On Friday night in Paris, Celine Dion delivered a performance at the Opening Ceremony of the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics that is poised to become one of her most iconic ever.
She mesmerized global audiences with her rendition of Édith Piaf’s beloved song “Hymne à l’amour,” standing on an elevated deck of the Eiffel Tower, just beneath a grand display of illuminated Olympic rings.
This is widely considered her comeback performance, following several years of health struggles.
More than 14 years ago, the Canadian superstar also had the opportunity to grace another Olympic Opening Ceremony, performing from a stage positioned above a giant set of Olympic rings. But she did not take it.
Dion was the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics’ ceremonies production team’s first choice to sing the Canadian National Anthem during the Olympic Opening Ceremony at BC Place Stadium in February 2010.
Celine Dion is performing on the Eiffel Tower 🤯#OpeningCeremony pic.twitter.com/PnOv6nrUZ9
— Rob Williams (@RobTheHockeyGuy) July 26, 2024
La 𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙤𝙨𝙚 @celinedion y va d’une splendide performance de « L’hymne à l’amour » d’Édith Piaf. 🎶#Paris2024 #rcsports #jeuxolympiques #Ceremoniedouverture pic.twitter.com/PVqqqXOEUq
— Radio-Canada Sports (@RC_Sports) July 26, 2024
Canadian music composer David Pierce, the musical director for the Vancouver 2010 ceremonies, had created a unique bilingual arrangement of “O Canada” specifically for Dion’s wide vocal range, according to John Furling, the CEO of the organizing committee of the 2010 Games (VANOC).
“[Pierce] even somehow managed to put together a dead ringer of a soundtrack of what it would sound like — the best make-believe music I had ever heard. It was so breathtaking that everyone in the room demanded to hear it two or three times,” Furlong recalled in his 2011 memoir, Patriot Hearts, which detailed his behind-the-scenes experiences of bidding, organizing, and staging the 21st Olympic Winter Games.
However, Dion declined the invitation. According to Furling, she was “trying to get pregnant around the time we needed her so she had to say no.”
“That was a huge disappointment, as I think the public’s expectations were pretty high that Celine would be involved in the opening ceremonies somehow. She was Canada’s best-known international singing star — a face and name the world recognized,” wrote Furlong.
The Vancouver Sun also reported in December 2010 that Dion had agreed to perform under a contract, but ultimately pulled out in late 2009.
Andrew P. Scott/USA TODAY Sports | CBC
There were media reports in August 2009 that Dion and her husband Rene Angelil were expecting a baby, after undergoing fertility treatment. Later that same year, in November 2009, it was revealed for the first time that the pregnancy she announced in August 2009 ended just 10 days later in a miscarriage.
Other reports in 2008 indicated that Dion, then age 40, was trying very hard have a second child after her world tour ends in February 2009. Their first child, born in 2001, was conceived through fertility treatment after six years of trying.
Then in May 2010, Dion announced she was 14 weeks pregnant with twins after further in vitro fertilization treatments. The twins were born in October of that year.
Without Dion, the Vancouver 2010 ceremonies team turned to a young Montreal singer named Nikki Yanofsky, then age 16, to perform the same arrangement of “O Canada”.
Nikki Yanofsky performing the Canadian National Anthem at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Opening Ceremony at BC Place Stadium. (International Olympic Committee)
Nikki Yanofsky performing the Canadian National Anthem at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Opening Ceremony at BC Place Stadium. (International Olympic Committee)
Nikki Yanofsky performing the Canadian National Anthem at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Opening Ceremony at BC Place Stadium. (International Olympic Committee)
Yanofsky’s performances during the 2010 opening and closing ceremonies, along with her official rendition of CTV Olympics’ broadcast theme song “I Believe” — which reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Canada’s Hot 100 in February 2010, and is ultimately regarded as the Vancouver 2010 theme song — propelled her to fame.
Dion’s performance at the Paris 2024 Olympic Opening Ceremony was her second career appearance at any Olympic ceremony.
Nearly three decades ago, at the height of her international career and fame, Dion took to the stage at the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Opening Ceremony to perform the Centennial Summer Games’ official theme song, “The Power of the Dream,” which was co-written by Canadian composer David Foster, who also wrote the theme song of the Calgary 1988 Winter Olympics.
According to Furlong, Dion was not the only Canadian star who was invited, but declined. Comedian and actor Martin Short was supposed to take part in a standup comedic monologue segment of the Olympic Closing Ceremony of Vancouver 2010. Short apparently backed out at the last minute because his mother was ill. The organizers also tried to secure Jim Carrey, Mike Meyers, and Leonard Cohen, but they were unsuccessful.
Ultimately, William Shatner, Michael J. Fox, and Catherine O’Hara delivered the comedic monologue segment of the Closing Ceremony, which lasted about 10 minutes immediately after Neil Young performance of “Long May You Run” and the extinguishing of the Olympic Cauldron.
The full roster of stars performing at the Vancouver 2010 Opening Ceremony entailed Sarah McLachlan, Nelly Furtado, Bryan Adams, K.D. Lang, and Donald Sutherland, who narrated the cultural performance segment of the show. For the Closing Ceremony, in addition to Young, the roster included Michael Buble, Nickelback, Avril Lavigne, Alanis Morissette, Simple Plan, and Hedley.
Months later in 2010, Pierce won an Emmy Award for “Outstanding Music Direction” of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Opening Ceremony.
First Nations welcome during the Opening Ceremony of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. (International Olympic Committee)