It was a party in the Stade de France as an electric two-and-a-half weeks of the Summer Olympics wrapped up on Sunday with a celebration of the athletes, the people who made the Games happen and a preview of what to expect in four years.
Here are five takeaways from the closing ceremony of the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics:
Volunteers get huge round of applause that was well deserved
They were everywhere in Paris during these Olympic Games and helped people from around the world find their way around venues, around the city and just generally get themselves sorted out. The volunteers of Paris 2024 deserved a huge thank you and they got one to start off the closing ceremony.
Clad in green shirts and green pants for the last two-plus weeks, they were ever present at all hours of the competition. When they streamed into the Stade de France along with the flagbearers, they received a huge roar from the always vociferous French crowd.
The sports are obviously the central part of the Olympic Games, but they don’t work without an army of volunteers spread throughout the host city, helping fans from around the globe find their way around.
It was a wonderful gesture from Games organizers and an incredible moment for the volunteers to be able to be thanked by tens of thousands of people who they helped during their time in Paris.
Karaoke sets off a party as the athletes are ‘Freed From Desire’
The closing ceremony’s parade of nations was a celebration from the start. Athletes ready to relax and celebrate after completing years of training for these last two weeks were excited to pump up the fans in the stands and mingle with their teammates.
After most of the athletes entered the stadium, it was time for a little karaoke with 80,000 people all singing together.
First, there were a couple of French songs, but then the moment came as it had so many times at venues over the last weeks: Gala Rizzatto’s “Freed From Desire” came on through the loudspeakers.
It might as well have been the unofficial anthem of these Games and was a crowd pleaser at every venue in which it was played. Finally, it was the athletes’ turn to partake in the dancing and singing.
The thousands of competitors danced and jumped right along with the crowd in the stands, everyone letting loose a joyous energy that came from the competition finally being over so athletes and fans alike could come together in celebration of a truly splendid Olympics.
One last fantastic light show at an Olympics full of them
From the opening ceremony’s amazing display on the Eiffel Tower to pre-competition displays, light shows were a hallmark of these Olympics. For the closing ceremony, organizers had one last trick up their sleeves.
As dancers performed on the stage below, the lights at the Stade de France went out and tens of thousands of wristbands lit up all at once, illuminating the stadium as the sun fully set.
From there, the Bluetooth-synced wristbands proceeded to not only flash and blink in time with each other, but individual sections of fans were unwittingly part of the show with their wristbands showing scenes of athletic competition moving across entire ends of the stadium.
It was a truly breathtaking display that ended in the Olympic rings being raised above the stage in the center of the stadium, and the wristbands of the fans on all four sides of the venue being illuminated in their iconic image. It was a performance of synchronization across such a large scale that was truly impressive to see.
Phoenix and other French performers rock and the athletes storm the stage
After the light show and dancers concluded, it was time for the musical performance of the evening. The athletes were released from the assigned areas around the stage and encouraged to get up close to it. Many of them went a little further than that.
Athletes began climbing onto the stage that was shaped like the continents, running around and soaking in the cheers of the fans. It was a moment of exuberance that wasn’t exactly welcomed by the people producing the show – multiple announcements were made over the stadium’s loudspeaker asking the athletes, politely, to get off the stage.
Some of them heard that announcement and complied. Most of them heard that announcement and decided it would be more fun to dance around French indie rock band Phoenix as they launched into their set.
It was an incredible sight. Scores of athletes huddled around a rock band like they were playing a tiny show at a local music venue, dancing and jumping around as they waved their country’s flags. Elsewhere, some athletes left the stage while others just went to other areas and danced and interacted with the crowd from there.
Eventually, organizers got all the athletes down and allowed the performers to have their space. But for one incredible moment, there was nearly a mosh pit in the center of the Olympics’ closing ceremony.
The most Hollywood way possible to hand off the Olympic flag
There’s a certain order to how these things go at the end of an Olympics. The Olympic flag is lowered, handed to the host city’s mayor for a final wave and then to the president of the International Olympic Committee to give it to the mayor of the next host city.
At no point does that pomp and circumstance require a Hollywood A-lister to jump from the roof of a building, abscond with the flag, find a motorcycle and ride out of the stadium with it. And yet, that’s exactly what happened here on Sunday.
As Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass handed the flag to US gymnastics legend Simone Biles, a spotlight suddenly flashed to the top of the Stade de France where Tom Cruise – who famously does all his own stunts – was standing.
And then suddenly he was falling. Attached to a cable, Cruise jumped from the stadium’s roof to the field below, making his way through the assembled athletes to Bass and Biles. Cruise was handed the Olympic flag and gave it a wave before he went back into the crowd of athletes.
Inexplicably waiting for him below was a motorcycle. And in true action star fashion, Cruise hopped on the bike and fired it up, riding out through the tunnel of the stadium. Video screens quickly showed him riding through the streets of Paris with the flag, heading for an airport where he boarded a plane and flew the flag to Hollywood.
Eventually, after some more Cruise hijinks and sweeping shots of the SoCal landscape, the flag arrived at the beach where the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Billie Eilish, Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre were waiting for it. It was an extremely LA way to begin the next Olympiad and definitely set an early tone for what to expect in the City of Angels four years from now.
