Celine Dion performs during the 2024 Paris Olympics opening ceremony
Global music icon Celine Dion made her triumphant return to the stage at the 2024 Paris Olympics opening ceremony on Friday.
She delivered a performance of Edith Piaf's "Hymne à l'amour" to close the ceremony at the Eiffel Tower.
Her performance took place after the Olympic Games were officially opened and the Olympic cauldron was lit in the Tuileries Garden.
The show marked Dion's first live performance since announcing her stiff-person syndrome diagnosis in December 2022. After she announced her diagnosis, the singer postponed — and later canceled — the remaining dates on her Courage World Tour for 2023 and 2024.
The ailment is a rare neurological disorder with features of other autoimmune diseases, according to The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, a division of the National Institutes of Health.
She did not confirm the performance ahead of the opening ceremony but many fans expected Dion to perform after she was spotted in the days ahead of the opening ceremony around Paris.
The singer also shared several posts on Instagram of herself at the Louvre, enjoying the art on display.
"Everytime I return to Paris, I remember there's so much beauty and joy still to experience in the world," she wrote in the caption of a post. "I love Paris, and I'm so happy to be back!"
Dion previously opened up to Vogue France about the possibility of returning to the stage.
"For four years I've been saying to myself that I'm not going back, that I'm ready, that I'm not ready…. As things stand, I can't stand here and say to you: 'Yes, in four months.' I don't know.... My body will tell me," she said in the interview that was published in April.
"On the other hand, I don't just want to wait. It's morally hard to live from day to day," she continued. "It's hard, I'm working very hard and tomorrow will be even harder. Tomorrow is another day. But there's one thing that will never stop, and that's the will. It's the passion. It's the dream. It's the determination."
In her 2024 documentary film "I Am: Celine Dion" on Prime Video, Dion also detailed how challenging it was to have to cancel shows due to her health.
"It's not hard to do a show, you know? It's hard to cancel a show," she said. "If somebody sees me have a good time for a moment with my family and I was supposed to be onstage and they had a ticket that night, they have the right to come to me and say, 'Hey.' I can't just do whatever I want. I can't go out. I'm stuck."
For the first time ever, the Olympics opening ceremony wasn't held in a stadium; instead, it took place on the Seine.
Check out a recap of more performances from the opening ceremony here.
