Paris bids triumphant'au revoir' to Olympics

A star-studded closing ceremony gets under way in front of over 71,000 spectators

PARIS:

Paris prepared to bid a triumphant "au revoir" to the Olympics on Sunday as the curtain came down on its widely praised staging of the global sporting spectacular, starting a four-year countdown to the 2028 Summer Games across the Atlantic in Los Angeles, US.

A star-studded closing ceremony got under way in front of around 71,500 spectators at the Stade de France to crown an event that has been broadly acclaimed as one of the greatest editions of the Olympics ever held.

Around 270 artists and performers were scheduled to perform in the packed arena with an estimated 9,000 athletes expected to march into the venue. The ceremony is the final act of 17 days of frequently breathtaking sporting action set against the backdrop of iconic Parisian landmarks of the Eiffel Tower.

The opening segment of the ceremony festivities began with France's swimming hero Leon Marchand—winner of four gold medals at these Games—gathering the Olympic flame from the cauldron in the centre of Paris to begin its journey to the Stade de France.

The glittering closing spectacle marks the beginning of the four-year countdown to the Los Angeles Olympics, with Hollywood star Tom Cruise expected to feature in a segment previewing the 2028 Games in California.

In contrast to the rain-soaked opening ceremony on the River Seine, the closing ceremony began as the sun set across the French capital. The last day of sporting action saw the United States pip China for top spot in the battle for medals after the US women's basketball team clinched the last gold of the Games.

The win—the eighth consecutive Olympic women's basketball won by the USA—ensured the Americans finished level with China on 40 golds each as the games wrapped up. The USA however finished on top of the overall medal table with a total of 126 medals, with China in second place on 91.

Sunday began with a gripping women's marathon victory by the Netherlands' long-distance running star Sifan Hassan. Hassan had taken on what many considered to be a crazy gamble in Paris, competing in the 5,000m, the 10,000m and the marathon—the last two events just two days apart.

But in a jaw-dropping sprint finish, Hassan overhauled Ethiopia's Tigst Assefa to take gold by three seconds in an Olympic record of 2hr 22min 55sec. She fell to the ground on the blue carpet in front of the golden dome of the Invalides memorial complex before grabbing a Dutch flag to celebrate.

Hassan is due to be presented with her gold medal in the closing ceremony. Wrestling, weightlifting, water polo, volleyball, modern pentathlon, handball, and track cycling were the other sports to crown Olympic champions on the last day.

The closing ceremony began at the gardens overlooking the Louvre museum where the Olympic flame has been on show to the public since the start of the Games before moving to the Stade de France where the world's top athletes have competed over the past week.

The 2-1/2 hour show, which initially sees the delegations parading at the stadium, will include a theatrical sequence entitled "Records", which promises a dream-like immersive journey through time, led by a "Golden Voyager".

Californian music icons Billie Eilish, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Snoop Dogg were set to perform to mark the end of the Games that restored the Olympics' mojo. While Paris used its most famous landmarks as its star draw, Los Angeles is already turning to its home-grown A-list celebrities to impress the crowds.

Grammy-winning artist H.E.R. will perform the US national anthem live in Paris, while rumours have swirled around Paris that Tom Cruise will perform a stunt worthy of Mission Impossible. A final unnamed star is also expected to perform and a version of Frank Sinatra's "My Way".

 

HIGH BAR

To the surprise of many French, a euphoric Olympic fever gripped the host nation during the Games. The French had a new golden boy to celebrate with swimmer Leon Marchand emerging as the king of the pool, winning four golds in the opening week.

Later, French judoka Teddy Riner reigned supreme as he claimed his fifth Olympic gold medal. Simone Biles put her twisties misery of Tokyo behind her, making a long-awaited Olympic return in front of a star-studded crowd.

She arrived the world's most decorated gymnast and left with a further four gold medals for her trophy cabinet. Breaking made its Olympic debut – to some derision on social media – whilst 3x3 basketball, sports climbing, skateboarding and surfing made their second appearances.

The IOC will be relieved that no major scandals erupted, although it did have to grapple with some controversies. A simmering doping row involving Chinese athletes hung over the Olympic swimming meet where the United States faced the biggest challenge to their reign in decades.

A storm around gender eligibility hit the women's boxing competition, revealing the toxic relations between the IOC and a widely discredited International Boxing Association. Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting, the two athletes involved, will be flagbearers for Algeria and Taiwan.

Meanwhile, a $1.5 billion clean-up of the Seine rewarded Paris with the optics of triathlon and marathon swimmers competing in the river through central Paris, without a wave of illness ensuing – even if bacteria levels forced some training to be cancelled.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who will be the first Black woman mayor to receive the Olympic flag, acknowledged Paris had set a high bar but expressed confidence that her city would prove itself a worthy successor.