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PARIS 2024 OLYMPICS

Paris bids triumphant farewell to ‘sensational’ Olympics

Hollywood star Tom Cruise abseiled from the roof of the Stade de France as Paris said farewell on Sunday night to an Olympics hailed as one of the most successful in history.

Published: 12 August 2024 09:28 CEST

Paris bids triumphant farewell to 'sensational' Olympics

Fireworks sparkle behind the Olympic Rings in the sky at the end of the closing ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Stade de France. Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP

Cruise descended on a wire in front of 71,500 spectators, grabbed the Olympic flag and jumped on a motorbike, to the delight of athletes and fans.

In a preview of what the world can expect when the Games head to Los Angeles in 2028, the Mission Impossible star was then shown boarding a plane and skydiving into the Californian city before adorning the iconic Hollywood sign with the Olympic rings.

US’ actor Tom Cruise lands during the closing ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Photo by Franck FIFE / AFP

Los Angeles band Red Hot Chili Peppers, singer Billie Eilish and rappers Snoop Dogg and Dr Dre then performed a mini-concert on a beach framed by the azure waters of the Pacific Ocean.

The closing spectacle marked the beginning of the four-year countdown to the LA Games, and American gymnastics icon Simone Biles joined Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass as the Olympic flag was formally handed over.

Earlier, International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach said the Paris Games had been “sport at its best”.

“These were sensational Olympic Games from start to finish,” Bach said. Chucking in a dad joke, he added: “Or dare I say: Seine-sational Games.”

“Dear French friends, you have fallen in love with the Olympic Games. And we have fallen in love with all of you,” Bach added.

Around 9,000 athletes had flooded into the stadium to be entertained by 270 performers and artists in a ceremony billed as a celebration of humanity and the unifying power of sport.

“We knew you would be brilliant, but you were magic,” Paris 2024 organising chief Tony Estanguet told athletes. “You made us happy, you made us feel alive – the world needed this moment so much.”

The ceremony began when France’s swimming hero Léon Marchand – winner of four gold medals at these Games – collected the Olympic flame from the cauldron in the Tuileries Gardens to begin its journey to the stadium.

Local rugby hero Antoine Dupont – who led the host nation to a rugby sevens gold medal in one of the early highlights of the Games – carried a French flag into the stadium as partying athletes swarmed the field.

France rugby player Antoine Dupont and cyclist Pauline Ferrand-Prevot wave the French national flag during the closing ceremony. Photo by Franck FIFE / AFP

The ceremony followed 17 days of frequently breathtaking sporting action set against the backdrop of iconic Parisian landmarks from the Eiffel Tower to the Chateau de Versailles.

In contrast to the rain-soaked opening ceremony, Sunday’s festivities began as a golden sunset bathed the French capital.

Following the parade of athletes was the ‘Records’ show – set in a dystopian future in which the Games have been abandoned, it showed gymnasts and acrobats rebuilding five golden rings, which were hoisted above the stadium to form the Olympics rings.

Several characters from the opening ceremony returned, including the masked runner and the silver rider, while pianist Alain Roche performed the Hymn to Appollo while suspended vertically above the stadium.

French pianist Alain Roche plays the “Hymne to Apollo” as French lyric tenor Benjamin Bernheim sings during the closing ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Photo by Franck FIFE / AFP

A concert of French greats including Air and Phoenix followed before the Los Angeles handover began.

The closing ceremony ended with a final nod to Franco-American ties – the singer Yseult sang a beautiful version of My Way. Often thought of as the quintessential American song, it actually began life as a French piece called Comme d’Habitude before being translated into English and released by Frank Sinatra.

Sport finale

The last day of sporting action saw the United States pip China for top spot in the battle for medals after the US women’s basketball team squeezed past France 67-66 to clinch the last gold of the Games.

The win – the eighth consecutive Olympic women’s basketball title won by the USA – ensured the Americans finished level with China on 40 golds each.

The USA however finished on top of the overall medal table with a total of 126 medals, with China in second place on 91.

Sunday began with a gripping women’s marathon victory by Dutch long-distance running star Sifan Hassan.

Hassan had taken on what many considered to be a crazy gamble in Paris, competing in the 5,000m, the 10,000m and the marathon.

