PARIS: A fleet of barges took the competitors on a 6km-stretch of the river alongside some of the French capital’s most famous landmarks, as athletes were cheered by the crowd along the Seine in the pouring rain and dancers took to the rooftopss of Paris in the Olympics’ opening ceremony on Friday.

Lady Gaga sang a French cabaret song near Notre Dame cathedral. As tradition dictates, the Greek delegation had the honour of leading out the flotilla, as the cradle of the modern Olympic movement.

This is the first time an opening ceremony has taken place outside a stadium, adding to the headaches for a vast security operation.

France’s anthem rang out as the parade passed by the Grand Palais, before the show paid tribute to women who made French history, including former minister Simone Veil.

Hours before the opening ceremony, saboteurs struck France’s TGV high-speed train network in a series of pre-dawn attacks across the country, causing travel chaos and exposing security gaps.

The coordinated sabotage took place as France mounted a massive security operation involving tens of thousands of police and soldiers to safeguard the capital for the sporting extravaganza.