Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony: Boats, Beyoncé & a Giant Hot Air Balloon Cauldron

The 2024 Olympics, which kick off this week in Paris, are intended to "revolutionize" the Games yet remain accessible to a broad audience.

To commemorate the official start of the Olympics, which were last held in Paris exactly a century ago, organizers have spent years orchestrating a dynamic, and distinctly French, affair.

Over a billion people around the world are expected to tune in. Here's everything to know about the ceremony, which, if all goes to plan, will go down in Olympic history.

Stream every moment and every medal of the 2024 Paris Olympics on Peacock, starting with the opening ceremony Friday at 12 p.m. ET.

The live NBC broadcast kicks off with a pre-show at noon ET Friday, and the ceremony itself begins at 7:30 p.m. Paris time, or 1:30 p.m. ET.

The prime-time encore telecast, which features additional content, will air later in the day for U.S. viewers, at 7:30 p.m. ET. The ceremony is expected to be over four hours.

Follow here for live coverage of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

NBC will have 40 cameras capturing the action in Paris, and live coverage begins at noon ET. The ceremony will be broadcast on TV and streamed in digital format on NBC, Peacock and NBC Olympics. (NBC News shares a parent company with those entities, NBCUniversal).

A Boat Parade Down the Seine

At the start of the ceremony, the French flag will be raised and the French national anthem will be played.

Next comes what is arguably the highlight of the ceremony: the Parade of Nations. Athletes representing 206 countries will make their ceremonial entrance into the Games. Historically, that involves marching into a stadium on foot, but this year, athletes will proceed by boat along the "main artery" of Paris, the Seine River.

"An opening ceremony has never been held outside of a stadium. There is no model; it’s absolute creation," opening ceremony artistic director Thomas Jolly told The Associated Press.

Each national delegation will ride in a boat equipped with cameras that enable immersive access for viewers.

The ceremony will begin at the Austerlitz Bridge and travel just under 4 miles down the river, landing at the Trocadéro near the Eiffel Tower. Along the way, the athletes will pass the city's most prominent icons, including the Louvre and the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral.

At the end of the route, the Olympic torch will be lit. French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to speak.

The Opening Ceremony Was a Triumph of French Culture

Several potential roadblocks, such as security and pollution concerns, have threatened to impede the extravagant opening ceremony. However, officials maintain that they are "more than ready" as they make their final preparations.

NBC's Mike Tirico will host the ceremony for the fourth time, alongside three-time Grammy-winning singer Kelly Clarkson and NFL Hall of Famer Peyton Manning.

Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb, hosts of NBC’s “TODAY,” will have an aerial view of the ceremony from a bridge on the Seine. Maria Taylor, a commentator for NBC Sports, will also be part of the hosting effort.

The official musical performers remain unconfirmed, but Céline Dion and Lady Gaga have both arrived in Paris, further fueling speculation that they may be among the headliners.

The French newspaper Le Parisien reported that Dion, who is Québécois and often sings in French, is rumored to perform “L’Hymne à l’amour,” by one of France's most famous musicians, Édith Piaf. It would be Dion's first live performance since she was diagnosed with stiff-person syndrome in 2022.

Team USA Highlights

Because the U.S. will host the next Summer Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028, Team USA is set to be the penultimate team down the river. France gets the honor of being the last boat for its home Olympics.

NBA legend LeBron James and U.S. Open tennis champion Coco Gauff are scheduled to bear the U.S. flag throughout the ceremony. Gauff, 20, will be the youngest athlete to ever carry the Stars and Stripes at an Olympic opening ceremony.

James is a three-time Olympic medalist, while Gauff will make her Olympic debut in Paris.

Behind the Scenes of the Opening Ceremony

The City of Light just put on a spectacular show — and PEOPLE is covering every magic moment.

The Paris Olympics opening ceremony was held on the Seine river on Friday, July 26, with thousands of athletes from around the world making their big debut in a boat-based Parade of Nations amid rainy conditions.

Team USA's over 500 members were outfitted in Ralph Lauren's finest and ready to begin 16 days of competition. They were led by Coco Gauff and LeBron James as flagbearers — the first tennis player and basketball player to score the gigs.

There was also a slate of celebrity performers on the river to highlight France's culture as these Summer Games kick off — including Lady Gaga.

Celine Dion and the Cauldron

The highlight of the night was the lighting of a hot air balloon-shaped cauldron, which rose into the air as Céline Dion sang "Hymne à L'amour" in her first performance since revealing her stiff-person diagnosis.

The Performance of Lady Gaga

Accompanied by a live orchestra, Lady Gaga captivated alongside the Seine early into the broadcast.

Wearing a chic black corset and skirt while she danced with fluffy pink poofs — and dancers carrying the same — Gaga performed "Mon Truc en Plumes" by Zizi Jeanmaire in French.

She danced before sitting down at a waterside piano.

A Look at the Parade of Nations

As is tradition, Greece — the site of the first-ever Olympic Games — began the Parade of Nations, aboard a crowded boat. The athletes waved the Greek flag as the audience looked on.

Close behind followed the IOC Refugee Olympic team, and other smaller teams sharing boats on the Seine — like Algeria and Germany.

The United States will not ship off until the end of the parade, as they'll be the next country to host a Summer Games in Los Angeles in 2028.

The Olympic Torch and the Flag

A delegation of remarkable athletes just helped take the Olympic torch over the finish line — all aboard a speedboat.

Iconic French soccer player Zinedine Zidane first retrieved the torch from the masked man to then pass it along to Rafael Nadal, a 14-time winner of the French Open.

Nadal boarded a speedboat on the Seine, where he was joined by gymnast Nadia Comănici, fellow tennis icon Serena Williams and then track and field icon Carl Lewis. After the boat docked near the Louvre, tennis player Amelie Mauresmo retrieved the torch and jogged to pass off the torch to basketball's Tony Parker.

More athletes joined the contingent, including French triathlete Alexis Hanquinquant and handball's Michaël Guigou. Charles Coste, the oldest living Olympic French champion — who is 100 years old — also passed along the torch.

French Olympians Teddy Riner and Marie-José Perec were the final pair to light the actual cauldron, which was in the shape of a hot air balloon.

Officers of France's Republican Guard raised the Olympic flag — which features the six Olympic rings — onto a flagpole at the Palais du Trocadéro after it was delivered by the horseman.

During the flag raising, the Olympic anthem was performed by 60 choristers from the Radio France Choir.

Unfortunately, it seems that the flag was raised incorrectly. The green and yellow rings appeared at the top of the flag as it was raised — that means it was upside down, as they're at the bottom of the iconic symbol.

A Unique and Emotional Opening Ceremony

World unity is the theme at the Olympics opening ceremony.

Alongside the river, countless French citizens peeked out of their apartments and clambered onto their balconies to get a view of the action.

Opening Ceremony Plagued by On-and-Off Rain

Despite months of planning and preparation, nothing could stop the rain on the gathered crowds, athletes and celebrities in Paris.

In the hours leading up to the ceremony's start, the weather fluctuated from a slight drizzle to heavy downpour, leading many to resort to umbrellas as they arrived along the Seine river.

Alongside the river, bars and restaurants were filled with very wet revellers.