Deranged Smurfs and flaming pianos: strangest moments of the opening ceremony

For the opening of the summer Games of the 33rd Olympiad, Paris offered an opening ceremony that was audacious, outrageous and sometimes filled with delightfully baffling moments. There were headless Marie Antoinettes, Minions, a near-naked man painted blue, a faceless jockey and flaming pianos, to mention a few.

Here were some of the strangest moments from the night.

The deranged Smurf

A giant cloche was raised to reveal a fruit salad topped by a near-naked man covered in blue paint sporting a bright orange beard and wearing a fruit headdress and sash. Looking like some kind of deranged Smurf, he then began to sing. According to BBC commentator Hazel Irvine, the man was meant to be portraying Greek god Dionysus. It’s an image that will remain seared into the memories of all who saw it.

A piano on fire

Singer Juliette Armanet and pianist Sofiane Pamart’s water-borne performance of John Lennon’s Imagine – a song with the line ‘imagine there’s no countries’ sung after every nation in the world had sailed past – was completely overshadowed by Pamart’s piano being set on fire for no apparent reason.

While all around lost their head

A dramatic performance by heavy metal band Gojira at a castle overlooking the Seine was preceded by a clip of what appeared to be a beheaded Marie Antoinette singing to the crowd. Brian May on the roof of Buckingham Palace it was not, although it was considered one of the highlights of the early part of the performance.

Big boats and small boats

The ceremony was filled with a strange mix of boats, some huge and some tiny. Size of athlete delegation was key, though several nations shared vessels where possible. A few, though, were in rather smaller boats, with the two-athlete Solomon Islands given their own. Indeed, it was so small some feared it would capsize in the Paris downpour.

The faceless jockey

It almost seemed a nod to Star Wars, in terms of the outfit, but the oddly-armoured and faceless jockey had his moment when he rode a mechanised horse down the Seine, with his Olympic flag as a cape. He then switched to a real horse, dismounted, then walked for what seemed an age to deliver a second Olympic flag for the hoisting ceremony. The jockey was apparently meant to represent Sequana, the goddess of the River Seine in the Gallo-Roman religion.

We almost lost Serena Williams

Unexpectedly, the ceremony returned to the water when Serena Williams, Carl Lewis, Rafael Nadal and Nadia Comaneci carried the Olympic torch back up the Seine on a boat. There was nearly a mishap when they appeared to hit a wave while passing under a bridge, with Williams briefly looking like she might pass out or be sick, and Comaneci grabbing her arm for support. “We nearly lost Serena there,” said BBC commentator Andrew Cotter.

The Telegraph UK