For the first time in history, the Olympic opening ceremony will not take place in a stadium with Paris opting to parade athletes in boats along the River Seine.

Typically, the Olympics kicks off inside the main stadium of the host city with athletes, led by flag-bearers, marching in front of fans.

However, Paris 2024 officials have opted for a different approach as around 6,800 athletes will travel on over 90 boats along the six-kilometre (3.7 mile) route.

The idea was initially pitched to France’s president Emmanuel Macron by Tony Estanguet, the chief organiser of the Olympics in Paris.

Estanguet, a three-time Olympic canoeing champion for France, wanted to create a unique event for Paris 2024 after he watched the opening ceremony of the 2018 Youth Olympics, which was held in the streets of Buenos Aires.

Paris 2024 executive director Thierry Reboul is said to have been inspired by a walk along the Seine five years ago and came up with the idea for the ceremony to be held on the river.

‘I can tell you that at the very beginning, it seemed to be a crazy and not very serious idea,’ Macron said at the Elysee palace on Monday.

‘But we decided it was the right moment to deliver this crazy idea and make it real.’

Security for the unique opening ceremony was one of the major concerns for Paris 2024 officials but 45,000 police officers and 18,000 soldiers, the biggest deployment in the country since World War II, have been deployed.

Earlier this year, Macron had suggested that the opening ceremony could be moved to the Stade de France if security issues

‘But if we think there are risks, depending on our analysis of the context, we have fallback scenarios,’ Macron said in April. ‘There are plan Bs and plan Cs.’

Another obstacle for the ceremony is flow of the Seine, which increases with rainfall and makes navigation more difficult.

‘The flow of the river has reduced quite significantly and quite quickly,’ Reboul said.

‘We are still at a significant flow, but we are getting much closer to the conditions we usually see in July.’

The route for the boats begins from Pont d’Austerlitz and will finish at Pont d’Iena, which is close to the Eiffel Tower.

The first country to enter the Parade of Nations is always Greece, due to their historical role in the origin of the Olympics.

France will enter last as the 205th country on the list, as per tradition, as they are the hosts.

For more stories like this, check our sport page.

Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.