SAINT-DENIS, France: Los Angeles is determined to prove that topping Paris is not impossible, sending skydiver Tom Cruise, Grammy Award winner Billie Eilish and other stars to the field on Sunday as the city takes over the hosting duties for the 2028 Olympics from the French capital, which ended the 2024 Games as well as it began. The city sent skydiver Tom Cruise, Grammy Award winner Billie Eilish and other stars to the field with fun and talent.
Paris is set to bring an Olympics that brought the sporting spectacle to the heart of the capital, breathing new life into the Olympic brand that was battered by the travails of Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and the bleak spirit of Tokyo, which was hit by COVID-19.
Even Parisians are excited about the Olympics.
“We want to dream, we have Leon Marchand,” Paris 2024 swimming chief Tony Estanguet told the crowd, referring to the Frenchman, who has won four gold medals in swimming.
“From one day to the next, Paris became a party, and France discovered itself. From a country that often complained, we became a country with crazy fans.”
Walking in Paris' footsteps promises to be a challenge, as the city's stunning cityscape makes for the first Olympics in 100 years, with the Eiffel Tower and other iconic monuments becoming Olympic stars, serving as backdrops and venues for medal success.
But Angeles has shown that it has a card in its hand, just like the City of Light.
Cruise, who plays Ethan Hunt, stunned the crowd by descending from the top of the stadium to an electric guitar rendition of “Mission Impossible.” When his feet touched the ground again, and after shaking hands with aspiring athletes, he grabbed the Olympic flag from gymnast Simone Biles, attached it to the back of a motorcycle, and sped out of the stadium.
The appetite-stirring message is clear: Los Angeles in 2028 promises to be an eye-opener for listeners as well.
However, this was truly a Parisian night, an opportunity for the final party, and a great one indeed.
The closing ceremony of the Olympic Games concluded a spectacular two-and-a-half-week Olympic Games, featuring a star-studded and spectacular show at the French National Stadium, with heartfelt celebrations and a solemn call for peace from IOC President Thomas Bach.
“This is an Olympic Games that is spectacular from start to finish,” Bach said.
After announcing he would step down next year, Bach took a more serious tone as he called for a “culture of peace” in a world plagued by war.
“We know that the Olympics cannot create peace, but the Olympics can create a culture of peace that inspires the world,” he said. “We should live this culture of peace every day.”
Then it's time for another gear change, courtesy of Cruise.
In a pre-recorded segment, after being animatedly pulled down to the roof by a rope, Cruise rode a motorcycle past the Eiffel Tower, got into a plane, and then skydived over the Hollywood Hills, adding three circles to the famous “O” of the Hollywood sign to create five interlocked Olympic rings.
Thousands of athletes danced and sang throughout the night, cheered wildly, and artistic performances celebrated the Olympic theme, complete with spectacular fireworks.
Their enthusiasm surged as the crowd surged onto the stage at one point, with on-field announcements in French and English urging them to retreat. Some remained there, creating an impromptu mob around the Grammy-winning French pop-rock band Phoenix as they played, before security and volunteers cleared the stage.
Despite being several time zones apart, Eilish, Red Hot Chili Peppers, rapper Snoop Dogg — who wore pants with Olympic hoops after making headlines at the Paris Olympics — and longtime collaborator Dr. Dre kept the party going with a show at Venice Beach in Los Angeles.
Each is a Californian, including her, who sang the US national anthem live at the Stade de France, which was packed with 70,000 people.
French swimmer Leon Marchand holds a lantern containing the Olympic flame with IOC President Thomas Bach, left, at the Stade de France, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP)
As the show began, the crowd in the stadium cheered as French swimmer Leon Marchand, wearing a suit and tie instead of the swim trunks he wore to win four gold medals, was projected on a giant screen as the Olympic torch was retrieved from the Tuileries Garden in Paris.
Amid the audience’s loud shouts of “Leon, Leon,” Marchand reappeared at the end of the show and blew out the flames. The Paris Games were over.
But they will come back.
“I invite young people from around the world to come together again in four years in Los Angeles,” Bach said.
205 countries, 9,000 athletes
As the pale pink sunset faded, athletes walked into the stadium waving the flags of their 205 countries and territories, in a show of global unity amid tensions and conflicts across the world, including in Ukraine and Gaza. Screens at the stadium read: “United for Peace.”
