French pageantry meets American razzle-dazzle in spectacular closing ceremony

French pageantry met American razzle-dazzle in a spectacular farewell to the Olympics that featured a golden alien, a pianist dangling from the sky and Hollywood star Tom Cruise leaping from the roof of the Stade de France.

After opening the Games on the Seine and in front of the Eiffel Tower, Paris ended them with a breathtaking light display and high-octane concert that turned the stadium into a party for thousands of exuberant, exhausted and emotional athletes.

But Los Angeles stole the show during the handover to the 2028 organisers, when Cruise rappelled from the stadium roof in a brown leather jacket, attached the Olympic flag to a motorbike and drove through a parting sea of star-struck athletes.

As he closed the Games, Tony Estanguet, the president of Paris 2024, described them as 19 days of “heart-racing, head-spinning, screaming, crying, crazy love,” and evoked the French phrase “coup de foudre”, which means a kind of love that hits hard.

“One day, life is normal, the next it feels magical,” he said. “It’s what we have felt since July 24.”

Even those who have had a tough Olympics felt the joy of the evening. Breaker Rachael Gunn, known as Raygun, who was trolled for her performance in the breaking event, arrived at the ceremony on the shoulders of a rower as her teammates formed a guard of honour. She performed her now-signature kangaroo move.

Algerian woman Imane Khelif, whose Olympic boxing campaign was dogged by an ugly debate over whether she is truly female, beamed as she carried her country’s flag into the stadium. Fellow boxer Lin Yu-ting, who faced the same claims, carried the flag for Taiwan.

Led by the team’s flagbearers, swimmer Kaylee McKeown and sailor Matt Wearn, Australian athletes let loose and celebrated their biggest Olympic gold medal haul to the beats of French indie rock band Phoenix.

Two Australian champions had starring roles; canoeist Jessica Fox was inducted into the International Olympic Committee Athletes’ Commission, and swimmer Emma McKeon joined officials on stage as part of a special delegation of athletes from every continent.

The main show, created by the artistic director behind the opening ceremony, Thomas Jolly, was a Planet of the Apes-style pageant about future beings stumbling across relics of the Olympics, as the modern world examined artefacts of the ancient games.

The show featured a gold-clad, insect-like figure descending from the sky, a pianist playing an instrument dangling midair with black streamers hanging behind him like a bat, and five giant gold rings suspended in the middle of the stadium.

It was surreal but spectacular, as lights and golden fireworks lit up the sky.

But the stadium erupted when Cruise landed on the edge of the arena and high-fived athletes before he climbed on a motorbike and drove the Olympic flag through the stadium.

Cruise’s arrival triggered a Mission Impossible-style video from the Los Angeles organisers in which the actor climbed onto the Hollywood sign and handed the Olympic flag to mountain bike rider Kate Courtney, who raced through the city’s monuments.

Four-time Olympic gold medal-winning runner Michael Johnson and skateboarder Jagger Eaton also featured before the flag was delivered to a Venice Beach concert featuring the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Billie Eilish, Dr Dre and the surprise mascot of the Paris Games, rapper Snoop Dogg, who sang Drop It Like It’s Hot.

What the city of Los Angeles lacks in beauty, it will make up for in star power.

The final song of the ceremony, My Way, sung by French songwriter Yseult, was a nod to the handover, too; the original French song by Claude Francois was rearranged for Frank Sinatra. Fireworks erupted over the stadium in a last gasp of splendour.

Paris will be remembered as among the most successful and beautiful Games of the modern era. It reignited global enthusiasm for the Olympic movement after an isolating and joyless experience at the COVID-compromised Tokyo.

As Estanguet said: “We wanted strong images; our competition venues will go down in the history of the Games. We wanted excitement; we got passion. Together, we have experienced Games like nothing the world has seen before.”

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