As efficient as the closing Ceremony was on Friday night, the Olympic Closing Ceremony on Sunday evening, August 11, served a similar handover to LA 2028 and the end of a glorious send-off with depth in French tradition: a homecoming to the City of Light after a century.
Such Olympic Game Paris 2024 are unprecedented, starting from the night time at Seine River and finishing with the great ending to be held at familiar Stade de France.
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Sportsmen and sportswomen entered the Stade de France with a programme that seemed to pay tribute to the founder of the modern Olympics the Frenchman Pierre de Coubertin.
Newly minted French icon Leon Marchand got four golds in the pool in this event, and he inaugurated this event. IOC President Thomas Bach said that it is ‘a new era’ while at the same time also appreciating the performances of the competitors on field saying that it has inspired the world.
Speaking on the occasion Bach said that Paris 2024 Olympic Games were a celebration of sport, the best of sporting events and the athletes. On a note that addresses the young, urban and sustainable Olympic, gender equal Olympic Games: I just wanted to address the players, you showed us the youngsters we are, the beauty that is within mankind.
Let me say that we are immensely grateful for having had the opportunity to dream.
Olympic Closing Ceremony for Paris 2024: Athletes and artists as the leaders of tomorrow
Thomas Jolly The creative director of the Closing Ceremony preserved the main traditions of French culture and also tried to be relevant to the future.
The performers, dancers, acrobats and actors were remarkable and there was a good array of known musicians all over the world and fine lighting.
The event witnessed participation of nearly 206 nations with a spectator audience of over 70,000 at Stade de France which was the rugby festival this Games before becoming a stadium of great athletics drama for ten days.
By suspending the Olympic rings above the specially designed stage of five continents of the world, the stadium was climaxed, especially for the Olympic Closing Ceremony.The gala event was ended by an appalling pyrotechnics show on the roof of the Stade.
In the first part of the show, many famous athletes were flag bearers including those from France among them was the rugby gold winners; Antoine Dupont together with Pauline Ferrand-Prevot.Swimming was also well represented with flag-bearer Katie Ledecky of the USA, Kaylee McKeown of Australia and Gregorio Paltrinieri of Italy.
Out of 45,000 volunteers for the Games some of them were adored for the kindness and goodwill as the competitors taped the floor of Stade de France.
Records’ part of Jolly’s show included an impressive display of various pieces of art: Benjamin Bernheim, a French pianist, and opera singer, sang the hymn to Apollo by Alain Roche, playing a piano which was mounted on strings and was hanging in the air.
At that moment the Olympic rings flew into the sky and shone brightly like gold. The last and the fifth ring rose to the top, and the four rings that were placed earlier on the stage designed in the shape of a geographical map.
Transfer to LA 2028. . . with a surprise cameos of Tom Cruise!
The occasion was very much aligned to the Paris 2024 Games with noisy crowds and famous Paris landmarks but it was the shift to LA 2028 as well.
As in Hollywood, star power helped for the win in LA. The last queen which no one expected was the Mayor of Los Angeles Karen Bass, and the gymnastics queen, Simone Biles.
That happened during the rendition of the American national anthem by the celebrated musician known as H. E. R. , a buildup to the performance of the evening.
The Olympic rings replaced the letters ‘H’ in the famous ‘Hollywood’ sign, and American athletes such as skateboarder Jagger Eaton and cyclist Kate Courtney performed in a visually stunning Paris to LA video montage.
Other participants of the event include legendary athletics champion Michael Johnson. There are guest performances by singer Billy Ellish and the rapper switched to an Olympic fan, Snoop Dogg.
That’s how we did it,’ added A Games when it was over.
The flame of Olympics was put off in order to symbolize the end of the Olympic Closing Ceremony.
The program was concluded with an encore, in classic theatrical fashion: French recording artist Yseult sang ‘My Way,’ which as a classic tie between France and the United States to the audience and globe, resounded with Stade de France.
Marchand appeared in stade de France to applause of the France spectators by entering the ceremonial by holding a lantern from the cauldron.
