“Celine Dion Triumphantly Returns to Stage at Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony”
Celine Dion made a stunning return to the spotlight on Friday, headlining the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics with a performance from the Eiffel Tower.
Celine Dion
Nearly two years after revealing her diagnosis with stiff person syndrome, Dion delivered a powerful rendition of Edith Piaf’s “Hymne à l’amour” (“Hymn to Love”) as the grand finale of the approximately four-hour event. Her performance had been eagerly anticipated, but organizers and Dion’s team had kept her participation under wraps until the event.
A media guide dedicated to Dior’s role in the opening ceremony described the finale as featuring “a world star, for a purely grandiose, superbly scintillating” close to the show.
Dion, who had been off the stage since 2020 due to the pandemic and her subsequent diagnosis, made her long-awaited return amid ongoing recovery. The rare neurological disorder she faces causes severe muscle rigidity and spasms, impacting her ability to walk and perform. In June, during the premiere of the documentary “I Am: Celine Dion,” she explained the extensive therapy—physical, mental, emotional, and vocal—required for her comeback.
“That’s why it takes a while. But absolutely, that’s why we’re doing this because I’m already a little bit back,” Dion shared at the time.
Before the documentary’s release, Dion had already begun her return to public appearances, including a surprise visit to the Grammy Awards in February, where she received a standing ovation as she presented the final award of the night.
For her Olympic performance, Dion wore a pearl-encrusted outfit designed by Dior. Daphné Bürki, the Paris Olympics organizing committee’s director of design and costume for ceremonies, recalled Dion’s excitement about the opportunity.
“When we called Celine Dion a year ago, she said yes immediately,” Bürki noted.
Though Dion is French Canadian from Quebec, she has a deep connection to France and the French language, having achieved significant success in French-speaking countries. She also represented Switzerland in the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest with a French-language song. Additionally, she performed “The Power of The Dream,” the theme song for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, early in her English-language career.
