The Paris Olympics 2024 will officially kick off on Friday with an opening ceremony at the city’s main river, the Seine, at 21:30 Tbilisi time.

The world’s Olympic teams are set to parade along the River Seine in boats, watched by about 300,000 spectators in a display directed by Thomas Jolly, the ceremony’s artistic director.

“Like billions of people around the world we are awaiting with impatience the youngest, most inclusive, most urban and most sustainable Games,” IOC President Thomas Bach said at the opening of his organisation’s session in the French capital.

“We are convinced that together with the entire world we will experience spectacular Olympic Games,” he said, with French President Emmanuel Macron in attendance.

More than 10,500 athletes representing 206 national Olympic Committees will compete at the 16-day multi-sports event, 100 years since the last time the French capital staged them, with more than 30,000 security officers on duty.

Twenty-eight Georgian athletes will participate in the Paris Olympics 2024. “Games wide open” is the motto for this year’s Paris Olympics. Georgian athletes will compete with the motto “Better than in Tokyo.”