The proceedings began at the Jardins des Tuileries, the resting place of the floating Olympic cauldron
Zaho de Sagazan and the choir of the Académie Haendel-Hendrix sang Édith Piaf’s Sous le ciel de Paris - a vivid and poetic ode to the city of Paris
As the stadium crowd waited, French swimmer Léon Marchand, who won four golds in Paris, was shown on the giant screens collecting the Olympic flame
The cauldron was extinguished with the flame captured in the lantern which Marchand was tasked with taking to Stade de France
The show, titled Records, was directed by Thomas Jolly, who also oversaw the remarkable Opening Ceremony on the Seine
A flag party then carried the French flag into the stadium, where the Orchestre Divertimento and Maîtrise de Fontainebleau performed Victor le Masne’s rearrangement of the French national anthem, La Marseillaise
The Indian flagbearers, retiring PR Sreejesh and shooter Manu Bhaker, beamed away as the contingents assembled
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
In an already visually stunning closing ceremony, Dutch runner Sifan Hassan stood out when she took her marathon gold clad in a hijab. Remember, France does not allow its athletes to compete while wearing the headscarf
Four newly elected IOC Athletes’ Commission members, Allyson Felix, Kim Bui, Jess Fox, and Marcus Daniell, were called upon to hand out gifts of appreciation to volunteer representatives
In the artistic section of the ceremony, a figure dubbed the Golden Voyager tied the performances together
The golden figure represented French history and the spirit of the Bastille
Nike, the Goddess of Victory who appears on every Olympic medal, was part of a dramatic artistic set piece
We saw the Assassin and the Gendarmerie officer from the opening ceremony walk in to hoist the flag of Greece, the birthplace of the Olympics
The Golden Voyager was shown to discover the Olympic rings, which were excavated out of the Stade de France floor and hoisted into the air
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
French Indie band from Versailles, Phoenix, began the musical show for the evening with 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. Phoenix then duets with two-man band Air. American singer Ezra Koenig (in pic) joins Phoenix for the next segment.
IOC president Thomas Bach and Paris Games chief Tony Estanguet then delivered the thank you note to all connected stakeholders
He was joined by six athletes, representing the five continents and the Refugee Olympic Team
Bach even indulged in a pun. “These were sensational Olympic Games from start to finish – or dare I say: Seine-sational Games.”
The Olympic Anthem, performed by the Maîtrise de Fontainebleau and the Orchestre Divertimento, played while the Olympic Flag is lowered in the Stade de France
The Olympic Flag was passed from Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, to IOC President Thomas Bach
and then to Mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass
Decorated Olympic gymnast Simone Biles joined them on stage
Mayors Hidalgo and Bass are the first women mayors to serve Paris and Los Angeles
The first part of the handover ceremony saw the rendition of the U.S. national anthem, the Star-Spangled Banner performed by Californian artist H.E.R.,
As expected, Tom Cruise made a typically exciting entrance as he rappled down to the stage
Cruise was given the Olympic flag and was shown, in a recorded segment, zooming away with it on a motorbike on the streets of Paris straight to a chopper
A pre-recorded video showed Cruise setting up the Olympic rings on the Hollywood sign
The LA 2028 Teaser segment had iconic performances from legendary artists like Red Hot Chili Peppers
Billie Eilish and her brother Phinneas also performed some of her hit numbers including ‘Birds of a Feather’
Rappers Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg performed as well at the set done at Venice Beach
The programme then came back to the Stade de France where Leon Marchand walked in with the lantern
Marchand, Bach and the collection of athletes then blew out the Olympic flame
French Closing Ceremony Flagbearer Antoine Dupont, gold medallist with the men’s rugby sevens team, passed the French national flag over to the French Paralympic team
Yseult concluded the Games singing an interpretation of Frank Sinatra’s classic, My Way, itself originally based on the French song Comme d’habitude