The opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics was held on the banks of the Seine on Friday evening. The Hungarian athletes sailed in with competitors from Honduras and Hong Kong, presenting a breathtaking sight.
The Hungarian athletes proudly wore the national colors, while the audience greeted them with enthusiastic applause. The flags of the Hungarian team were waved by the handball player Blanka Böde-Bíró and the juggler Krisztián Tóth. Zsolt Gyulay, the president of the Hungarian Olympic Committee, also traveled with the Hungarian Olympians.
"I also chose to go on the ship with the athletes, because I could sit with the presidents, I just wanted to feel once again that kind of emotion, or that strange feeling, when the athletes enter here, although this time not in the stadium, but in the on a river. For the athletes, it's a huge experience, even if it's a long torture ride, because I remember at every Olympics before the opening, you had to wait a lot in front of the stadium, but you forget that when you arrive in front of the spectators."
- said Zsolt Gyulay to M4 Sport at the opening, who also noted that they have been preparing for almost a year and a half to ensure that everything is in order at the summer games, but "the organization is a bit French" and nothing goes as planned.
The MOB president also said that he has a busy schedule on Saturday.
"We still have a semi-official program tomorrow morning, but I would have liked to go to the Pétervári-Molnár Bendegúz prelims right away, at nine in the morning. We just talked with his father and coach Zoltán Molnár here and recalled the memories of Seoul, since we competed there together, but I hope that we will be able to go to the competitions as soon as possible. Of course, in the afternoon I have to be there at the fencing and elsewhere. The program that has been put together for me is very dense, and I want to be there at as many sports competitions as possible."
Zsolt Gyulay stressed.
The Hungarian team has 180 members, but several of them were absent from the ceremony, either because they haven't arrived in the French capital yet, or because they already have a competition at the weekend. The women wore green dresses, while the men wore dark jackets and light shirts.
In an unusual way, the athletes' "parade" that started at the beginning of the ceremony was opened by the competitors of Greece, the cradle of the five-ring games, followed by the refugee team, and from then on, the nations arrived based on the French ABC, Hungary was 83rd in line. The hosts of the next two summer games, namely Australia and the United States, will line up on the boats just before the French, who came last, in 205th place, as the host. Athletes could choose between a short and a long program.
Almost 11,000 competitors from 206 nations will participate in the Paris Olympics.
Featured image: Olympic team members from Honduras, Hong Kong and Hungary (j) wave from a boat on the Seine River during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris on July 26, 2024. MTI/EPA-EFE pool/Miguel Tona
