(Updates throughout)
PARIS, July 26 (Reuters) -
The Paris 2024 Olympic Games got underway with a splash as thousands of athletes sailed down the River Seine in a ceremony that fused French history, fashion and music under a heavy downpour of rain.
Here's what you need to know about the Olympics on Friday.
SPARKLE, DAZZLE AND DRIZZLE
The games opened with a four hour ceremony along the Seine featuring global stars Celine Dion and Lady Gaga, performances spanning historic and modern French culture, and a flotilla of barges carrying more than 6000 Olympians.
Hundreds of thousands of
spectators watched
the somewhat surreal ceremony along the riverbank whilst braving heavy rain.
RAILWAYS ATTACKED Saboteurs struck France's TGV high-speed train network in a series of pre-dawn attacks across the country, causing travel chaos and exposing security gaps ahead of the opening ceremony.
Rail operator SNCF estimated the disruption affected more than 800,000 customers, while Eurostar's high-speed services linking London and Paris were forced onto slower lines.
By late Friday SNCF said there had been an improvement to train services but it cautioned that disruption would continue through the weekend. It added that transport for Olympic teams would be guaranteed.
AN LVMH SHOWCASE
Bernard Arnault, France's wealthiest man and chief executive of luxury group LVMH, paid some 150 million euros ($163 million) to be the premium sponsor of the Paris Olympics'. At the Games' opening ceremony,
his wares were placed front
and centre of an extravaganza viewed by a global audience.
Singers Lady Gaga and Aya Nakamura both wore Dior, while LVMH's Berluti label dressed France's athletes for the ceremony.
The opening extravaganza displayed cinematic video footage of Louis Vuitton trunks being carried down to the Seine and production of the athletes' medals which are made by its jewellery brand Chaurmet.
SPYING SCANDAL
Canada's women soccer chief
Bev Priestman was sent home from the Games after the Canadian squad was accused of spying on rivals New Zealand by flying a drone over their training session. Her departure came hours after Canada beat the Kiwis 2-1. Canadian Olympic Committee CEO David Shoemaker said on Friday that Priestman was likely aware of the drone use, and Canadian sports network TSN cited sources saying the team had used drones to spy on opponents' training sessions before these Games.
Priestman has apologised and said the buck stopped with her.
BILES' NEW SKILL
Simone Biles has
submitted an original skill
on uneven bars ahead of the Paris Olympics that will be the American's sixth move named after her and first on bars if she can successfully complete it.
The four-time Olympic champion already has five elements named after her including two vaults, two tumbling skills on floor exercise and a dismount on balance beam.
AILING TENNIS STARS Women's third seed Elena Rybakina has become the latest big name to pull out of the Olympics tennis.
The big-serving 25-year-old Kazakh said she had contracted acute bronchitis.
On Wednesday, men's world number one and top seed Jannik Sinner of Italy had to withdraw from the singles and doubles because of illness, while exciting Danish youngster Holger Rune also pulled out on Wednesday with a wrist injury.
Czech player Marketa Vondrousova, who was runner-up in the singles in Tokyo three years ago, withdrew on Monday because of injury, as did Poland's Hubert Hurkacz because of a knee injury sustained at Wimbledon.
(Compiled by Rachel Armstrong; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Ros Russell) ((Email: richard.lough@thomsonreuters.com; Tel: +33 1 80 98 12 45;))
