Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams Just Sped Down the Seine to Help Light Epic Olympic Cauldron During 2024 Opening Ceremony

The tennis stars teamed up with a number of famous French athletes, including Zinedine Zidane and a 100-year-old gold medalist, to close out the exhilarating ceremony

Let the Games begin!

After a thrilling, adventure-filled romp through the City of Light, the famed Olympic torch made its way to the 2024 Summer Games cauldron with a little help from a few dozen famous faces.

After being handed off by everyone from French soccer star Zinedine Zidane, basketball player Tony Parker, tennis champs Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal and more, French judoka Teddy Riner and track and field sprinter Marie-José Pérec ultimately did the honors, lighting a hot-air balloon-inspired cauldron at the Paris Summer Games' opening ceremony on Friday, July 26.

The climactic moment came after the torch made its way into the hands of a number of noted athletes, including Nadal, Williams, American track and field legend Carl Lewis and Romanian gymnast Nadia Comăneci, who carried the lit torch on a boat through the Seine.

Amélie Maursemo then took over, running it up a set of stairs and handing the torch off to Parker. Together, they made their way to the courtyard of the Louvre Museum, picking up more than a dozen French Olympians along the way — including 100-year-old Charles Coste, the oldest living French Olympic champion.

Coste, who won a gold medal in London in 1948, then passed it off for a final time to Riner and Pérec, who did the honors. Afterward, Céline Dion put the cherry on top with a powerful rendition of Edith Piaf's "Hymne à l'amour" beneath the Eiffel Tower.

The torch first appeared in a video broadcast featuring Zidane, in which he traveled through various city landmarks in order to bring the torch back to Paris from the Stade de France in Saint-Denis. The video began with a cameo by actor Jamel Debbouze, who was seen accidentally bringing the torch to the stadium, as Olympic opening ceremonies are traditionally held in stadiums.

Zidane eventually appeared in a boat on the Seine to perform his lighting duties.

An estimated 320,000 spectators looked on as the athletes proudly lit the flame to kick off the 2024 Games, which will wrap on Aug. 11 following a closing ceremony.

The cauldron featured a ring of flames nearly 23-feet in diameter, topped by a hot-air balloon 98-meters high. The balloon served as a tribute to the first flight in a hydrogen-filled gas balloon, which was made by a pair of French inventors.

NBA star LeBron James and tennis champion Coco Gauff led the way for Team USA as flagbearers during the ceremony, which featured a star-studded audience, including Ariana Grande, Serena Williams, John Legend and Chrissy Teigen and more.

Related: Snoop Dogg Dances the Olympic Torch Through Paris Ahead of Opening Ceremony

The cauldron lighting became a tradition of the Olympic Games in 1928 when Amsterdam served as host. The lighting ceremony and torch relay debuted in the opening ceremony program eight years later.

At the 2020 Games in Tokyo, tennis star Naomi Osaka lit the cauldron with the Olympic torch.

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This year's opening ceremony marked the largest in history, as well as the first to be held outside of a stadium, the Olympic committee said.

Related: Coco Gauff's Parents Knew She Was a Flagbearer for the Olympic Opening Ceremony Before She Did!

Thousands of athletes, celebrities and public figures participated in kicking off the 2024 Games via custom-made floats that traveled down the Seine. Viewers were treated to unique footage from the floats, which were equipped with cameras to capture the excitement.

Before the ceremony on Friday, hip-hop legend Snoop Dogg carried the Olympic torch through Saint-Denis, a Paris suburb.

Snoop, 52, said it was "special" to serve as a torchbearer before the opening ceremony began.

To learn more about all the Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls, come to people.com to check out ongoing coverage before, during and after the games. And sign up for Going for Gold, our Olympics newsletter, to get the biggest stories from the Games delivered straight to your inbox. Watch the Paris Olympics and Paralympics, beginning July 26, on NBC and Peacock

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