Paris Olympics’ opening ceremony will last nearly 4 hours
PARIS — With sunset and moonlight gleaming on the river, the grandiose opening ceremony for the Paris Olympics will last nearly four hours.
A total of 205 delegations will parade on more than 80 boats on the Seine. The ceremony will drift slowly from east to west, bridge to bridge, snaking six kilometers (3.7 miles) from Pont d’Austerlitz to Pont d’Iéna.
Proceedings begin at 3:45 p.m. and finish at 11:15 p.m. local time with artistic performances preceding the athletes’ parade.
The athletes will motor past about 320,000 fans wedged in behind security cordons on upper and lower tiers on the embankments. Others will gaze at giant screens beaming images of the ambitious ceremony.
“For one evening, the Seine will be transformed into a giant open-air ceremony,” Paris Games director of ceremonies Marie-Catherine Ettori said during a media briefing on Thursday.
Once the 10,500 athletes have disembarked from their boats, the final part of the ceremony takes place at the Trocadéro plaza overlooking the Eiffel Tower.
Amid the anticipation of seeing something so unique, there are tensions surrounding the safety of the ceremony heading into the Games starting on July 26.
Coyotes sold, will move to Salt Lake
The Arizona Coyotes are officially headed to Salt Lake City.
The NHL Board of Governors voted unanimously Thursday to approve a $1.2 billion sale from Alex Meruelo to Utah Jazz owners Ryan and Ashley Smith, clearing the way for the move to Utah next season.
College basketball: Iowa added one of the nation’s most productive scorers to fill the void left by superstar Caitlin Clark. Lucy Olsen said on social media that she’s joining the Hawkeyes after the former Villanova star entered the transfer portal. The guard averaged 23.3 points this season to rank third among Division I scorers.
NFL: Running back J.K. Dobbins signed a one-year contract with San Diego on Thursday. Dobbins averaged 5.8 rushing yards per carry the past four seasons, which leads the league among players with a minimum of 200 rushing attempts. He has played in only nine games the past three seasons because of injuries. Golf: Defending champion and world No. 2 Lilia Vu withdrew from the Chevron Championship at The Woodlands, Texas, before the first round because of a back injury.
Tennis: Top-ranked Iga Swiatek beat Elise Mertens 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the Porsche Grand Prix quarterfinals at Stuttgart on Thursday. Swiatek will face next Emma Raducanu, who knocked out Linda Noskova 6-0, 7-5.
In other news, Casper Ruud defeated Jordan Thompson in straight sets to earn his seasonleading 26th win and secure a spot in the quarterfinals of the Barcelona Open.