An armada of boats carrying athletes along the Seine, dangling dancers and parading drag queens – all under torrential rain

The Paris Olympic Games opened on Friday night with a high-kitsch, riverside spectacle, as an armada of boats carried athletes along the Seine, dancers dangled from high poles, drag queens paraded on bridges and the Olympic rings lit up the Eiffel Tower – all under unrelenting, torrential rain.

France had promised its opening ceremony would be the biggest open-air show on Earth. More than 300,000 people watched the riverside and bridges – and hundreds more stood at windows and balconies – as a show of dance, live-music and acrobatics unfolded along more than 6km of river from the Pont d’Austerlitz to the Eiffel Tower.

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Olympics opening ceremony creates sporting armada of world’s top athletes but locals bemoan lack of access

“ C’est Zizou !” went the cry as one of France’s most beloved sons appeared on the screen next to the Seine – and with a blaze of red white and blue, they were off.

As a procession of boats carrying more than 8,000 of the world’s top athletes in a sporting armada along 6km of the River Seine began their journey, the visitors to Paris 2024 not among the 300,000 people allowed to watch from the bridges and riverbanks crammed into bars and restaurants to cheer as their team went by.

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Arsonists used crude methods but disruption to opening of the Olympic Games in Paris was severe

It was about 1.15am when the SNCF maintenance workers, carrying out repairs by moonlight, spotted the group of people a little further down the railway line by a signal box outside the sleepy village of Vergigny, in the northern French department of Yonne.

They were concerned enough by the unlikely sight at such an hour to approach the intruders, and then to make a call to the local police as those they had interrupted ran off into the dark.

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Lesser known sports stars are showing off Olympic Village life and captivating people with their ‘joyful relatability’

Olympic hauls were once the preserve of triumphant athletes showing off their medals, but now every Olympian is getting in on the act by posting videos of themselves unboxing their sponsored kit .

Haul videos – a social media staple in which someone usually shows off their recent purchases – have been popping up online with athletes who are preparing to take to track and field, pitches and courts taking to TikTok instead.

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Reimagined Y2K-era micro-jacket is ideal for erratic weather and Olivia Rodrigo to Bella Hadid are early adopters

Emily in Paris, the hit Netflix show that follows the American expat Emily Cooper as she navigates the capital, is known for outraging Parisians with its cliches about berets, their rudeness and fondness for long lunches. However, it was millennials this week who were left horrified after the release of a trailer for its highly anticipated fourth season. In the sneak peek, its protagonist, Emily, is seen wearing a bright pink bolero, reminiscent of the tiny shrugs that dominated wardrobes circa 2000.

“Been there, done that, no need to revisit,” reads one comment on social media . “Hideous,” reads another. One user simply wrote “NO”.

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France still doesn’t have a government but at least it can unite in the joy of seeing Parisians even more peeved than usual

Getting to the Left Bank is easier said than done. Actually it’s fine by metro, but crossing the river by any other means is, temporarily at least, a bit of an ordeal: innumerable detours for closed bridges, and cops as confused as you are.

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Sporting greatness can unite the world in admiration. In grim geopolitical times, that is a welcome prospect

Forget the politics; relish the spectacle. That was, in essence, Emmanuel Macron’s hopeful message this week, as he called for a domestic “truce” while Paris stages its first summer Olympic Games for 100 years. Following the president’s ill-advised election gamble, which almost opened the gates of power to the far right, the host nation finds itself consigned to a form of rudderless political limbo . At present, there is no proper answer to the question: “Who governs France?” But following Friday’s opening ceremony, a fortnight of excellence on track and field will offer a welcome diversion to a divided nation.

At a time when the geopolitical outlook furnishes few reasons to be cheerful, the same goes for the billions expected to tune in around the world. As the dreams and ambitions of more than 10,000 athletes are pursued, the stage is set for perhaps the most visually sumptuous Olympics of modern times. Adopting an approach of “if you’ve got it, flaunt it”, and avoiding the cost of building expensive new infrastructure, organisers are taking the Games into the streets of one of the world’s most instantly recognisable cities.

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US rapper will conclude torch’s relay through Saint-Denis and Olympic Village to mark start of 33rd Games

Snoop Dogg will carry the Olympic torch through the final stages when it passes through Paris before the opening ceremony on Friday.

The US rapper will be hoping he won’t Drop It Like It’s Hot when he holds the torch in Saint-Denis to mark the start of the 33rd Games.

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• Peaceful protest set for Israel v Mali men’s football match
• Israel will have 24-hour protection from elite police units

Pro-Palestine campaigners plan to stage a protest from the stands of the Parc des Princes stadium when the Israel men’s football team play Mali in an opening tie in the Olympic Games in Paris.

Susanne Shields, from Europalestine, a French activist group which has been behind recent demonstrations, said there would be a peaceful protest inside the stadium against the “genocide” in Gaza.

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