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PARIS — Movie star Tom Cruise rappelled from the roof of France’s national stadium and received the Olympic flag, bringing a heavy dose of Hollywood to the closing ceremony of the Paris Games as the French capital handed over to the next host Los Angeles.
Grammy winner H.E.R teased the Mission Impossible soundtrack as Cruise made his leap, drawing gasps from spectators as he dropped 50 metres to the floor of the Stade de France, in a finale to the ceremony that blended the traditional, the obscure and the razzle dazzle of Tinseltown.
While Paris used iconic landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower and the Palace of Versailles to win the hearts of Olympians and spectators alike, LA was swift to turn to its star draw: A-list celebrities.
Paris was bringing down the curtain on an Olympic Games that brought dazzling sport to heart of the capital, breathing new life into an Olympic brand hurt by the difficulties of Rio de Janeiro’s 2016 Games and the soulless spirit of Tokyo’s COVID-hit event.
Even Parisians were carried away by the Olympic fervor.
“We wanted to dream. We got Leon Marchand,” Paris 2024 chief Tony Estanguet told the crowd, referring to the French swimmer who won four golds in the swimming.
“From one day to the next Paris became a party and France found itself. From a country of grumblers, we became a country of frenzied fans.”
‘Culture of peace’
The two weeks of sporting drama saw China and the United States duke it out for top spot in the medal table right down to the last event.
Echoing the heartache delivered to France by the United States in the men’s basketball final, the American women’s basketball side handed France a gut-wrenching one-point defeat to earn a 40th gold medal and top spot on the medal table.
As the world emerged from the COVID pandemic in 2022, Paris had promised an Olympic “light at the end of the tunnel” and to provide the stage for a carefree Games as they returned to Europe for the first time in over a decade.
But Russia’s war in Ukraine on Europe’s eastern flank, the threat of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza erupting into a wider conflict in the Middle East, and France’s heightened state of security alert loomed large as the Games got under way.
International Committee President Thomas Bach saluted the athletes as he declared the Games closed.
“During all this time, you lived peacefully together under one roof in the Olympic Village. You embraced each other,” Bach said. “You respected each other, even if your countries are divided by war and conflict. You created a culture of peace.”
High bar for Los Angeles
The French had a new golden boy to celebrate with swimmer Marchand emerging as the king of the pool, before French judoka Teddy Riner reigned supreme as he claimed his fifth Olympic gold medal.
Simone Biles put her twisties misery of Tokyo behind her, making a long-awaited Olympic return in front of a star-studded crowd. She arrived the world’s most decorated gymnast and left with a further three gold medals for her trophy cabinet.
Breaking made its Olympic debut – to some derision on social media – whilst 3×3 basketball, sports climbing, skateboarding and surfing made their second appearances.
The IOC will be relieved that no major scandals erupted, although it did have to grapple with some controversies.
A simmering doping row involving Chinese athletes hung over the Olympic swimming meet where the United States faced the biggest challenge to their reign in decades.
A storm around gender eligibility hit the women’s boxing competition, revealing the toxic relations between the IOC and a widely discredited International Boxing Association.
Meanwhile, a $1.5 billion clean-up of the Seine rewarded Paris with the optics of triathlon and marathon swimmers competing in the river through central Paris, without a wave of illness ensuing – even if bacteria levels forced some training to be cancelled.
But for all the sporting triumph and drama, the biggest star of the show for many was the City of Light itself and the fabulous backdrop it lent to much of the competition.
“They’ve got a high bar to reach. A lot of work to do,” said James Rutledge, 59, a former banker wearing a Team USA t-shirt outside the Stade de France. “Hollywood next? That’s something to play with.”
—Reporting by Reuters correspondents; Writing by Ingrid Melander and Richard Lough; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Alison Williams
