Big boats and small boats

The ceremony was filled with a strange mix of boats, some huge and some tiny. Size of athlete delegation was key, though several nations shared vessels where possible. A few, though, were in rather smaller boats, with the two-athlete Solomon Islands given their own. Indeed, it was so small some feared it would capsize in the Paris downpour.

The faceless jockey

It almost seemed a nod to Star Wars, in terms of the outfit, but the oddly-armoured and faceless jockey had his moment when he rode a mechanised horse down the Seine, with his Olympic flag as a cape. He then switched to a real horse, dismounted, then walked for what seemed an age to deliver a second Olympic flag for the hoisting ceremony. The jockey is apparently meant to represent Sequana, the goddess of the River Seine in the Gallo-Roman religion.

We almost lost Serena Williams

Unexpectedly, the ceremony returned to the water when Serena Williams, Carl Lewis, Rafael Nadal and Nadia Comaneci carried the Olympic torch back up the Seine on a boat. There was nearly a mishap when they appeared to hit a wave while passing under a bridge, with Williams briefly looking like she might pass out or be sick, and Comaneci grabbing her arm for support. “We nearly lost Serena there,” said BBC commentator Andrew Cotter.