Paris Olympics opening ceremony to be held during sunset on July 26

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, left, speaks with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass during a meeting at the Paris City Hall Thursday, March 7, 2024. Bass is leading a trip to Paris to prepare for 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

PARIS (AP) — The opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics along the river Seine will be held during sunset, organizers said Friday.

It’s the first time an Olympic opening ceremony will be held outside a stadium setting, in line with the Paris organizers’ motto: “Games Wide Open.” About 10,500 athletes will parade through the heart of the French capital on boats on the Seine along a 6-kilometer (3.7-mile) route.

Organizers said the open-air event will start on July 26 at 7:30 p.m. Paris time.

They said the ceremony will offer “an unprecedented experience, using the natural light of the setting sun with all its nuances to illuminate the river promenade of all the world’s best athletes along the Seine, in the heart of the capital.”

This week, the French government said tourists won’t be given free access to watch the opening ceremony over security concerns. Free access will be invitation-only instead.

Organizers had planned a grandiose opening ceremony July 26 for as many as 600,000 people, most watching free of charge from riverbanks. But security and logistical concerns — and an outcry from booksellers along the city’s picturesque quays — have led the government to progressively scale back its ambitions.

Earlier this year, the overall number of spectators was reduced to around 300,000.

___

More AP coverage of the Paris Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

Olympic Hightlights

1 of 7 |

FILE - South Africa’s Jacques Freitag competes in the men’s high jump of the 2004 Olympic Games, in the Olympic Stadium in Athens, Friday Aug. 20, 2004. Local media is reporting that South African police have discovered the body of former high jump world champion Jacques Freitag after he went missing last month. The reports said the 42-year-old, who won the 2003 world title in Paris and competed at the 2004 Olympics, had been shot. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)

2 of 7 |

FILE - Ilona Maher of USA is tackled by Sharni Williams of Australia in a semifinal of the Rugby World Cup 7’s championship held in Cape Town, South Africa, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2022. The main task for Maher, the breakout social media star on TikTok at the Tokyo Olympics, is winning a medal in Paris. (AP Photo/Halden Krog, File)

3 of 7 |

FILE - Jacques Freitag of South Africa waves his national flag after he won the Men’s high jump event at the World Athletics Championships, at the Stade de France in Saint Denis, north of Paris, Monday, Aug. 25, 2003. Local media is reporting that South African police have discovered the body of former high jump world champion Jacques Freitag after he went missing last month. The reports said the 42-year-old, who won the 2003 world title in Paris and competed at the 2004 Olympics, had been shot. (AP Photo/Thomas Kienzle, File)

4 of 7 |

Sammy Sullivan of USA in action during HSBC rugby sevens series in Singapore, on May 4, 2024. The anthem played as Army officer Sammy Sullivan stood to attention and saluted beside her U.S. rugby teammates before a gold-medal game in Hong Kong against Olympic champion New Zealand. No prizes for guessing where her mind may have drifted to: Paris in July. (AP Photo/Suhaimi Abdullah)

5 of 7 |

USA Water Polo Women’s Senior National Team attacker Ryann Neushul, left, trains at Long Beach City College Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024, in Long Beach, Calif. Following in the footsteps of two older sisters who won gold with the U.S. women’s water polo team, Ryann Neushul is making her Olympic debut in Paris this summer. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

6 of 7 |

Iranian wrestler Iman Mahdavi, 28, practices at the Lotta Club Seggiano gym, in Pioltello , northern Italy, Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

7 of 7 |

FILE - Steven van de Velde of the Netherlands competes during the CEV Beach Volley Nations Cup Vienna 2022 men’s semifinal game against Austria at the Red Bull Beach Arena in Vienna, Austria, Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022. Van de Velde, convicted and imprisoned eight years ago for raping an underage girl in England has qualified for the Paris Olympics. (AP Photo/Florian Schroetter, File)