What to expect from Paris Olympic opening ceremony spectacular?
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00:00Selena going to come straight to you out there because the weather has been threatening today
00:05and a central part of those games is that opening ceremony we're just a few moments away now how's it
00:11looking? Well look the weather has been one of these elements that organizers have said from
00:19the beginning they cannot control completely obviously everything else can be put into
00:24place they've said that they've adapted and had plan b's in case of rain like there is today we've
00:30just had about a 15 minute shower not that long ago quite a heavy shower when it comes to the
00:36spectators who are still fighting through there definitely isn't dampening their spirits everybody
00:41well kitted out in anoraks and umbrellas obviously I think this is probably safely the wettest year
00:48we've seen in a while in France and nobody would have expected a 26th of July to be a quite a
00:53washout as this one some plans might be need to be revised because we have seen maybe that there
00:58would be a BMX stunts and skateboards this evening that might not be able to happen if it does
01:03continue to rain there's some talk of dancers possibly on roofs this evening as well so some
01:09plans might have to be revised because of the weather but this will still be going ahead James
01:13and what a spectacular event it will be yeah it is though kind of sticking to script if we consider
01:17the weather we've had so far here in France this summer essential part of course Selena
01:22is that the opening ceremony is taking place then on the river Seine that's the river
01:26that flows right through the city almost 7,000 athletes they'll be parading through on boats
01:32it's been quite difficult to get many details about all of this is there anything that's
01:37leaked on your side in these last few moments well James as you said it's probably one of the
01:43best kept secrets in France if not at the world right now but we do have a bit of an idea what
01:48we might be going on this evening the artistic director Thomas Julie revealing that there'll be
01:5312 pieces of art scenes as of such that will be animating the parade along the Seine this evening
02:01there'll be around 3,000 dancers performing throughout the show the idea here this evening
02:07of course is France it's moment it's it's chance it's moment to showcase itself as the host nation
02:12there'll be around a 1 billion people watching this evening the French President Emmanuel Macron
02:18saying that so this ceremony will show a France that is welcoming bold and proud of its history
02:24Julie the artistic director saying too that the idea is to celebrate a French heritage and
02:30diversity here this evening so we're potentially expecting a mix of history and more modern day
02:37France to this evening when it comes to the identity of artists performing well that
02:42is really top secret though we have had a few clues because a few really big stars that have
02:47been spotted along the streets of Paris this week they've not made any secret of that on social
02:52media the first one of course being Celine Dion the Canadian singer who is a big is really well
02:58loved here in France and she's very popular in France almost an adopted French singer so to speak
03:04Lady Gaga has also been spotted in Paris and a lot of people on the internet are saying that they've
03:10spotted a piano along the river Seine and will she be performing on that this evening we'll have to
03:14wait and see in terms of French singers Aya Nakamura has been hotly tipped to perform here
03:21this evening as well and of course the big spectacle of this evening James is the fact that
03:26it's taking place along the river Seine this will be a first it's the first time in history that an
03:30Olympic ceremony is taking place outside of a stadium instead in the heart of Paris 3 000
03:36spectators will be attending here this evening 94 boats will be going along the river Seine with
03:42206 delegations being carried along by those boats as well as performers of course and it's
03:50quite had to be a quite a strict schedule because each boat I've learned I will have to go at nine
03:56kilometers an hour for 42 minutes so very precise timekeeping here this evening it's a six kilometer
04:03route from the Pont de Solice all the way costing many famous Parisian sites such as the Notre-Dame
04:10and the Louvre the Grand Palais as well finishing up just by the Eiffel Tower we then have another
04:16big mystery of this evening of course because the last one of the last official things to happen in
04:21this opening ceremony will be the lighting of the cauldron and there's obviously a lot of speculation
04:25over who will be handed that honor a lot of people have tipped it to be Marie-Josée
04:30Perrecque she's a three-time gold medalist for France in the 200 and the 400 meters it could
04:36also maybe be Zinedine Zidane the world cup winner of 1998 the first time Le Bleu won the world cup
04:42or maybe even Teddy Rienard who is a three-time medalist in judo for France what Tony Estanguet
04:48did admit is that the person or people who have been handed that honor didn't know even
04:54a few days ago that they will have it so even for them it will have been a surprise James