Paris closes out the 2024 Olympics with a final star-studded show

SAINT-DENIS, France (AP) —Setting out to prove that topping Paris isn’t mission impossible, Los Angeles, California rolled out a skydiving Tom Cruise, Grammy winner Billie Eilish and other stars on Sunday as it took over Olympic hosting duties from the French capital, which closed out its 2024 Games just as they started — with joy and panache.

Capping two and a half extraordinary weeks of Olympic sports and emotion, Paris’ boisterous, star-studded closing ceremony in France’s national stadium mixed unbridled celebration with a somber call for peace from International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach.

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Following in Paris’ footsteps in 2028 promises to be a challenge: It made spectacular use of its cityscape for its first Games in 100 years, with the Eiffel Tower and other iconic monuments becoming Olympic stars in their own right as they served as backdrops and venues for medal-winning feats.

But the City of Angels, like the City of Light, showed that it, too, holds some aces.

Bringing the California energy

Cruise — in his Ethan Hunt persona — wowed by descending from the top of the stadium to electric guitar “Mission Impossible” riffs. Once his feet were back on the ground — and after shaking hands with enthralled athletes — he took the Olympic flag from star gymnast Simone Biles, fixed it to the back of a motorcycle and roared out of the arena.

IT’S A BIRD. IT’S A PLANE. IT’S TOM CRUISE! 🤯#ParisOlympics | #ClosingCeremony pic.twitter.com/5v4j8pOwBF

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 11, 2024

On the stadium’s giant screens, Eilish, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, rapper Snoop Dogg — wearing pants with the Olympic rings after being a popular feature of the Paris Games— and Dr. Dre kept the party going in an prerecorded show from a California beach.

Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre? We must be in LA. 🤩🙌#Paris2024 #LA28 #ClosingCeremony pic.twitter.com/8qKbDY1yMX

— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) August 11, 2024

 

Each is a California native, including H.E.R., who sang the U.S. national anthem live at the Stade de France, crammed with more than 70,000 people.

The stadium crowd roared as French swimmer Léon Marchand, dressed in a suit and tie instead of the swim trunks he wore to win four golds, first collected the Olympic flame from the Tuileries Gardens in Paris.

Reappearing later in the stadium to spectators’ chants of “Léon, Léon,” Marchand then blew out the flame. The Summer Games were over.

Their next stop: LA in 2028.