Celine Dion makes return to public performance at Olympics opening ceremony

Celine Dion has given her first live public performance since revealing she is living with stiff person syndrome (SPS),  with a spectacular rendition from the Eiffel Tower at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics.

The superstar closed the ceremony from the first stage of the French landmark, singing Edith Piaf’s L’Hymne A L’Amour.

The Canadian singer cancelled her Las Vegas residency due to health concerns in 2021, before revealing her SPS diagnosis in December 2022 and cancelling her Courage World Tour.

She has not performed in public since.

She appeared in the final moments of the Olympics pageantry dressed in a beaded silver gown with a high neckline and appeared emotional as she came to the climax of the song.

Dion’s rare condition which causes progressive muscular inflexibility.

There is no one quite like Celine Dion!

The perfect end to the #Olympics opening ceremony.

Let the Games begin! #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/0qf8YUb0fL

— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 26, 2024

Her struggles are documented in her 2024 documentary I Am: Celine Dion, in which she spoke about her desire to return to performing.

Earlier in the ceremony US singer Lady Gaga surprised viewers by singing in French during her performance of the classic Mon Truc En Plume.

After her rendition she said it was her “supreme honour” to perform at the event.

On X, formerly Twitter, she said: “I feel so completely grateful to have been asked to open the Paris @Olympics 2024 this year.

“I am also humbled to be asked by the Olympics organising committee to sing such a special French song—a song to honour the French people and their tremendous history of art, music, and theatre.

I feel so completely grateful to have been asked to open the Paris @Olympics 2024