Tag: Opening Ceremony

IOC apologizes for wrongly introducing South Korea as North Korea during Opening Ceremony

There are a few mistakes you cannot make when introducing countries. This is among the biggest.

The Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony was an absolutely stunning display of the country’s history of culture and athletics.

We saw a re-enactment of Marie Antionette’s beheading followed by a heavy metal concert immediately after a rendition of Les Mis. We saw Celine Dion perform publicly (atop the Eiffel Tower!) for the first time since she was diagnosed with stiff-person syndrome in 2022. We had plenty of Assassin’s Creed jokes and one of the most sexually explicit scenes in Opening Ceremony history.

Yet the grand opening to the Paris Games wasn’t without a few gaffes.

The Olympic flag was hung upside down while Italy’s flag-bearer lost his wedding ring in the Seine.

But those are pretty minor issues compared to what happened when South Korea made its entrance at the ceremony. In both English and French, the delegation of 143 athletes was introduced to the crowd (and viewers across the globe) as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea — better known worldwide as North Korea.

The boat, however, correctly displayed the South Korean flag and another flag bearing the country’s official name of the Republic of Korea.

The International Olympic Committee immediately apologized, per ESPN:

“We deeply apologize for the mistake that occurred when introducing the Korean athletes during the broadcast of the opening ceremony,” the IOC’s official Korean language account said in a post on X.

IOC president Thomas Bach will speak with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Saturday to further convey an apology over the incident, South Korea’s vice sports minister said in Paris.

North Korea does have a small delegation of 16 athletes appearing at the Olympics for the first time since Rio de Janeiro and were correctly introduced during the Opening Ceremony.

Paris Opening Ceremony fumbled its flag raising by flying the iconic Olympic rings upside down

They had one job!

One of the key components of the Olympic Opening Ceremony is the arrival of the official flag of the games.

You know the one. The five interlocked rings on a white background. If you’re unfamiliar, just look at any photo of the Eiffel Tower, which is boasting a giant version of the logo right now.

Well, the arrival of the flag in Paris on Friday evening took the event to a whole new level. The flag and its bearer went on a trip down the river Seine  — like every other part of the ceremony — but it wasn’t on a boat. It was on a floating chrome horse that looked like it was galloping across the water.

How epic!

After such an incredible entrance it seemed like the ceremony was about to stick the landing. All they had to do was get the flag attached to the pole and raise it up.

That, uh, proved more challenging than it should’ve.

As many viewers pointed out in real time, the flag was accidentally attached upside down. WHOOPS! You can check it out here.

It’s three rings on top, two rings on bottom, y’all.

If you need a reminder, there’s still that GIANT LOGO visible on the Eiffel Tower.

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France’s Opening Ceremony got extremely, uh, thirsty and viewers were stunned

The Opening Ceremony got real explicit, real fast

The Paris Olympics officially kicked off with a stunning Opening Ceremony down the River Seine on Friday and it truly compressed as much French culture as one parade can fit.

Including an ode to, shall we say, one of the nation’s more promiscuous past times.

No, your eyes did not deceive you. That was really a pre-recorded scene depicting the start of a very sensual … ménage à trois?

Should we have expected this? Well, after Lady Gaga’s performance, a re-enactment of Marie Antionette’s beheading and a rendition of Les Mis, it was probably pretty safe to assume the ceremony would only get weirder.

That didn’t make it any less shocking to witness on network television in the middle of the afternoon. If you want to watch, click here.

 

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Where is Tonga’s Pita Taufatofua at the 2024 Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony

The shirtless Tongan didn’t make it to Paris.

It’s been eight years since Pita Taufatofua became an overnight celebrity after going shirtless while carrying Tonga’s flag at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janiero, but if you’re looking for him to reprise his role for a fourth opening ceremony we’ve got some unfortunate news.

Pita is not in Paris.

It’s a bummer not to have him take part in the Olympics this year, though it wasn’t for a lack of trying. Taufatofua attempted to qualify in both Kayak and Taekwondo, but missed out in both events.

