PARIS: “It’s going to be a beautiful success,” says Claudine Vacelet confidently of the Paris Olympics opening ceremony, before pausing. “Well, with the security issues, I suppose we’ll only see whether it’s a success at the end.” After years of planning, the Olympic spotlight is set to finally fall on the French capital on Friday evening at 7:30 p.m. (1730 GMT), when a wildly ambitious opening parade on the river Seine begins.