"Athletes deserved better than f**king boats" - Fans unhappy with Paris Olympics replacing stadium opening ceremony with River Seine ride

The Paris Olympics 2024 opening ceremony was the first time in history that the event took place outside a stadium. While France hosted it on the River Seine on boats in unique fashion, the idea hasn't been welcomed by fans across the globe.

The opening ceremony kicked off with Greece starting the parade on the river as per tradition, followed by other participating countries in alphabetical order. Several global artists including Lady Gaga and Aya Nakumara performed at the start of the ceremony.

Teams with larger contingents such as the USA were assigned separate boats while the smaller ones like Jamaica and Italy were put together on a single boat. One of the boats was assigned to five countries, which caused a huge outcry on social media.

A fan slammed the Paris Olympics 2024 organizers for the move on X, calling it 'cheap as hell'. They wrote:

"Yall got 5 countries on one boat? Oh this is cheap as hell."

"No offence France, but the boat idea was a terrible one," another fan wrote.

"Athletes: I am the flag bearer now the whole world will see me with the flag! #Olympics: sure," a user taunted sacrcastically.

Several fans slammed the organizers for making the athletes suffer on boats and claimed that the stadium model was better for the opening ceremony.

"Ya no this sucks. Athletes deserved better than fucking boats. It is completely different than walking into a huge stadium and just having people around you cheer," a fan commented.

"turns out there was nothing wrong with the format that worked for 200 fucking years. give me my stadium back," another fan commented.

"I’m sorry but this has to be the worst Olympic opening ceremony in memory. It’s an interesting idea bringing the athletes in on boats but it looks rubbish and misses the roar of the crowd. Sorry but not for me," a user commented.

How was the order of counties assigned for the Paris Olympics 2024 opening ceremony?

Opening Ceremony - Olympic Games Paris 2024: Netherlands on boat ride (Photo-Getty)

Greece has historically started the Olympic opening ceremony parade first irrespective of the country the Games are hosted in. It's followed by the Olympic Refugee team, and then countries are ranked in alphabetical order in the host country’s language. The host country is the last one.

Afghanistan was the first country from the alphabetical order to start the parade at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony and was followed by South Africa and Albania. The last country from the alphabetical order was Zimbabwe.

The hosts of the next Summer Olympics, 2028, USA in the current case, were second last and the hosts of the 2032 Olympic Games, Australia were third last to enter the parade with France rounding up the Paris Olympics opening ceremony at the end.