Paris welcomes 33rd Olympic Games with opening ceremony like no other

Zinedine Zidane starred in a video to tee up the arrival of the Olympic flame before flares set off from the Austerlitz Bridge formed a tricolore.

A total of 85 boats then began carrying the team delegations on a six-kilometre journey through the centre of Paris, with more than 300,000 spectators lining the banks of the river.

But as the night went on unabating rain grew steadily heavier, it was not so much a ceremony on the water as one in it, with athletes left sodden as they waved their flags.

As they did so, performers kept the script to deliver an array of performances that sought to convey the story of Paris and of France.

Lady Gaga was the first to steal the show, bursting forth from behind a pair of out-sized pink pom-poms to deliver a burlesque take on the French classic 'Mon truc en plume'.

The performances came in all shapes and sizes, with Gojira adding a dramatic twist of heavy metal.

Other famous faces within the stadium, aside from IOC president Thomas Bach and French president Emmanuel Macron included Ariana Grande, Serena Williams and John Legend.

With the rain getting increasingly heavy, one of the big screens in the stadium relaying pictures of the parade to the watching dignitaries temporarily failed a little over an hour in.

That came just before the Great Britain team hit the screens, with Andy Murray among those accompanying flagbearers Tom Daley and Helen Glover.

Once at the Trocadero, athletes, having long since abandoned any hope of keeping dry, began to gather by the long stage down the centre of the temporary stadium, which staff were busily trying to keep free of standing water with mops.

The biggest boat of all was reserved for hosts France, who rounded off the flotilla on a packed vessel that looked more like a ferry as dance music cranked up the atmosphere.

The rain finally began to ease off but not stop -as a performance of John Lennon's 'Imagine' was accompanied by a call for peace.

Once they had made their way into the stadium, IOC president Bach welcomed all of the competitors to the Games.

"Dear athletes, you have come to Paris as athletes, now you’re Olympians," he said. "Now you realise generations of athletes before, now you are part of something bigger. Now we are all part of an event recognised across the world."

Addressing conflicts around the world, he added: "Olympians from all around the world show what greatness us humans are capable of.

"Let us celebrate this Olympic spirit of living life in peace, as the one and only humankind, united in all our diversity.

"So I invite everybody to dream with us. It is why tonight the heart has strong emotion. I invite the whole world to celebrate together. Long live the Olympic Games, long live France."

Bizarrely, what was supposed to be a Games to give back to the people ended in a drawn-out final phase of the torch relay, played out past largely deserted landmarks and broadcast via big screens at the Trocadero before judo great Teddy Riner and ex-track favourite Marie-Jose Perec jointly lit the Olympic torch.

Cue Celine Dion, and the end of a drenched and disconnected opening ceremony that never quite lived up to its ambitious billing.

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