As all 329 medal events concluded, the stadium was filled with an estimated 9,000 athletes, many wearing their shiny medals, and team officials, dancing and cheering to the rousing music.
Unlike Tokyo 2021, where the Games were postponed a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic and saw virtually no fans in attendance, the 70,000 athletes and spectators at the Paris stadium celebrated wildly, singing along to Queen's We Are the Champions. Several French athletes were jumping and dancing, and members of Team USA jumped up and down in their Ralph Lauren jackets.
The National Stadium, France's largest stadium, was among the targets of the Islamic State group, whose suicide bombers killed 130 people in and around Paris on November 13, 2015. The jubilation and celebrations swept through Paris during the Olympics as Marchand and other French athletes won 64 medals, 16 of them gold, marking a turning point in the city's recovery from that night of terror.
The closing ceremony saw the presentation of the final medals, each of which was embedded with a piece of the Eiffel Tower. Fittingly enough, for the first Olympics to focus on gender equality, all medals were awarded to women, including the gold, silver and bronze winners of Sunday's women's marathon.
The women's marathon replaced the men's marathon, which had traditionally been the closing event of previous Olympics. The change was part of an effort in Paris to give the Olympics a greater focus on women's sporting achievements. Paris was also the site of women's first Olympic competition in 1900.
The US team topped the medals table once again, winning 126 medals, including 40 golds, three of which came from gymnast Simone Biles, who returned to the Olympic podium after prioritizing mental health over Tokyo 2021.
The rain-soaked but action-packed Paris opening ceremony, held on the banks of the Seine in the heart of the city, was a far cry from the more subdued artistic closing ceremony, which had space-age and Olympic themes.
A golden, spider-like figure fell from the sky into a dark world of smoke and swirling stars. Olympic symbols were celebrated, including the flag of Greece, the ancient birthplace of the sport, and the five interlocking Olympic rings, which glowed white in a stadium where tens of thousands of lights twinkled like fireflies.
'Culture of Peace'
The two-week sports drama saw China and the United States fiercely battling it out for the top spot on the medal table right down to the final event.
The US women's basketball team reflected on their disappointment in the men's basketball final, defeating France by a single point to claim their 40th gold medal and move to top of the medal table.
French President Emmanuel Macron (top, third from right) and IOC President Thomas Buck greet during the closing ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics at the Stade de France on August 11, 2024 in Saint-Denis, France. (AP)
As the world recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2022, Paris has promised there will be “light at the end of the tunnel” for the Olympics and set the stage for a carefree Games when they return to Europe for the first time in more than a decade.
But Russia's war in Ukraine in eastern Europe, the threat of Israel's military campaign in Gaza that has spiralled into a Middle East conflict, and France's heightened security alert level all pose major threats as the Olympics get underway.
Thomas Bach, President of the International Committee, greets the athletes as he announces the closing of the competition.
“All this time, you lived together peacefully under one roof in the Olympic Village. You embraced each other,” Bach said. “You respected each other, even though your countries were torn apart by war and conflict. You built a culture of peace.”
High standards for LA
The French had a new golden boy to celebrate, with swimmer Marchand becoming king of the pool before French judoka Teddy Riner reigned supreme and claimed his fifth Olympic gold.
Simone Biles left her Tokyo heartbreak behind and returned to the Olympics in front of a packed house. She arrived as the most celebrated gymnast in the world and left with three more gold medals in her trophy case.
Breaking makes Olympic debut amid social media ridicule, while 3×3 basketball, rock climbing, skateboarding and surfing make second appearances
The IOC will probably be relieved that there are no major scandals, even though it has faced some controversies.
The doping controversy between Chinese athletes continues to rage during the Olympic swimming competition, with the US team facing its biggest challenge in decades.
The gender-based judging controversy has been a hot topic in women's boxing, exposing the fraught relationship between the IOC and the International Boxing Federation, which has been heavily criticized.
Meanwhile, a $1.5 billion cleanup of the Seine River has seen triathlon and marathon swimmers race in the central river without a surge in illness, although bacteria levels have forced some training sessions to be canceled.
Despite all the sporting victories and drama, for many, the real star of the show is the city of lights and the beautiful backdrop that helps create the competitive atmosphere.
“They have a high standard to meet, there’s a lot of work to be done,” said James Rutledge, 59, a former banker who wore a United States national team jersey outside the Stade de France. “Is Hollywood the next target? That’s something to try.”
