This handout released by the Olympic Broadcasting Service shows singer Celine Dion performing at the Eiffel Tower during the Opening Ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on July 26, 2024.
Screenshot courtesy of IOC via Getty Images
Celine Dion I’m back on stage.
Two years after first going public with her stiff person syndrome diagnosis and cancelling all her performances, the singer made her comeback performance at the Olympic Games opening ceremony.
After the lighting of the Olympic torch, Dion belted out Edith Piaf’s French ballad “Hymne a l’amour” beneath the illuminated Eiffel Tower and Olympic logo. Wearing a glittering dress and accompanied only by piano, she hit her signature high notes. After the performance, Kelly Clarkson, co-host of NBC’s Paris Opening Ceremony coverage, grew emotional while talking about the moment, praising Dion’s performance and strength.
Canadian singer Celine Dion will perform at the Eiffel Tower to conclude the Opening Ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on July 26, 2024.
Hector Vivas/Getty Images
Dion after her performance I wrote to X (Old Twitter) “I am honored to perform at the Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony tonight. I am so happy to be back in one of my favorite cities! Most of all, I am so happy to be able to celebrate our incredible athletes, with their stories of sacrifice and determination, pain and perseverance. You have all worked so hard for your dreams, and whether you bring home a medal or not, I believe being here is a dream come true! You should be so proud. We know how hard you have worked to be the best you can be. Stay focused and keep going. My heart is with you all!”
This was Dion’s second time performing at the Olympics, having previously performed “The Power of the Dream” at the Atlanta Games in 1996. The Olympics’ official Twitter account shared a video of Dion’s first performance since her return to the Olympics.
The moment marked a notable comeback for the singer, marking her first public performance since her diagnosis. First Published In 2022, she postponed her Las Vegas show following her diagnosis, then canceled the North American leg of her Courage world tour, and postponed her European dates to 2023 and 2024 before eventually cancelling those as well.
Stiff-person syndrome is an “autoimmune disease of the nervous system” Mayo Clinic“It often causes progressive and severe muscle stiffness and spasms in the legs and back.” There is no cure for the condition.
June, Dion Illness said When she tried to sing, she “felt like someone was choking me” and “like someone was pushing on my larynx. If I was talking like that, I couldn’t sing high or low. I would have convulsions.”
In May, Dion Vogue France She said she hopes to “find a miracle, find a cure through scientific research,” but that for now she has to learn to live with the disease. She also said she undergoes “exercise therapy, physical therapy, voice therapy” five days a week to counteract the effects of the disease. “I train my toes, knees, calves, fingers, singing, voice… I have to learn to live with the disease now and stop questioning myself.”
The “My Heart Will Go On” singer Recently Revealed It was back in 2008 that she first noticed she was having difficulty controlling her voice, but it took a pandemic hiatus in 2020 after a string of concert tours and a Las Vegas performance to finally allow doctors to carry out the investigations they needed to pinpoint her illness.
Lexy Perez contributed to this report.