But in a jaw-dropping sprint finish, Hassan overhauled Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa to take gold by three seconds in an Olympic record of 2hr 22min 55sec.

She fell to the ground on the blue carpet in front of the golden dome of the Invalides memorial complex in the heart of Paris before grabbing a Dutch flag to celebrate an extraordinary achievement.

Hassan was presented with her gold medal at the closing ceremony.

Paralympics

There is now a two-week break before the Paralympics begin on August 28th, promising another sensational feast of sport, using the same stunning venues as the Olympics.

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The end of Olympic escapism for gloomy France

After months of gloom and self-doubt in the run-up to the start of the Olympics on July 26, Paris and the country at large threw themselves into the spirit of the Games, embracing new national sporting heroes along the way.

The closing ceremony for the Paralympics on Sunday, when the Olympic flame will be extinguished for a final time, will mark the end of six weeks of thrilling sport and almost flawless organisation that produced a sense of escapism from the country’s divisions and woes.

“The idea is to finish with a huge party that will prevent the tears of those who might be saying to themselves ‘damn it, it’s all finished’,” chief organiser Tony Estanguet said ahead of a ceremony that will see the national stadium turn into a giant nightclub.

“We’re going to have a party and then on Monday maybe we’ll be disappointed because it really will be all over,” he added.

More than 20 top French DJs from “French touch” legend Cassius to Martin Solveig are set to close out the Games, with a line-up overseen by 76-year-old French electronic music pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre.

“I think that we will all feel a sense of joy, pride, the impression that something is ending that has enabled us feel good together and to show to the world how we can enjoy ourselves,” Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo told reporters on Friday.

“I will fight against the idea that we have to move on from this enchanted period to resume our lives and our sad passions,” she added.

Political instability

She was referring to the morose national mood before the Olympics, made worse by snap parliamentary elections called by President Emmanuel Macron that produced a hung parliament in June.

After more than 50 days without a permanent government, including the entire Olympics period, Macron named a new prime minister on Thursday, 73-year-old former minister and top EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier.

Analysts say the country is set for a period of severe instability, with Barnier’s grip on power seen as fragile and dependent on tacit support from the far-right National Rally party, which is the largest single party in the new National Assembly.

“One of the positive aspects of the Games was that the political class respected the idea of an Olympic truce,” Paul Dietschy, a history and sports professor at the Universite of Franche-Comte in France, told AFP.

“There wasn’t chaos, or demonstrations or strikes, and France’s image has ended up being boosted,” he said.

Other non-events during the Olympics and Paralymics were also cause for celebration.

French security forces helped keep the more than 10 million visitors safe, preventing a much-feared terror attack.

The creaking Paris metro system performed efficiently, defying predictions of travel problems, while the city’s bus drivers, garbage collectors and municipal workers kept the city moving, clean and well-organised.

“The state is powerful in France and things worked well,” Dietschy added. “The success of the event has contradicted France’s pessimism and cynicism and the idea that everything is going badly and is badly organised.”

‘Powerful emotions’

Although mayor Hidalgo hopes the city and France more broadly can bask in the afterglow of a national triumph, most observers see signs the country is already moving on from its sports-inspired break from reality.

Hidalgo’s controversial suggestion to retain the Olympic logo on the Eiffel Tower until the next edition in Los Angeles in 2028 has already divided Parisians and local lawmakers.

“It will remain an interlude, moments of powerful emotions that were experienced at the time,” Jean-Daniel Levy, a public opinion expert from polling company Harris Interactive told AFP of the Olympic and Paralympic period.

As with all previous Olympiads, organisers are hoping for legacy achievements which have often proved hard to measure or fleeting in the past.

It remains to be seen whether a short-term spike in interest in sports results in a durable increase in physical activity.

The majority of the public investment linked to the Games has been targeted at regenerating the Seine-Saint-Denis suburb northeast of Paris, which is the mainland’s poorest and most crime-ridden area.

“We’ll have to wait and see,” Dietschy told AFP.

A public audit into the cost of the Games, as well as several criminal investigations into organising committee members, including one targeting the salary of Games supremo Estanguet, could also tarnish the image of the event as a national success story.

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