SAINT-DENIS, France (AP) — Los Angeles wanted to prove that outdoing Paris is not a mission impossible. On Sunday, the city sent a skydiver like Tom Cruise, Grammy winner Billie Eilish and other stars to Los Angeles to take over the Olympics from the French capital, ending the Games 2024 just as they began – with joy and enthusiasm.
The crowning glory of two and a half extraordinary Weeks full of Olympic sport and emotionsParis’s exuberant, star-studded Closing ceremony In the French national stadium, unbridled celebrations mixed with a somber appeal for peace from Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee.
In 2028, following in the footsteps of Paris promises to be a challenge: For the first games in 100 years, the city landscape was used in a spectacular way, with the Eiffel Tower and other Cult monuments become Olympic stars They served as a backdrop and venue for medal winning events.
But the City of Angels, like the City of Light, has shown that it too has some trump cards up its sleeve.
Cruise – in his role as Ethan Hunt – thrilled the crowd as he descended from the roof of the stadium to the electric guitar riffs of “Mission: Impossible.” When he was back on the ground and had shaken hands with the enthusiastic athletes, he took the Olympic flag from Star gymnast Simone Bilesattached it to the back of a motorcycle and roared out of the arena.
The appetizing message was clear: Los Angeles 2028 also promises to be an eye-opener.
Yet, above all, this was the night of Paris – the opportunity for one last party. And what a party it was. Thousands of athletes danced and sang the night away – reveling in the artistic show that celebrated Olympic themes and fireworks.
Even Bach was caught up in the party fever and jokingly called the Paris Games “Seine-sational” – an allusion to the river Seine, which, despite Concerns about water qualitystaged Olympic triathlon and marathon swimming and the crazy and wonderful opening ceremony.
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At the Games, which will be his last after he announced his retirement for next year, Bach also made a powerful appeal for a “culture of peace” in a war-torn world.
“We know that the Olympics cannot create peace, but the Olympics can create a culture of peace that inspires the world,” he said. “Let us live this culture of peace every day.”
Cruise then changed gears.
After being lowered live on a rope from the dizzying heights of the roof, a pre-recorded segment featured Cruise riding his bicycle past the Eiffel Tower, boarding a plane, and then skydiving over the Hollywood Hills. Three circles were added to the O’s of the famous Hollywood sign, creating five intertwined Olympic rings.
The stadium was boiling with excitement among the athletes, with hordes of them rushing the stage at one point. Announcements in the stadium told them to turn back. Some stayed and formed an impromptu mosh pit around Grammy-winning French pop-rock band Phoenix as they played before security and volunteers cleared the stage.
Several French athletes were crowd surfing. Members of the US team jumped up and down in their Ralph Lauren jackets.
Eilish, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and rapper Snoop Dogg were seen on the stadium’s giant screens – wearing pants with the Olympic rings after he popular feature of the Paris Games – and Dr. Dre got the party started with a recorded show from a Californian beach.
Each of them is a native Californian, including SHE who sang the US national anthem live in the Stade de France, packed with over 70,000 people.
The crowd in the stadium cheered as French swimmer Léon MarchandDressed in a suit and tie instead of the swimming trunks he wore when he won four gold medals, he was the first to receive the Olympic flame from the Tuileries Gardens in Paris.
When Marchand later reappeared in the stadium to the spectators’ cries of “Léon, Léon,” he blew out the flame. The Summer Games were over.
Your next stop: LA in 2028.
The National Stadium, the largest in France, was one of the targets of the Islamic State – Gunmen and suicide bombers which killed 130 people in and around Paris on November 13, 2015. The joy and jubilation that reigned during the Paris Games, when Marchand and other French athletes won 64 medals – 16 of them gold – marked an important turning point in the city’s recovery from that night of terror.
“Paris became a party again and France found itself,” said Tony Estanguet, chairman of the Paris Games Organizing Committee.
At the closing ceremony, the last medals were awarded – each embedded with a piece of the Eiffel Tower. In keeping with the first Olympic Games, the aims at gender parityall went to women – the gold, silver and bronze medal winners of the Women’s Marathon early Sunday.
The women’s marathon took the place of the men’s race that traditionally concluded previous Games. The move was part of an effort in Paris to put more of the Olympic spotlight on women’s sporting achievements. Paris was also where women made their first Olympic debut at the 1900 Games.
The US team was once again at the top the medal tablewith a total of 126 pieces, 40 of them made of gold.
As the sunset turned to a delicate pink and night fell, the athletes marched into the stadium waving the flags of their 205 countries and territories – a sign of global unity in a world gripped by global tensions and conflict. The words “Together, united for peace” were displayed on the stadium screens.
A figure cloaked in gold fell like a spider from the sky into a dark world of smoke and swirling stars. Olympic symbols were celebrated, including the flag of Greece, birthplace of the ancient games, and the five intertwined Olympic rings, illuminated white in the arena, where tens of thousands of lights glittered like fireflies.
Now the lights are out. But the memories of this special summer in Paris will not fade so quickly.
“We saw ourselves as a nation of incorrigible complainers,” said Estanguet. “We woke up in a country full of wild fans who wouldn’t stop singing.”
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AP reporters Noreen Nasir, Stephen Whyno, Tom Nouvian, Thomas Adamson and Megan Janetsky contributed from Paris.
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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
