Celine Dion’s voice reappears triumphantly at the top of the Eiffel Tower

With a powerful voice on a rainy Parisian night, Canadian singer Celine Dion made a triumphant comeback at the opening of the Olympic Games by singing Edith Piaf’s Hymne à l’amour from the top of the Eiffel Tower.

Dion, who suffers from a rare, incurable neurological disorder called stiff-person syndrome, was the majestic finale to the nearly four-hour ceremony along the Seine, just as the Olympic flame was lifted in a hot-air balloon over the Tuileries Gardens.

While the eyes of the world were still focused on the dazzling cauldron, a silver figure suddenly emerged from the tower, like a star shining in the middle of the iron structure, and the powerful voice that sang Piaf’s melody revealed that it was the singer of ‘All by Myself’ almost before the cameras did.

She sang on the first floor of the Iron Lady, just below the Paris 2024 Olympic rings, and although her performance was brief, she left the audience enthralled, who responded with a tremendous ovation.

Born in Charlemagne, Quebec (and therefore a representative of the Francophonie), the 56-year-old singer had to cancel her Courage World Tour in May last year due to her serious health problems, which affect her nervous system and cause spasms.

As a result of this neurological syndrome, the winner of two Oscars and several Grammys must undergo intense work to gain control of her muscles – including to be able to carry out everyday tasks, such as walking – and the complications also affect her vocal cords.

Dion revealed in 2021 that she suffered from PRS, a disease that affects very few people in the world and about which there is little research. On the occasion of the premiere of a documentary about her life released last June (‘I am: Céline Dion’), she shared that when she sings she feels as if she is being “strangled.”

The singer of ‘My Heart Will Go On’, the legendary soundtrack to the film ‘Titanic’, has also explained that PRS, which has no cure, has caused her ribs to break and that, over time, her feet and hands will become stiff to the point of not being able to move them.

Her return for the grand opening of Paris 2024 had been a strong rumour for months and the arrival of the singer herself in the French capital this week had given solid hopes of a triumphant return on the Seine.

Paris / EFE