Football, Rugby kick-off Paris Olympic games

The sporting action at the Paris Olympics kicked off with two soccer matches on Wednesday, two days before thousands of athletes and artists are set to take part in an ambitious opening ceremony at the heart of the French capital.

After years of preparation, and as more than 10,000 athletes are getting ready for their shot at one of the 329 gold medals that will be up for grabs in 19 days of competition, the first two events of the Paris Games kicked off at 1300 GMT.

Spain's men's team faced Uzbekistan at Parc des Princes in Paris while Argentina, who won the title in 2004 and 2008, played Morocco in the eastern city of Saint-Etienne.

Spain's teenage sensation Lamine Yamal is not playing at the Olympics, after deciding he needed a rest following his first full season as a senior professional.

Six more men's soccer games were scheduled later in the day, including hosts France playing the United States at 9pm. France won the title in 1984 in Los Angeles.

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Dozens of boats will carry athletes and performers on a 6km route along the Seine. More than 300,000 spectators will be watching from the riverbanks, with hundreds of millions more expected to watch on TV or on social media.

Details including some of the artists taking part, who will last carry the torch and light the Olympic cauldron to mark the start of the Games, have been kept secret, and the ceremony's artistic team said they had been rehearsing in private to keep it all under wraps.

But what is known is that there will be a floating parade, departing from Austerlitz bridge, sailing by Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral and arriving near the Eiffel Tower, with the show also using nearby monuments and mixing music, light and dance.

Sightings in Paris of Canadian singer Celine Dion, who last year cancelled the European stretch of a world tour over a rare medical condition, have kicked off rumours that she could be taking part in the opening ceremony.

• THE OLYMPICS, 2024