Determined to prove that surpassing Paris is no mere fantasy, Los Angeles rolled out a dazzling array of stars on Sunday, including skydiving Tom Cruise and Grammy winner Billie Eilish, as it took over the Olympic mantle from the French capital.
Paris, which closed out its 2024 Games with exuberance and flair, handed over the baton in style.
The closing ceremony in Paris, held at France’s national stadium, wrapped up two and a half weeks of extraordinary Olympic feats with a vibrant celebration. Amid the festivities, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach delivered a poignant call for peace, blending the euphoria of the moment with a somber note.
Following Paris' footsteps in 2028 promises to be a challenge. The city made spectacular use of its skyline 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.
Cruise, in his Ethan Hunt persona, wowed the crowd 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.
The message was clear: Los Angeles 2028 promises to be an eye-opener, too.
Still, this was largely Paris' night – its opportunity for one final party. And what a party it was. Thousands of athletes danced and sang the night away, reveling in an artistic show that celebrated Olympic themes and featured fireworks.
Even Bach got into the party spirit, jokingly calling the Paris Games "Seine-sational” – a nod to the Seine River that, despite water quality concerns, hosted the Olympic triathlon and marathon swimming, as well as the wacky and wonderful opening ceremony.
At what will be his last Games after announcing his intention to step down next year, Bach also made a somber appeal for "a culture of peace" in a war-torn world.
"We know that the Olympic Games cannot create peace, but the Olympic Games can create a culture of peace that inspires the world,” he said. "Let us live this culture of peace every single day.”
Cruise then provided a change of gear.
After being lowered on a rope from the roof, Cruise drove his bike past the Eiffel Tower in a prerecorded segment, boarded a plane, and then skydived over the Hollywood Hills. Three circles were added to the O's of the famed Hollywood sign, creating five interlaced Olympic rings.
In the stadium, athletes' enthusiasm bubbled over as crowds of them rushed the stage at one point. Stadium announcements urged them to step back. Some stayed, creating an impromptu mosh pit around Grammy-winning French pop-rock band Phoenix as they played, before security and volunteers cleared the stage.
Multiple French athletes crowd-surfed, while U.S. team members jumped up and down in their Ralph Lauren jackets.
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 a prerecorded show from a California beach.
Each is a California native, including H.E.R., who sang the U.S. national anthem live at the Stade de France, which was packed 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 chants of "Léon, Léon," Marchand then blew out the flame. The Summer Games were over.
Their next stop: L.A. in 2028.
The national stadium, France's largest, was one of the targets of Islamic State gunmen and suicide bombers who killed 130 people in and around Paris on Nov. 13, 2015. The joy and celebrations that swept Paris during the Games, as Marchand and other French athletes racked up 64 medals – 16 of them gold – marked a major milestone in the city's recovery from that night of terror.
"Paris became a party again and France found itself," said Tony Estanguet, head of the Paris Games organizing committee.
The closing ceremony also saw the awarding of the last medals, each embedded with a piece of the Eiffel Tower. Fittingly for the first Olympics that aimed for gender parity, all the medals went to women – the gold, silver, and bronze medalists from the women’s marathon earlier Sunday.
The women’s marathon replaced the men’s race that traditionally closed previous Games. The switch was part of Paris' efforts to highlight women’s sporting achievements. Paris was also where women first competed in the Olympics, at the Games of 1900.
The U.S. team again topped the medal table, with 126 in total and 40 of them gold.
As a delicate pink sunset gave way to night, athletes marched into the stadium waving the flags of their 205 countries and territories – a display of global unity in a world gripped by tensions and conflicts. The stadium screens carried the words, "Together, united for peace.”
A golden-shrouded figure descended spider-like from the skies into a darkened world of smoke and swirling stars. Olympic symbols were celebrated, including the flag of Greece, birthplace of the ancient Games, and the five interlaced Olympic rings, illuminated in white in the arena where tens of thousands of lights glittered like fireflies.
Now, the lights are out. But the memories of Paris' special summer won’t dim anytime soon.
"We saw ourselves as a people of incorrigible grumblers," Estanguet said. "We woke up in a country of wild fans who would not stop singing.”
