See images of the Paris Olympics opening ceremony

The bold ceremony kicked off with an enormous plume of blue, white and pink smoke within the colours of the French nationwide flag with the Parade of Nations from the Austerlitz Bridge beside the Jardin des Plantes.

Athletes aboard boats traveled the course of the Seine River from east to west, getting a glimpse of a number of Olympic venues together with the La Concorde Urban Park, Invalides and the Grand Palais.

Giant jets of water spurted up from the river because the Greek delegation — as at all times — was the primary boat underneath the bridge and alongside the 6-kilometer (3.7-mile) route.

American singer Lady Gaga graced the crowds with a efficiency at a makeshift yellow staircase within the conventional model of the outdated French subways.

About 220,000 invited and security-screened spectators crammed the higher tiers of the Seine’s banks, and a further 104,000 paying spectators watched from the decrease riverside and across the Trocadéro plaza.

The parade ended on the Iena Bridge, which hyperlinks the Eiffel Tower on the left financial institution of the Seine to the Trocadéro district on the correct financial institution.

Here are extra images from the occasion: