It was a dreamlike, sci-fi-inspired light show extravaganza that culminated with Tom Cruise flying from the stadium roof and carrying the Olympic flag back to Los Angeles.
Paris brought the record-breaking, hugely successful Olympics to a close on Sunday night with a stunt-packed final ceremony that began with a mysterious, golden intergalactic traveller wandering a dystopian, barren future landscape on a mission to revive the Olympic spirit.
Ghostly dancers and acrobats (including a firefighter gymnast) descended from the roof of the Stade de France stadium and leapt onto giant Olympic rings, while Swiss musician Alain Roche performed “Hymne à polis” while suspended in the air at a vertically suspended piano. French singer Isolde gave a breathtaking rendition of “My Way,” a French song adapted into English for Frank Sinatra and a tribute to Franco-American relations.
Paris said goodbye to the Olympics with a message about the importance of preserving the Olympic spirit in an uncertain, conflict-torn world.
The dramatic fireworks display was a fitting riposte to the tradition-breaking, Technicolor riverside opening ceremony held two weeks earlier along the Seine. Since then, the Paris Games have smashed records in ticket sales and television viewership and sparked a record number of marriage proposals between athletes.
“Humanity is beautiful when it comes together,” theater and opera director Thomas Joly said of the stadium show, which celebrates “respect and tolerance” in a fragile world. He called the Olympics and closing performance “a unique opportunity to share, reconcile and repair.”
The ceremony began just before sunset beneath Paris’ landmark Olympic cauldron, suspended from a balloon, with a dramatic ring of fire made from electricity and LED spotlights to create the illusion of ablaze.
The balloon cauldron has become a popular new attraction in Paris, with thousands of people gathering near the Louvre to watch it rise into the sky at sunset, and politicians are arguing it should remain in the city permanently as a new landmark.
Below, Zao de Sagazan, the award-winning young singer who has been transforming the Chanson Française with her voice and lyrics for the past two years, sang “Clouds Beneath Paris,” a 1950s ode to Paris made famous by Edith Piaf. Suddenly, Léon Marchand, the star French swimmer and gold medallist known in France as “King Léon,” appeared, doused the flames, and the cauldron went out.
At that moment, the 70,000-plus spectators in France’s largest stadium began roaring as the action began. The Stade de France, which only a few days earlier had been watching the dramatic unfolding of a relay race and the Swedish pole vaulter Armand Duplantis breaking his own world record, was now transformed into a futuristic, glittering, undulating stage set.
Thousands of volunteers and athletes packed the stadium, waving flags, for a moment of unity never seen before at the Games, since the athletes entered on separate boats along the Seine at the opening ceremony.
Dancing, athletes, volunteers and spectators came together one last time to belt out the unofficial dance anthem at the venue, “Freed from Desire,” followed by “We are the Champions.”
Paris wants the Olympics to be a giant open-air party, and the athletes’ final appearance in the stadium and dancing on the pitch was no exception.
The ghostly golden traveller who descended from the sky was played by French breakdancer Arthur Cadre, surrounded by hundreds of dancers and acrobats, while athletes stood around the stage looking on.
Surrounded by athletes who ran onto the stage, French electropop band Phoenix performed a musical set that also included Belgian singer Angèle and Cambodian rapper Vanda.
Mission: Impossible star Cruise lowered a rope, raised a flag and rode off on a motorbike, adding to the Hollywood atmosphere as the event moves to Los Angeles in 2028.
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Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who became the first black woman mayor to accept the Olympic flag while appearing on stage in Paris alongside U.S. gold medalist gymnast Simone Biles, acknowledged before the closing ceremony that the French capital had set a high standard but said her city was a worthy successor.
“It will be a challenge, but it’s a challenge we can overcome,” Bass told reporters this week. “I think the Olympics will really showcase the diversity and internationality of our city.”
Every detail of the Olympic Games, held over two weeks in Paris, was conceived as a visual extravaganza. Even the athletics tracks were painted purple, an unprecedented color for athletics, a break with tradition aimed at dazzling spectators and television viewers. Venues such as beach volleyball beneath the Eiffel Tower and the equestrian events at the Palace of Versailles were chosen for their beautiful backdrops.
Paris was looking to reinvent the Olympics, hoping to breathe new life into the world’s biggest sporting event, attract a younger audience and encourage more cities to apply to host the games. With the motto “Let’s open up the Olympics wide”, Paris brought sport out of the stadiums and into the city centre, aiming to put an end to the last Tokyo Olympics, which had few spectators due to the coronavirus pandemic.
To celebrate women in sport, the closing ceremony saw medals being awarded to the winners of the women’s marathon, with thousands of athletes cheering. It was unprecedented for a women’s marathon to close the Olympics instead of a men’s one. The course of the marathon was a deliberate replica of the route taken by women in the 1789 French Revolutionary March from Paris to Versailles to lodge their complaints against the King.
The closing ceremony at the Stade de France was also a logistical feat, with rehearsals taking place between 1am and 5am, during a break in the athletics events at the stadium.
The ceremony’s production team, including Jolie, were placed under special protection after receiving death threats online following the ceremony. The extravagant ceremony, which saw Celine Dion sing Piaf from the Eiffel Tower, was overwhelmingly well received in France, with 86% of French people rating it a success in one poll.
But the display of LGBTQ+ pride and French humor was too much for some. Donald Trump and French bishops expressed discomfort with one of the ceremony’s scenes, “Feast,” which featured drag queens and a half-naked singer as Dionysus, seated on a bowl of fruit. Some Christian and conservative critics interpreted the scene as a parody of “The Last Supper.” The committee later apologized for any offense caused by parts of the ceremony.
The loudest cheers came during the closing ceremony when International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach spoke about the importance of sport in bringing peace in times of conflict.
