Paris 2024: worst-ever Olympics Opening Ceremony in history

27 July 2024

nice city... but this supposingly 'unique' concept just didnt work. visually quite messy & lacks focal point(s). probably the most underwhelming opening ceremony for recent Olympics... 🥱

Hahaha & i'm not alone. the internet is really buzzling with tons of harsh critiques from international media (e.g. NY Post, , Irish Star, Daily Mail, Daily Express US, Express UK, LADBible, Herald Sun, SCMP, Yahoo Sports) & global netizens on the worst-ever Olympics Opening Ceremony in history. [interestingly, only Singapore's mainstream media praised the opening lol... guess they dun have enough time to edit their final draft accordingly to the reality in time for print.] Don't believe, go google "worst Olympics Opening" and see the results yourself.

Extracting some of the more striking reports/comments from the media here for ref:

"Taking the show out of the stadium and onto the Seine was a unique and well-intended idea from a historically out-of-the-box country. But not every revolution works out." - NY Post "Nothing came together. Was any of the messy staging awe-inspiring or remotely impressive, as London, Beijing, Sydney, Rio and Tokyo all were? Non. The fake enthusiasm of the NBC presenters, including Kelly Clarkson, over the buffet of banality deserves an Emmy." - NY Post (https://nypost.com/2024/07/26/entertainment/the-paris-olympics-2024-opening-ceremony-was-shockingly-bad/)

"The Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony has been dubbed the "worst in history" by angry fans watching the action unfold from home." - Express UK (https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1928620/paris-2024-olympics-opening-ceremony-worst-history)

The 2024 Paris Olympics Games left viewers fuming as sports lovers called the introduction the "worst opening ever", declared the boat parade "terrible," and raged against the abysmal camera angles." - Daily Express US (https://www.the-express.com/latest/olympic-games)

"The Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony was dubbed the 'worst in history' by many UK viewers - with the city centre spectacle failing to impress fans all over the globe" - Irish Star (https://www.irishstar.com/sport/other-sports/shocker-france-paris-olympics-opening-33337777)

"But the chaotic nature of the whole ceremony failed to grip some viewers who were already beginning to turn off at the start." - GB News (https://www.gbnews.com/sport/other-sport/paris-olympics-opening-ceremony-worst-ever-viewers-switch-off)

"The Paris Olympics organisers’ brave attempt at a different approach to the opening ceremony did not go down too well with fans on social media." - South China Morning Post (https://www.scmp.com/sport/paris-olympics-2024/article/3272107/paris-olympics-opening-ceremony-branded-worst-ever-disappointed-social-media-users)

London-based lecturer Dr Luka Vicinic expressed his disappointment, tweeting: "Honestly, this is the worst Olympic Games Opening Ceremoy since I can remember. Seriously, what on Earth is this? "

"The unique opening ceremony proved very divisive, with many panning the disjointed coverage and complaining it went way too long. One of the biggest gripes was the lack of air-time the athletes received, with the majority of the focus on the performances rather than the competitors. Viewers only saw glimpses of the athletes from wide camera angles, and many complained there wasn't enough focus placed on the stars of the Games." - Yahoo Sports (https://au.sports.yahoo.com/olympics-opening-ceremony-divides-opinion-as-athletes-dudded-by-horrible-move-in-paris-205723497.html)

The 1st Olympics Opening I watched live was Atlanta 1996 (when I was P5, in the morning before school). To be honest, I do remember snippets of each olympics opening. For Atlanta 199, while eerie, the soulful performers & pringles chips in olympics colours (each representing a continent) dancing to the tribal beats was impactful; Sydney 2000 (Sec3; Bjork refused to hold a mic when asked to lip-sync); Greece 2004; Beijing 2008 (the footprint fireworks across Beijing city night sky); London 2012; Tokyo 2021 (MISIA singing Japan national anthem to an empty stadium). Paris 2024 will definitely be remembered as a boring cheap show shadowed by lots of terror threats & poor weather.

Personally, this mess is like a rojak of our Singapore River Cruise, City Duck Tour, Chingay rehearsal, rehearsal of NDP @ Marina Bay Float, just that we (a little red dot) did it much much better. Like what some netizens commented, they feel embarrased on behalf of France.

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