How Celine Dion fought every day to be fit to open the Olympics: Star endured gruelling therapy for crippling and incurable Stiff Person Syndrome that ‘feels like someone is strangling you’

During one of the most harrowing scenes from her much-watched Amazon Prime documentary, Celine Dion is seen in the throes of a terrifying seizure.

Her body is rigid, wracked by painful spasms caused by Stiff Person Syndrome, a rare and chronic neurological disorder.

That beautiful voice, familiar to millions throughout the world, is heard wailing in despair.

What more perfect way to celebrate the opening of the Paris Olympics, then, than with a gold-medal winning performance by the 56-year-old singer who, two years on, has fought her way back from ill health with as much determination and grit as any world-class athlete.

Her triumphant return to the stage at Friday night’s opening ceremony in the French capital brings to an end wide-spread fears that her incurable autoimmune disease might spell the career end of one of the most famous singers on the planet.

But as anyone who watched the documentary ‘I Am: Celine Dion’ will know, even when her health was at its lowest, leaving her struggling to move and even to sing, the star refused to give up.

‘If I can’t run, I’ll walk. If I can’t walk, I’ll crawl. But I won’t stop,’ she said during one of her darkest moments.

Over the past few months, hellbent on making her come-back, Dion has been undergoing daily physical and vocal therapy, battling against an incredibly rare condition which was first diagnosed in 1956 and affects only one in a million people.

As recently as April, she told French Vogue that she didn’t know when she would return to the stage, but added: ‘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.’

Such words which will no doubt chime with the hundreds of elite athletes from around the globe who are poised to chase down medals in the fortnight ahead.

The Olympic motto – Citius, Altius, Fortius – Faster, Higher, Stronger – might even have been written for the Canadian star who has battled miscarriage, infertility, IVF and bereavement as well as ill health.

No wonder the French were so desperate to have her in Paris on Friday night, dressed in Dior, belting out the iconic Gallic song ‘La Vie En Rose’ in a voice millions of fans feared they would never hear again. Who better to embody the Olympic spirit and light up the greatest sporting event in the world?

Dion’s starring role at the opening ceremony was kept under wraps until the last minute. Even after she was spotted in Paris earlier this week, President Macron refused to reveal if she would be performing during an interview with the TV channel France 2.