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The Olympic Games have begun in France. Unlike the tradition of the parade of nations held in the stadium, the six kilometer parade here began from the Austerlitz Bridge in which more than 6800 players from 205 countries and a refugee Olympic team were travelling in 85 boats. A large number of players did not participate in the opening ceremony due to competitions on Saturday. Meanwhile, South Korea has raised objections to one thing in the opening ceremony. South Korean players were introduced by the name of North Korea. After this, South Korea told the organizers not to make such a mistake again.
In fact, when the boat of South Korean players was passing, the announcer introduced them as ‘Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’ which is the official name of North Korea. This name of the country was repeated in both French and English. After this, South Korea’s Deputy Minister of Sports and Culture Department, Jang Mi Ran, told the President of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, that such a mistake should not be repeated again.
After this, the Olympic Committee said, we are sorry that South Korea was introduced as North Korea during the opening ceremony. South Korea immediately took this matter seriously and sent its message to the Olympic Committee. Let us tell you that there are 143 athletes in South Korea’s delegation who are participating in 21 events. For the first time after Rio 2016, South Korea’s team is participating in the Olympics.
The highlight of the opening ceremony was the players’ march across the Seine River. At the start of the ceremony, the camera focused on French President Macron and International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach as a pre-recorded video showed French football legend Zinedine Zidane running through the streets of Paris with the Olympic torch.
The teams arrived in alphabetical order from France. The Greek team, the origin of the Olympic Games, arrived first, followed by the refugee team. The host team of France arrived last and was greeted with thunderous applause from the fans.
The Indian contingent was led by two flag bearers, two-time Olympic medallist P V Sindhu and table tennis legend Achanta Sharath Kamal. The Indian contingent came in 84th place. The women players wore saris made of the three colours of the national flag and the men wore kurta pyjama. 78 players and officials from India participated in it.
The boats passed by the city’s historic buildings, Cathedral of Notre Dame, Louvre Museum and some other venues. American pop star Lady Gaga enthralled the audience with her melodies. The opening ceremony was directed by Thomas Jolly. To make the program interesting, there were world famous Minions and a missing Mona Lisa who was finally found floating in the Seine river. More than two lakh free tickets were given for the opening ceremony in the city while more than one lakh tickets were sold. Tight security measures were taken for the opening ceremony and a large number of police and soldiers were deployed at various places. (With inputs from Bhasha)
