Paris bade a triumphant “au revoir” to the Olympics on Sunday because the curtain got here down on its extensively praised staging of the worldwide sporting spectacular. A blinding closing ceremony that culminated with Hollywood star Tom Cruise abseiling off the roof of the Stade de France in entrance of 71,500 spectators was the crowning glory of what has been broadly acclaimed as one of many best Olympics ever held. Worldwide Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach mentioned the Paris Video games had been “sport at its finest.” “These have been sensational Olympic Video games from begin to end,” Bach mentioned. “Or dare I say: Seine-sational Video games,” the IOC chief quipped in a pun in regards to the river flowing by Paris which was the scene of the opening ceremony. “Expensive French pals, you might have fallen in love with the Olympic Video games. And we now have fallen in love with all of you,” Bach added.
Round 9,000 athletes flooded into the stadium to be entertained by 270 performers and artists in a ceremony billed as a celebration of humanity and the unifying energy of sport.
“We knew you’ll be good, however you have been magic,” Paris 2024 organising chief Tony Estanguet instructed athletes. “You made us blissful; you made us really feel alive — the world wanted this second a lot.”
France’s swimming hero Leon Marchand — winner of 4 gold medals at these Video games — kicked off the festivities, amassing the Olympic flame from the cauldron within the Tuileries Gardens to start its journey to the Stade de France.
French rugby hero Antoine Dupont — who led the host nation to a rugby sevens gold medal in one of many early highlights of the Video games — carried a tricolore flag into the stadium as partying athletes swarmed the sphere.
The closing spectacle marked the start of the four-year countdown to the Los Angeles Olympics, and American gymnastics icon Simone Biles joined Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass because the Olympic flag was formally handed to the Californian metropolis.
A preview of what the world can count on when the Olympics heads to Tinseltown in 2028 then noticed “Mission Inconceivable” star Cruise abseil into the stadium earlier than amassing the Olympic flag and heading off on a bike to the delight of athletes and followers.
A pre-filmed section confirmed Cruise weaving by Parisian streets earlier than boarding a aircraft and skydiving into Los Angeles and emblazoning LA’s iconic Hollywood signal with the Olympic rings.
Los Angeles band Pink Sizzling Chili Peppers and singer Billie Eilish then carried out a mini-concert on a seashore.
The ceremony adopted 17 days of often breathtaking sporting motion set towards the backdrop of iconic Parisian landmarks from the Eiffel Tower to the Chateau de Versailles.
In distinction to the rain-soaked opening ceremony on the River Seine, Sunday’s festivities started as a golden sundown bathed the French capital.
The final day of sporting motion, in the meantime, noticed the USA pip China for high spot within the battle for medals after the US girls’s basketball crew squeezed previous France 67-66 to clinch the final gold of the Video games.
The win — the eighth consecutive Olympic girls’s basketball title received by the USA — ensured the Individuals completed stage with China on 40 golds every.
The USA nonetheless completed on high of the general medal desk with a complete of 126 medals, with China in second place on 91.
Sunday started with a gripping girls’s marathon victory by the Netherlands’ long-distance operating star Sifan Hassan.
Hassan had taken on what many thought-about to be a loopy gamble in Paris, competing within the 5,000m, the ten,000m and the marathon.
However in a jaw-dropping dash end, Hassan overhauled Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa to take gold by three seconds in an Olympic report of 2hr 22min 55sec.
She fell to the bottom on the blue carpet in entrance of the golden dome of the Invalides memorial advanced within the coronary heart of Paris earlier than grabbing a Dutch flag to rejoice a rare achievement.
Hassan was introduced together with her gold medal in Sunday’s closing ceremony.
Wrestling, weightlifting, water polo, volleyball, trendy pentathlon, handball, and observe biking have been the opposite sports activities to crown Olympic champions on the final day.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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