Céline Dion’s Olympics performance renders Kelly Clarkson speechless

Céline Dion will go on.
The Grammy winner, 56, made her highly anticipated musical return Friday with a performance that closed out the 2024 Olympics opening ceremony in Paris. Situated on the iconic Eiffel Tower, which was adorned by the Olympic rings, the French Canadian singer serenaded the world with Édith Piaf’s “L’Hymne à l’amour” (“Hymn to Love”) after the Olympic cauldron was lit.
Wearing a sparkly floor-length tasseled Dior gown, Dion was accompanied by a pianist as she belted out the song, which was first recorded in 1950. The performance marked nearly 30 years since the musical legend took to the stage at the 1996 Olympic Games, which took place in Atlanta, with her ballad, “The Power of the Dream.”
This was the legendary “My Heart Will Go On” singer’s first time performing since March 2020, per Reuters. After postponements due to COVID-19 and health issues, she canceled her Courage World Tour dates in 2022.
Later that year, she revealed in an emotional Instagram video that she had been diagnosed with stiff-person syndrome, a rare neurological disorder that causes her to experience muscle spasms.
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The spasms impact her day-to-day life, sometimes causing seizures and difficulty speaking, as the songstress detailed in her recently released documentary, “I Am: Celine Dion.” Dion has revealed her routine to combat the effects of the disease consists of “athletic, physical and vocal therapy” five days each week.
The opening ceremony’s artistic director, Thomas Jolly, explained why Dion was the best choice to conclude the evening.
“In the ceremony we have a love anthem, and that’s L’Hymne A l’Amour. We all wanted to finish the show with this song, and our first idea was very simple and clear. We wanted to ask the best singer to sing love, and this is Céline Dion,” Jolly told Reuters. “It was obvious for us to ask her to do that to close the ceremony.”
Dion had previously vowed that she would return to the stage amid her health battle. Speaking to the “Today” show in an interview that aired in June, she said, “I’m going to go back on stage, even if I have to crawl, even if I have to talk with my hands. I will.”
She added, “My voice will be heard for the first time, not just because I have to or because I need to, it’s because I want to. And I miss it.”
On NBC’s broadcast of the opening ceremony, Kelly Clarkson was speechless when first asked about Dion’s performance by co-host Peyton Manning. After a break, she regained her composure and unpacked her reaction.
“I’ve been inspired, I’ve been dancing, I was not ready for that ending,” Clarkson said. “If you know anything about Céline right now, she feels this is her purpose … and if you know anything about what she is going through right now. … I’m so sorry, I’m trying to hold it together right now. But then she got through that. That was incredible. In my field, she is the gold winner for vocal athletes.”
Dion’s performance was praised widely on social media. The song has a connection to sports. Piaf wrote the song to the love of her life, French boxer Marcel Cerdan. He was killed in a plane crash flying from France to New York to see her in 1949.
While Lady Gaga also sang in French during the ceremony, Dion had an advantage in her Edith Piaf rendition, as French is her first language.
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Dion first revealed she had been diagnosed with stiff-person syndrome in December 2022. According to the Cleveland Clinic, stiff-person syndrome causes “muscle stiffness and painful muscle spasms” and can make it difficult to walk.
In a 2022 video sharing her diagnosis, Dion said the condition was affecting “every aspect of my daily life, sometimes causing difficulties when I walk and not allowing me to use my vocal cords to sing the way I’m used to.”
“I miss you all so much, and I can’t wait to be on stage talking to you in person,” she also said at the time.
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In February, Dion got a standing ovation as she made a surprise Grammys appearance amid her health battle. She walked onstage to “The Power of Love,” which Taylor Swift sang along to in the crowd, and then she awarded Swift the Grammy for album of the year.
In June, Dion made a rare public appearance at the New York premiere of “I Am: Celine Dion,” a raw documentary exploring her health struggles.
“This is by far the biggest crowd I’ve had in a few years,” she said at the premiere, where she received multiple standing ovations.
“Your presence in my journey has been a gift beyond measure. Your never-ending love and support over all these years have delivered me to this moment.”
Dion told Vogue France in April that she wasn’t sure when she would be able to return to the stage.
“My body will tell me,” she said. “On the other hand, I don’t just want to wait. It’s morally hard to live from day to day. 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.”
Contributing: Patrick Ryan