, July 26.

live stream link: NBC Daytime coverage of the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics (live)

Telemundo will also provide Spanish-language coverage beginning at 1 p.m. ET.

Primetime coverage of the inauguration ceremony will begin at 7:30 PM ET/PT on NBC and Peacock.

live stream link: NBC primetime coverage of the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics

Singer Kelly Clarkson and NFL legend Peyton Manning will join sportscaster Mike Tirico in Paris as scene-side hosts of NBC’s inauguration ceremony coverage.

The closing ceremony is scheduled for 11 August at the Stade de France national arena after hosting track and field in the final week.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.