He seems to be taking it all in stride, however, posting on Instagram that he feels for the small Tongan team that won’t get to experience the Olympics.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C57ByeOyfwS/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

“Sorry Paris, the five gallons of extra virgin coconut oil I’ve been stock piling ‘may’ have to wait,” Pita wrote.

A true loss for all of us.

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Did you know the 2024 Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony will be on the Seine River?

The Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony will be on the Seine.

The Opening Ceremony for the 2024 Paris Olympics will take place on Friday, July 26, and it if nothing else, it’ll be incredibly scenic. The Opening Ceremony will begin at 1:30 p.m. ET on NBC with an encore broadcast at 7:30 p.m. ET.

This year, the parade of athletes is set to take place on a river.

That’s right. For the first time in the history of the Olympic Summer Games, the Opening Ceremony won’t take place in a stadium. It’ll happen on the Seine River, right in the heart of Paris.

This may come as a surprise to anyone who’s been following updates on the Seine’s cleanliness — or lack thereof — which have included threats of protest and criticism from a U.S. swimmer. But Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo took a swim in the river to prove to the world it’s ready for the Olympics.

For the Opening Ceremony, each national delegation will have its own boat on the Seine, equipped with cameras to give spectators up-close views of the 10,500 athletes competing in Paris. The boats will travel almost four miles through the centre of Paris and come to an end in front of the Trocadéro for the final shows.

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Peyton Manning’s busy summer continues with coverage of 2024 Olympics

Peyton Manning’s busy summer will continue next week when he co-hosts NBC’s coverage of the Opening Ceremony for the Olympic Games in Paris.

Peyton Manning’s had a busy year, and things won’t slow down this summer.

Manning kicked off 2024 by calling a playoff game on ESPN2 as part of his ManningCast with his brother, Eli. The brothers then coached the Pro Bowl (Eli won again) and Peyton starred in a Super Bowl commercial.

Peyton and Eli later appeared in an ad for Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, and Peyton starred in a commercial for the 2024 NFL draft. Peyton then successfully recruited free agent coach Bill Belichick to join his ManningCast lineup in 2024.

The annual Manning Passing Academy also had another successful run this year.

More recently, Peyton stole the show at Tom Brady’s roast, then he surprised his friend and old rival at No. 12’s Patriots Hall of Fame ceremony. Last week, Manning’s newest show, Receiver, made its debut on Netflix.

Next week, Manning will be part of NBC’s coverage of the Opening Ceremony for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Manning spoke with WDSU’s Fletcher Mackel about the opportunity earlier this month:

Manning will join Mike Tirico and Kelly Clarkson for live coverage of the opening events at 10:00 a.m. MT on Friday, July 26 on NBC and Peacock. Manning previously starred in a commercial promoting the 2024 Olympics last year. Although he never played in the Games himself, Manning is an iconic sports figure in the USA and a perfect candidate to co-host next week.

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Naomi Osaka says lighting Olympic cauldron was her ‘greatest athletic achievement and honor’

Naomi Osaka was the final torchbearer at the Tokyo Olympics.

As the Opening Ceremony at the Summer Olympics was coming to a close Friday night in Tokyo, Japanese tennis superstar Naomi Osaka lit the iconic Olympic cauldron.

Osaka — the No. 2 tennis player in the world and four-time Grand Slam champ who will compete for the host country at the Games — was the final Olympic torchbearer in what’s usually a long and celebrated relay in the months leading up to the Olympics.

As NBC Sports noted, the relay began in March in Fukushima before traveling across Japan for 121 days and reaching Tokyo on July 9. However, this year because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the public portion of the torch relay was canceled, so torchbearers did not run through the streets surrounded by fans as originally planned.

But the tradition of lighting the Olympic cauldron at the Opening Ceremony continued, and Osaka described it as “the greatest athletic achievement and honor” of her life.

Tennis at the Tokyo Games begins Saturday, July 24.

Here’s a closer look at Osaka lighting the cauldron at Friday’s Opening Ceremony.

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