Celine Dion keeps fans waiting at Paris Olympics 2024 Opening Ceremony

Albertina Lloyd
Celine Dion announces the fifth overall pick of the Montreal Canadiens onstage during the first round of the 2024 Upper Deck NHL Draft at Sphere on June 28, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Dave Sandford/NHLI via Getty Images)
Celine Dion fans were on tenterhooks waiting for her to appear at the Olympics Opening Ceremony. (Getty Images) (Dave Sandford via Getty Images)

Celine Dion fans were on tenterhooks waiting for her at the Olympics 2024 Opening Ceremony in Paris.

The 56-year-old singer was rumoured to be launching a comeback during the festivities along the banks of the River Seine in Paris, France. Some reports even claimed Dion would duet with Lady Gaga at the opening ceremony. But when Lady Gaga kicked off the events on her own, Dion fans were left excited but frustrated as they watched the four hour long ceremony, in the pouring rain.

Fans even began speculating whether Dion was the masked figure carrying an Olympic Torch who kept appearing running through Paris during the ceremony.

The Eiffel Tower and Olympic Rings are illuminated at the Trocadero during the opening ceremony for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France, Friday, July 26, 2024. (Loic Venance/Pool Photo via AP)
The opening ceremony for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris lasted around four hours. (Pool Photo via AP) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Dion fans are waiting for her big comeback following her diagnosis with stiff person syndrome (SPS), a rare neurological disorder which causes muscular rigidity and stiffness, and how it has impacted her ability to sing. The My Heart Will Go On singer went public with her diagnosis in December 2022 when she postponed her tour and opened up about living with the condition in the recent Prime Video documentary film I Am: Celine Dion.

It was rumoured that the French-Canadian singer would launch her comeback at the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris on Friday 26 July 2024.

Thomas Daley and Helen Glover, Flagbearers of Team Great Britain, wave the flag on the athletes' parade team boat along the River Seine during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 on July 26, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
The Parade of Nations at the Olympics Opening Ceremony featured 10,500 athletes and 94 boats. (Getty Images) (Maddie Meyer via Getty Images)

The ceremony last around four hours long, as it includes the Parade of Nations, in which 10,500 athletes from the competing countries travelled upon 94 boats along the six-kilometer route on the River Seine. This was interspersed by various performances celebrating French culture, including music and fashion. One repeated clip saw a hooded and masked figure, carrying an Olympic Torch walking through historic parts of the city.

Dion grew up in French-speaking Quebec, Canada and both her parents are of French descent. She won the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of Switzerland, but singing in French. She has released 15 albums in French, compared with 12 in English.

A torch bearer runs atop the Musee d'Orsay, in Paris, France, during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 26, 2024. (Peter Cziborra/Pool Photo via AP)
Celine Dion fans began to ask if she was the masked torch bearer running through Paris. (Pool Photo via AP) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Dion fans became increasingly frustrated as they waited for her to appear, admitting they were bored.

One wrote on social media platform X: "I’m only here to watch #CelineDion #OlympicGames" Another said: "This isn’t for me I’m afraid. I can’t get into it. I’m only waiting for #TeamGB and #CelineDion #OlympicGames #Olympics #Paris2024" One confessed: "#OpeningCeremony Afraid I’ll fall asleep & miss #CelineDion Afraid I’ll stay awake & she won’t perform Underwhelming ceremony" And another complained: "Just waiting for Céline Dion, even if she lip-syncs. Sorry, Paris, but this opening ceremony might have looked wonderful on paper, but doesn’t translate well on TV. #Paris2024 #ParisOlympics #CelineDion"

Some began to speculate if she would turn out to be the mased figure carrying the torch.

Canadian singer Celine Dion singing during live concert 2018 in Sentul, Bogor, Indonesia, on July 7, 2018. (Photo credit should read JEVAYONA DELITA / Barcroft Media via Getty Images)
Celine Dion fans can't wait for her comeback. (Getty Images) (Barcroft Media via Getty Images)

One tweeted: "Céline is the character with the hood and mask is my guess! #celinedion" Another commented: "I bet the masked person with the torch is @celinedion #Paris2024 #OpeningCeremony #CelineDion" One declared: "When the phantom flan flinger reveals themselves it’s going to be #CelineDion isn’t it. #OpeningCeremony"

And another exclaimed: "Every single bet I have is on @celinedion being masked torch carrier. She will be lighting the official @Olympics flame. I feel it in my absolute core. #CelineDion #Paris2024 #Olympics #OlympicGames"

#Olympia, Paris 2024, opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics, singer Lady Gaga performs before the opening ceremony. Photo: Sina Schuldt/dpa (Photo by Sina Schuldt/picture alliance via Getty Images)
Lady Gaga performed a cabaret song at the start of the Olympics opening ceremony in Paris. (Getty Images) (picture alliance via Getty Images)

Lady Gaga kicked off the Opening Ceremony with a cabaret-style rendition, that left some viewers confused.

The Bloody Mary singer performed Renée Jeanmaire’s song Mon Truc en Plumes [My Thing With Feathers], in French and played a grand piano before dancing cabaret-style down golden stairs surrounded by dancers with fluffy pink feather pom poms. Lady Gaga - whose real name is Stefani Germanotta - is a US citizen born in Manhattan, with Italian heritage. So her appearance at the opening ceremony had many viewers asking "Is Lady Gaga French?"

This article originally appeared on Yahoo TV UK at https://uk.news.yahoo.com/celine-dion-fans-waiting-olympics-opening-ceremony-194710114.html

Advertisement