Paris 2024 Olympics Closing Ceremony Highlights: Tom Cruise headlines show as LA 2028 takes over

And to sing us out is Yseult – singing an interpretation of Frank Sinatra’s classic, My Way, itself originally based on the French song Comme d’habitude.

As we get ready for the end of the show, we have a special handover.

French Closing Ceremony Flagbearer Antoine Dupont, gold medallist with the men’s rugby sevens team, has passed the French national flag over to the French Paralympic team.

A timely reminder Paris 2024’s Olympic chapter may be coming to an end, but the Paralympic Games will thrill us beginning with the Opening Ceremony on 28 August.

We are back in Paris for the extinguishing of the flame. Leon Marchand brings the lantern onto the stage and the athletes representing all continents, Marchand and Bach blow the flame out. A simple end to what has been a visually stunning Olympic Games. 

With LA officially now the holders of Olympic duties, how can Hollywood be far behind? Tom Cruise is shown on the roof of Stade de France and he rapples down to the stage, meets all the athletes and jumps onto the centre stage. 

Cruise is given the Olympic flag and is shown, in a record segment, to zoom away with it on a motorbike on the streets of Paris straight to a chopper. He then flies to LA where he sky dives to the ground and sets up the Olympic rings on the iconic Hollywood sign.

Along the way, we see cameos from friends and Olympians Kate Courtney (mountain bike, 2020), Michael Johnson (track and field athletics, four-time Olympic champion, 1992-2000), and Jagger Eaton (skateboarding, two-time Olympic medallist, 2020-2024).

Courtney takes us downtown to the LA Memorial Coliseum, which was a venue in 1932 and 1984; Johnson through the neighbourhoods of LA; and Eaton finishes the flag relay at the world-famous Venice Beach where the Red Hot Chili Peppers are performing. Following the legendary rock outfit is Billie Eillish and Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre.

The Olympic Anthem, performed by the Maîtrise de Fontainebleau and the Orchestre Divertimento, plays while the Olympic Flag is lowered in the Stade de France.

The Olympic Flag will be passed from Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, to IOC President Thomas Bach, then to Mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass. Simone Biles is joining them on stage.

The first part of the handover ceremony is the U.S. national anthem, the Star-Spangled Banner. It is performed by Californian artist H.E.R., who has won an Emmy, Grammy, and Oscar during her career, leaving her just a Tony award from EGOT status.

She most recently performed during the halftime show at Super Bowl LVIII with Usher.

Mayor Bass handed the Olympic Flag to Simone Biles off to the side.

Mayors Hidalgo and Bass are the first women mayors to serve Paris and Los Angeles.

Addressing the athletes, IOC President Thomas Bach, 1976 fencing Olympic champion, says: “Despite all the tensions in our world, you came here from all 206 national Olympic committees and the IOC Refugee Olympic Team, to make the City of Light shine brighter than ever before.

“Your performances were amazing. You competed fiercely against each other. Every contest on the edge of perfection. Every performance sparking excitement around the world. You showed us what greatness we humans are capable of.

“The Olympic Games Paris 2024 were a celebration of the athletes and of sport at its best.

“The first Olympic Games delivered completely under our Olympic Agenda reforms: younger, more urban, more inclusive, more sustainable. The first Olympic Games with full gender parity.

“These were sensational Olympic Games from start to finish – or dare I say: Seine-sational Games.”

IOC president Thomas Bach and Paris Games chief Tony Estanguet take the stage. They are followed by an athlete representing the continents. 

He is joined up on stage by six athletes, representing the five continents and the Refugee Olympic Team.

They are:

• Boxer Cindy Ngamba (EOR), one bronze medal, representing the Refugee Olympic Team
• Table tennis player Sun Yingsha (CHN), three gold medals, two silver medals, representing Asia
• Marathon runner Eliud Kipchoge (KEN), two gold medals, one silver medal, one bronze medal, representing Africa
• Wrestler Mijaín López (CUB), five gold medals, representing the Americas
• Judoka Teddy Riner (FRA), five gold medals, two bronze medals, representing Europe
• Swimmer Emma McKeon (AUS), six gold medals, three silver medals, five bronze medals, representing Oceania

“To you, athletes, what can I say? We knew you would be brilliant, but you were magic,” Estanguet says.

“You made us happy, you made us feel alive.

“On behalf of billions of sport lovers across the five continents, thank you very much.

“We will be reunited in LA28, and the Games will keep growing.”

The athletes have become part of the show, taking over the stage. French Indie band Phoenix begins proceedings. The rock band, which hails from Versailles. They belt out their hit number Lisztomania. The set segues to French DJ Kavinsky performs Nightcall. They have some help from the ethereal vocals of Belgian singer-songwriter Angèle. There’s a segment from Cambodian rapper Vannda followed by an incredible electric guitar solo. Phoenix then duets with two-man band Air. American singer Ezra Koenig joins Phoenix for the next segment. 

In an impressive choreographic ballet, the Golden Voyager discovers the Olympic rings, which are excavated out of the Stade de France floor and hoisted into the air in the middle of the stadium.

During that time, French pianist and opera singer Benjamin Bernheim was singing the Hymn to Apollo, while Alain Roche played on a piano while being suspended vertically in the air.

