The opening day of the Paris Summer Olympics was marred by coordinated arson attacks on France’s rail system, stranding some 800,000 travelers across Europe, including athletes traveling to the opening ceremony. The attacks targeted remote parts of the rail system away from the capital, hitting pipes that contain the network’s signaling cables.
French President Emmanuel Macron declared the Olympic Games open at roughly 5 p.m. ET. The opening ceremony featured a dazzling light show at the Eiffel Tower and the lighting of the Olympic cauldron, which floated into the sky on a balloon.
The opening ceremony, the first held in Paris since 1924, did not proceed without triggering some of the common controversies of the day. Conservative media and commentators were dismayed that the ceremony featured a reenactment of the Biblical Last Supper scene acted out by a group of drag queens.