Olympic viewing guide: It's Summer time

The Paris Games have officially begun. Some 7,000 athletes from more than 200 countries on nearly 100 boats took an evening cruise down the Seine river toward the Eiffel Tower today for the pièce de résistance of the most ambitious Olympic opening ceremony ever.

Canadian flag-bearers Andre De Grasse and Maude Charron, both reigning Olympic champions, led their team on a large boat that also carried athletes from four other countries. About 200 Canadian athletes took part in the first opening ceremony in Summer Olympic history to be held outside of a stadium.

Pop music, all kinds of dancing and live performers complemented the floating parade, along with theatrical renditions of various things from Parisian history and culture — from the French Revolution to the Moulin Rouge. Lady Gaga helped kick things off with a cabaret-style performance, and French-Canadian star Céline Dion sang the closing number — her first public performance since revealing she was diagnosed with stiff person syndrome.

French soccer great Zinedine Zidane, and tennis stars Rafael Nadal of Spain and Serena Williams of the United States appeared during the final leg of the torch journey. Past French Olympic champions Teddy Riner and Marie-José Pérec lit the Olympic cauldron, which took flight under a hot-air balloon (a French invention).

Rain dampened the festivities a bit, as did this morning's news that arsonists struck France's high-speed rail network with a series of coordinated attacks, stranding an estimated quarter million people travelling to and from Paris.

Here in Canada, everything was overshadowed by troubling new developments in the Dronegate scandal involving the Olympic-champion women's soccer team.

More on that below, followed by our