The opening ceremony for the Paris Olympics began Friday, an unprecedented and ambitious show with up to 7,000 athletes parading down the River Seine past the historic monuments of the French capital despite the risk of rain dampening spirits.
For the first time in Olympic history, the opening ceremony is taking place outside the main stadium, with some 300,000 people watching in person from specially built stands on the river banks, and another 200,000 from overlooking balconies and apartments.
As tradition dictates, the Greek delegation had the honour of leading out the flotilla, as the cradle of the modern Olympic movement.
In an ambitious, high-risk departure from past opening ceremonies, the athletes will sail down the river in an armada of 85 boats.
The show will blend both French culture and history and great Olympic moments of the past while US pop star Lady Gaga wowed the crowd of VIPS and spectators with an early performance in the ceremony.
