2024 Summer Olympics closing ceremony

2024 Summer Olympics
closing ceremony

Date	11 August 2024 (2024-08-11)
Time	21:00 – 00:07 CEST (UTC+2)
Venue	Stade de France
Location	Saint-Denis, France
Also known as	Records
Filmed by	Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS)

The closing ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics took place at Stade de France on 11 August 2024.

As per traditional Olympic protocol, the ceremony featured cultural presentations from both the current (France) and following (United States) host countries, as well as closing remarks by International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach and the COJOP2024 President Tony Estanguet; the official handover of the Olympic flag from Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo to Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass, whose city would host the 2028 Summer Olympics; and the extinguishing of the Olympic flame. The ceremony featured a mix of filmed and live segments, which included the second half of the Los Angeles 2028 presentation, recorded in Long Beach, California.

Preparations

As with the opening ceremony, the closing ceremony was directed by Thomas Jolly; he stated that the ceremony would be a "visual, very choreographic, very acrobatic show with an operatic dimension", with a storyline "in which the Olympic Games disappear once again, and someone from far comes along and founds them". In the wake of the opening ceremony controversies, executive director Thierry Reboul stated that the team had been asked to review and revise the closing ceremony a number of times in order to ensure that no scene could be misinterpreted in an offensive manner.

The director of the ceremony said of the event:

I've designed a show in which the Olympic Games disappear once again, and someone from far comes along and founds them. It's a very visual, very choreographic, very acrobatic show with an operatic dimension to give a great visual fresco and say goodbye to athletes from all over the world.

French bands Air and Phoenix performed during the ceremony; Reboul explained that "today, where we look at the history of music, it's certainly the French music style and the artists behind it, who have had the biggest resonance in the world. So it was important for us to acknowledge it".

In October 2023, British-American producer Ben Winston and his studio Fulwell 73 and Sseruwagi Sinclaire Sebastian were commissioned to produce the cultural presentation by Los Angeles, the host city of 2028. Variety reported that the segment, titled the LA28 Handover Celebration, would feature performances by American artists and Los Angeles County natives Red Hot Chili Peppers, Snoop Dogg, H.E.R., and Billie Eilish, and include a live stadium appearance by American actor Tom Cruise.

Proceedings

The closing ceremony took place at the Stade de France and, as per tradition, involved a parade of flags and athletes and the handover ceremony. It was officially titled "Records" and paid tribute to Greek antiquity as the birthplace of the "Olympic spirit" as well as portraying the revival of the Olympics by the French baron Pierre de Coubertin. It entailed over 100 performers, acrobats, dancers and circus artists; about 9,000 athletes took part.

The ceremonies began at the Tuileries Garden with Zaho de Sagazan and the Haendel-Hendrix Academy Choir singing "Sous le ciel de Paris", originally sung by Jean Bretonnière and popularized by Édith Piaf. The Olympic cauldron, a light and water display simulating the Olympic flame, was turned off. The actual flame, which was kept nearby in the lantern used to transport it to France aboard the Belem, was taken by French swimmer Léon Marchand, who won four gold medals at the Paris Games, to the stadium.

In the stadium, the ceremony was accompanied by the Orchestre Divertimento, conducted by Zahia Ziouani. After IOC President Thomas Bach and President of the French Republic Emmanuel Macron were welcomed, the orchestra played the French national anthem.

The ceremony included expressions of gratitude to the games' volunteers and audience participation in karaoke of Joe Dassin's "Les Champs-Elysées" and a synchronized light show. Other songs, such as Charles Aznavour's "Emmenez-moi", and Queen's "We Are the Champions", then sounded in the stadium. French band Phoenix teamed up with Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend, Air, Angèle, Vannda, and Kavinsky to perform a medley of songs, surrounded by athletes, on a stage shaped like a stylized world map. During the performance, numerous athletes climbed onto the stage and danced alongside the performers.

