If you thought the action movie-Olympic crossover trope peaked when Queen Elizabeth II and James Bond (aka Daniel Craig) “parachuted” into the stadium in London in 2012, think again.
After 19 days of spectacular competition (and even more spectacular memes), the 2024 Paris Olympics have drawn to a close. At the end of the almost three-week event, Team Australia has snapped up a total of 53 medals, 18 of them gold (our best performance of all time, FYI), landing us in overall fourth place.
What now feels like an eon ago, the Games kicked off with a bang on July 27, with Paris boasting the first ever Olympic Opening Ceremony to be held outdoors. Athletes were paraded down the delightful(ly murky) River Seine, before viewers were treated to surprise performances by Celine Dion and Lady Gaga.
Given they got the aforementioned vocal powerhouses on board for the opener, Olympic organisers had their work cut out to match the star power for the Closing Ceremony. Luckily, the next games is being held in Los Angeles—aka celebrity central—so there were plenty of A-listers on-call for the hand-over.
The 2024 Paris Closing Ceremony did have some classic French Flair, with Zaho de Sagazan doing a rendition of ‘Sous le Ciel de Paris,’ followed by performances by French acts Phoenix and Air, and DJ Kavinsky.
Then came time to pass the torch to the United States, who will host the Games in Los Angeles in 2028. On the ground in France, Grammy-winning artist, H.E.R. sang the US national anthem. Then, in a move that totally, completely made sense; Tom Cruise rappelled in from the roof. Why? Because why not?
In a move that recalled the Mission Impossible films, Tom made a rapid decent from the roof of Stade de France, before departing the stadium on a motorbike with the Olympic Flag. The stunt was followed up with a pre-recorded segment featuring former US Olympians.
The scenes then returned to France where the show wrapped, bringing three weeks of commotion and celebration to an official and fittingly dramatic end.
Bring on LA 2028!
