in video, behind the scenes of Céline Dion's unforgettable performance at the Paris Olympics

It was 2:30 a.m. when Céline Dion began her final rehearsals, at the foot of the Trocadéro, on the eve of the opening ceremony of the Paris Games. To mark her comeback after four years of absence, the Quebec singer was to perform at the top of the Eiffel Tower, closing in majesty a grandiose evening which would open several weeks of Olympic competitions, performing in her costume of light The Hymn to Love by Edith Piaf. In an extract from the France TV documentary, At the heart of the Gamesdirected by Jules and Gédéon Naudet, we discover behind the scenes: Céline Dion, in Dior jogging pants, repeating gestures and words, facing an empty floor.

Thomas Jolly, artistic director of the Olympic ceremonies, is present, with tears in his eyes, and speaks in front of the camera: “She is luminous, what luck for the whole world,” he declares, moved. “There, we are truly human to human,” he continues. Celine Dion is particularly magnetic.” A few minutes later, after getting off stage, the star wanders among the team. “Let’s hope that the sky carries us,” she then wishes under the Paris sky. “Each of us, whatever our lives, will remember this finale on the Eiffel Tower. It was a huge emotion!”, we read in a user comment, in reaction to the sequence.

Stiff person syndrome

Before her performance, Celine Dion had not sung for four years because of stiff person syndrome, which she suffers from. A documentary on Amazon Prime revealed to the general public his daily life marked by a broken voice and attacks of spasms. “When Thomas Jolly called Celine Dion a year ago, she immediately said yes. “If I have to sing again, it will be for the Olympic Games,” she replied,” then explained host Daphné Bürki on France 2, after the star's arrival at the Olympics was made official. His performance on July 26 at the Parisian building shocked fans around the world.