The main stage is a jagged silver installation depicting the continents of the world with a medal wedged to the top. An orchestra gets the main event started. There’s plenty of dry ice giving away a mystical feel to the performance. ‘

As is protocol during the Closing Ceremony, the Greek flag will be raised and the national anthem of Greece played in recognition of that nation’s role in the Olympic Games.

There is a twist though: instead of this being part of the usual protocol, Thomas Jolly has entwined it in with the show, taking us in Pierre de Coubertin’s footsteps at the end of the 1800s as he revived the ancient Olympic Games.

A flying figure in gold - called the Golden Voyager is the main figure in this part of the show. We see the Assassin and the Gendarmerie officer from the opening ceremony with the Greek Flag. 

Nike, the Goddess of Victory who appears on every Olympic medal, appears as an entity in the middle of the stage.

In the stands, LED bracelets handed out to spectators produce images of athletes painted on pottery, then doves of peace, and finally, the Olympic Rings.

Four newly elected IOC Athletes’ Commission members, Allyson Felix (USA), Kim Bui (GER), Jess Fox (AUS), and Marcus Daniell (NZL), are called upon to hand out gifts of appreciation to volunteer representatives.

The Women’s March on Versailles was a riot that took place during this first stage of the French Revolution. It was spontaneously organized by women in the marketplaces of Paris, on the morning of October 5, 1789. They complained over the high price and scant availability of bread, marching from Paris to Versailles.

It was one of the most significant events of the French Revolution.

The traditional protocol of the closing ceremony normally features a victory ceremony for the marathon, the last event of the athletics schedule.

Except this time, the last event was the women’s marathon rather than the men’s, to highlight the historic Women’s March on Versailles in 1789.

The medallists receiving their awards tonight are:

🥇Sifan Hassan, Netherlands

🥈Tigst Assefa, Ethiopia

🥉Hellen Obiri, Kenya

As the final athletes start to enter the stadium, the crowd as one starts to sing the riff to Seven Nation Army to cheer on the athletes. There’s karaoke now: Les Champs-Elysées by Joe Dassin, Freed From Desire by Gala, and We Are the Champions by Queen are among the songs.

The Indian flagbearers, retiring PR Sreejesh and shooter Manu Bhaker, have come in to the Stade de France. 

The dignitaries, including IOC President Thomas Bach and President of the French Republic Emmanuel Macron, have arrived and are introduced to the crowd.

A flag party carries the French flag into the stadium, where the Orchestre Divertimento and Maîtrise de Fontainebleau will perform Victor le Masne’s rearrangement of the French national anthem, La Marseillaise.

After this, the flagbearers for all the participating nations have started to arrive. 

After 16 days of medal action and 329 events, it is time to say goodbye to the Olympic Games Paris 2024.

Tonight, the Stade de France hosts the Closing Ceremony of the Olympic Games.

The show, titled Records, is directed by Thomas Jolly, who also oversaw the remarkable Opening Ceremony on the Seine.

More than 70,000 spectators are expected inside the stadium this evening to watch 270 artists and performers in the ceremony.

There is an orchestra present at the Jardins des Tuileries, where the Olympic cauldron floats in the air. Zaho de Sagazan and the choir of the Académie Haendel-Hendrix sing Édith Piaf’s Sous le ciel de Paris.

We see a dapper man in the distance. Leon Marchand it is. The Frenchman who set the pool on fire in Paris 2024. He walks up to the cauldron, close to which a lantern is present. The cauldron is extinguished with the flame captured in the lantern.

The USA women’s team beats France 67-66 in an absolute nail biter. That is the 40th gold for the country and that puts it on the top spot in the medals table.

USA leads 15-9 at the end of the first quarter. A period filled with turnovers at both ends. But the Americans just a bit better at turning the attacks into buckets.

USA with the chance to go top of the medals table if its women’s basketball beats France in the women’s gold medal match. The men’s side pipped the hosts on Saturday. Can the women’s team do it too?

Serbia claims another gold medal in water polo, beating Croatia 13-11 in the gold-medal match.

Italy has done. The defending champion USA has been toppled. A straight set win 25-18, 25-20, 25-17 for Italy. USA loses another chance to close in on China in the medals tally.

Italy takes the second set 25-20 to open a 2-0 lead over the United States. Just one set away from getting the gold over the defending champion.

1. Li Wenwen (CHN) - 136kg + 173kg = 309kg

2. Park Hyejeong (KOR) - 131kg + 168kg = 299kg

3. Emily Campbell (GBR) - 126kg + 162kg = 288kg

The top spot up for grabs in the men’s competition. Denmark with a slender 6-5 advantage at the moment.

Italy and USA in the contest for the top prize. Italy leads after winning the first set 25-18.

Spain beats Slovenia 23-22 in a thriller to add a bronze medal to the country’s tally.

Australia facing Belgium for a place on the podium, and leads 32-30 in the second quarter.

USA wins 11-8 against Hungary and takes the bronze medal home. The final between Serbia and Croatia is later in the day.

The USA is tied 8-8 against Hungary in the third-place contest in the men’s water polo competition. The match is currently in the third quarter. Still time for either side to take this one.

1. Sifan Hassan (NED)

2. Tigst Assefa (ETH)

3. Hellen Obiri (KEN)

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Paris 2024 Olympics Medal Tally at the end of Day 16: USA ends campaign with basketball gold; India placed 71st 

United States of America topped the Paris Olympics medal table after winning its 40th gold medal in the women’s basketball final on Sunday.