The Olympic opening ceremony presents the host country with the opportunity to wow the world with a uniquely spectacular show.

The opening of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games was just that – the organisers ditched the traditional ceremony, and became the first Games to hold the opening event within a city as a whole rather than in a stadium.

Thousands of athletes and performers paraded along the River Seine on a wet evening, before the night sky and the Eiffel Tower were lit up in dramatic technicolour, creating a hugely ambitious, one-of-a-kind spectacle.

Among the athletes, Cook Islands’ Alex Beddoes and Lanihei Connolly, the joint flagbearers, were the first Pacific nation representatives to sail down the Seine.

Team Cook Islands chef de mission Mark Short said the spectacular opening ceremony reinforced what countries of the world can achieve when they make a genuine effort to work together as one.

“The opening was a huge undertaking because of the security measures they had to provide,” Short told Cook Islands News from Paris.

“All countries had been briefed fully at our Chef de Mission meeting the day before to go over the checklist of admission passes, order in which countries had to line up to catch the 30-minute bus ride to get onto the allocated boats designated for each country.  In some cases, like the Cook Islands with only five people, we were grouped together with South Korea.”

Short said the atmosphere was electric even though it started to rain towards the end of their float parade.

“The various uniforms displayed at the opening was a reflection in my opinion of the different cultures, customs and history that the countries had, the Europeans, Scandinavia, Asia, Pacific, Arabs etc.”

Athlete Beddoes and swimmer Connolly are the only athletes representing the country at the Paris Olympics.

Connolly will be competing in the Women's 100m breaststroke on Sunday in the preliminary heats while Beddoes will be competing in the Men's 800m on August 7.

• Additional reporting by BBC