Opening ceremony continues as Games officially open

After its boat ride down the Seine, the Olympic torch was handed to Amélie Mauresmo, who ran it toward the Lourve before handing it off to Tony Parker, where the pair carried on their journey to the Lourve.

They were joined by three French Paralympic legends, and then by two handball players. The torch continued on through a parade of French Olympians including fencers, gymnasts, swimmers and cyclists.

A spectacular light show is being displayed on the Eiffel Tower as the torch makes its way to its final destination: the cauldron.

The torch was passed from soccer great Zinedine Zidane to tennis star Rafael Nadal.

Nadal brought the flame back to the Seine and boarded a boat with Serena Williams, Carl Lewis and Nadia Comăneci.

It is unclear where they are headed.

French President Emmanuel Macron has proclaimed the Games officially open.

Now we await the cauldron lighting.

For the first time, the Olympic Games will have an equal 50-50 ratio between male and female athletes, IOC President Thomas Bach said.

At the 1900 Paris Olympic Games, which were the first to include women at all, only 2.2% of athletes were women. That number has steadily risen, with the female field at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics reaching 48%.

As Paris hosts the Olympics for the third time, women officially comprise half of the Olympic field.

After a gripping preamble, the Olympic flag was hoisted amid the singing of the Olympic anthem and continued rain showers.

In a hugely suspenseful moment, a masked person in silver walked the Olympic flag to its final destination as drums played in the background.

U.S. Olympian Ibtihaj Muhammad slammed France’s decision to ban French athletes who observe the hijab from participating in the opening ceremony.

In a post on Instagram today, Muhammad wrote: “The Paris Olympics will be remembered as the Games that violated human rights — by banning French athletes in hijab.”

“There is no equity when we exclude some. Shame on France,” wrote Muhammad, who in 2016 became the first American woman to win a medal at the Olympics while wearing the religious head scarf.

“Shame on all of us who watched it happen and said nothing.”

France enforces a strict principle of “laïcité,” loosely translated as “secularism.” On Wednesday, David Lappartient, president of the French Olympic Committee, said that French Olympians are bound by the secular principles that apply to public sector workers in France, separating state and church, which includes a ban on hijabs.

While the silver horse rode down the Seine carrying the Olympic flag, a compilation of highlights throughout the Games’ history was shown.

Iconic moments, from Nadia Comăneci’s Perfect 10 at 1he 1976 Montreal Games to Usain Bolt’s finest sprints, flashed across the broadcast over a dramatic, choral backdrop.