The presentation included the medal ceremony for the women’s marathon, and the newest inductees to the IOC Athletes' Commission were thanking the volunteers. Then the narrative portion began: the stadium went dark, and a golden winged humanoid alien, portrayed by dancer Arthur Cadre, descended from its roof. It was named the "Golden Voyager" in honor of the French-made Voyager Golden Record time capsule intended as communication with extraterrestrial intelligence, and also represented the "Spirit of the Bastille" and the Greek mythological god Helios. The narrative portion was a future history of a dystopian world without the Olympics; the Golden Voyager, aided by descending dancers and acrobats dressed in grey zentai suits, mimed an archeological excavation from the stage, revealing a large copy of the Winged Victory of Samothrace statue of Nike in the Louvre, and five large brass artifacts that were lifted to form the Olympic Rings. Before the Rings were lifted, the Golden Voyager interacted with the masked torchbearer and the masked horse rider from the opening ceremony, who presented it with the flag of Greece and its flagpole while the orchestra and choir performed the Greek national anthem. Swiss musician and daredevil Alain Roche also appeared in a suit made from old magnetic tapes, and played the Delphic Hymns on a grand piano suspended in midair with the broad side lit up and facing the audience while tenor Benjamin Bernheim sang its lyrics while standing in one of the rings. The Olympic Anthem was performed by the orchestra and the Maîtrise de Fontainebleau children's choir in English, as the Olympic flag was lowered. This flag will be raised again in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo for the 2026 Winter Olympics; the opening ceremony will take place in Milan 6 February 2026.

Head of COJOP Tony Estanguet and President of the IOC Thomas Bach made their speeches escorted by six Olympic medalists: Teddy Riner representing Europe, Emma McKeon representing Oceania, Sun Yingsha representing Asia, Cindy Ngamba representing the Refugee Olympic Team, Eliud Kipchoge representing Africa, and Mijaín López representing the Americas. Estanguet opined that the national mood had turned from dour to ecstatic, and noted that the Games was marked by the most marriage proposals among participating athletes, and the athlete delegations had reached 1:1 gender parity; in later paragraphs, he called for France and the world to join Paris and support the 2024 Paralympic Games. Bach said, "Dear French friends, you have fallen in love with the Olympic Games. And we have fallen in love with all of you," thanked the Refugee Olympic Team for their inspiring performance, expressed hope for a new generation of IOC leadership, reflected that the Games would be his last, and made a pun that they were "Seine-sational", to much groaning from the audience.

For the Antwerp ceremony, Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass was accompanied by American gymnast Simone Biles for the handover of the Olympic Flag by Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo. This was the second consecutive Olympics in which the Olympic flag was passed between two female mayors, following 2020. Bass was the first Black female mayor to receive the Olympic flag.

After H.E.R. performed the National Anthem of the United States, actor Tom Cruise abseiled from the Stade de France roof (to the tune of the "Theme from Mission: Impossible" rearranged on guitar) before carrying the Olympic Flag from the stadium on a motorcycle. A pre-recorded segment depicted Cruise riding through the streets of Paris before boarding a transport plane, skydiving, and delivering the flag to the Hollywood Hills where it was passed to mountain biker Kate Courtney, sprinter Michael Johnson at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, and skateboarder Jagger Eaton on the palm-tree lined streets of LA. The video showed landmarks such as the Hollywood sign, which was later modified by Cruise to recreate the Olympic Rings, and the beach-side sidewalks at Venice, California.The flag was delivered to a stage on the beach at Long Beach, California followed by performances featuring the Red Hot Chili Peppers ("By the Way" during the Olympic Flag's journey and "Can't Stop" live on stage), Billie Eilish ("Birds of a Feather"), and Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre ("Drop It Like It's Hot" by Snoop Dogg alone and "The Next Episode" with Dr. Dre). All of the artists above are from the Los Angeles area and represented the United States in the closing ceremony.

The ceremony's penultimate section started with Marchand entering the stadium with the lantern containing the Olympic flame. Bach declared the games officially closed as the two, along with the medalists who escorted him representing the continents and refugees, blew out the flame, in a similar way as the extinguishing act of the Athens 2004 Olympics closing ceremony. Bach then called upon the youth of the world to assemble in four years in Los Angeles. The section ended with a French flag handover, from Antoine Dupont, closing ceremony flagbearer, to part of the French Paralympic team, symbolizing the transition between Olympic Games to the Paralympic Games.

The ceremony closed with Yseult performed Frank Sinatra hit "My Way", which was adapted to English for Paul Anka from the French song "Comme d'habitude" by Claude François. After that, multiple fireworks were sent out from Stade de France.

Victory Ceremony

Main article: Athletics at the 2024 Summer Olympics – Women's marathon

Women's marathon medalists

•  Sifan Hassan (NED)
•  Tigst Assefa (ETH)
•  Hellen Obiri (KEN)