Take off: Mathieu Lehanneur's Olympic Cauldron rises into the Parisian night sky

Olympic cauldron above the Paris night sky.

‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.’ Charles Dickens’ opening line of A Tale of Two Cities felt strangely appropriate for the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. To a backdrop of pouring rain, a sequence of extraordinary vignettes rolled out along the Seine, sometimes spectacular and moving, sometimes soggy and shoddy. Ceremonies all but done, after three hours, the crowds in Paris and around the world united in a gasp as Mathieu Lehanneur’s torches handed the Olympic flame over to his cauldron. Eyes, spirits and cauldron rose into the air simultaneously.

Prior to lighting, the balloon had befuddled Parisians, aware that something was up... (Image credit: Olympic Broadcasting Services. Getty Images.)