The Seine is clean enough for the Olympics, Paris’ mayor says
Even though swimming in the Seine has been banned for more than 100 years, the Paris Games spent $1.5 billion to clean it up and use it for the Olympics. It was also an effort to ensure Parisians will have a cleaner river after the Games.
As recently as early June, the Seine wasn’t Olympics-ready: Water tests returned results that showed an unsafe level of E. coli. Readings since then have shown improvement. On July 17, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo got in the Seine, declaring the famed river clean enough for Olympic swimmers who will compete in the waterway.
“The water is wonderful,” Hidalgo told NBC News after she emerged from the water, adding that it was “very cool and very nice.”
Paris is abuzz as a festive atmosphere takes hold
High-speed train network targeted with ‘malicious acts’
Hours before the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics on Friday, part of France’s high-speed rail network was paralyzed by “malicious acts” that disrupted service, officials in the country said.
“Coordinated malicious acts targeted several TGV lines last night and will seriously disrupt traffic until this weekend,” French Transport Minister Patrice Vergriete said in a post on X on Friday morning.
“I strongly condemn these criminal actions which will compromise the departures on vacation of many French people,” he said.
It was unclear who might be responsible for the attacks. France’s national rail operator SNCF said it was working to restore service following the incident.
The opening ceremony takes place on the Seine
This year’s opening ceremony is poised to be the most ambitious in Olympic history as the Parade of Nations moves from land to water.
Over 10,000 athletes will sail down the “main artery” of Paris, the Seine River, and make their grand entrance to the Olympic Games via boat. Typically, the parade involves processing into a stadium, nation by nation, but the French organizers had something even grander in mind.
“An opening ceremony has never been held outside of a stadium,” opening ceremony artistic director Thomas Jolly told The Associated Press. “There is no model; it’s absolute creation.”
The ceremony will begin at the Austerlitz Bridge and travel just under four miles down the river, landing at the Trocadéro near the Eiffel Tower. Along the way, the athletes will pass the city’s most prominent icons, including the Louvre and the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral.
How to watch the opening ceremony
The ceremony will be available to watch on NBC, Peacock and the NBC and NBC Olympics apps.
It will air live on NBC and Peacock at 1:30 p.m. ET and again during prime time, starting at 7:30 p.m. ET.
What time does the opening ceremony start?
The opening ceremony, which is expected to last four-and-a-half hours, will begin at 1:30 p.m. ET/10:30 a.m. PT. NBC will air a preview show beginning at noon ET/9 a.m. PT.
The NBC News live blogging team will also be reporting updates here all day, so be sure to hit refresh on this page.
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