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HOLLYWOOD STAR TOM Cruise abseiled from the roof of the Stade de France as Paris said farewell on Sunday to an Olympics hailed as one of the most successful in history.
Cruise descended on a wire in front of 71,500 spectators, grabbed the Olympic flag and jumped on a motorbike, to the delight of athletes and fans.
In a preview of what the world can expect when the Games head to Los Angeles in 2028, the Mission Impossible star was then shown boarding a plane and skydiving into the Californian city before adorning the iconic Hollywood sign with the Olympic rings.
Los Angeles band Red Hot Chili Peppers, singer Billie Eilish and rappers Snoop Dogg and Dr Dre then performed a mini-concert on Long Beach.
The closing spectacle marked the beginning of the four-year countdown to the LA Games, and American gymnastics icon Simone Biles joined Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass as the Olympic flag was formally handed over.
Earlier, International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach said the Paris Games had been “sport at its best”.
“These were sensational Olympic Games from start to finish,” Bach said. “Or dare I say: Seine-sational Games,” the IOC chief quipped in a pun about the river flowing through Paris which was the scene of the opening ceremony.
“Dear French friends, you have fallen in love with the Olympic Games. And we have fallen in love with all of you,” Bach added.
Around 9,000 athletes had flooded into the stadium to be entertained by 270 performers and artists in a ceremony billed as a celebration of humanity and the unifying power of sport.
“We knew you would be brilliant, but you were magic,” Paris 2024 organising chief Tony Estanguet told athletes. “You made us happy, you made us feel alive — the world needed this moment so much.”
The ceremony began when France’s swimming hero Leon Marchand — winner of four gold medals at these Games — collected the Olympic flame from the cauldron in the Tuileries Gardens to begin its journey to the stadium.
Local rugby hero Antoine Dupont — who led the host nation to a rugby sevens gold medal in one of the early highlights of the Games — carried a French flag into the stadium as partying athletes swarmed the field.
The ceremony followed 17 days of frequently breathtaking sporting action set against the backdrop of iconic Parisian landmarks from the Eiffel Tower to the Château de Versailles.
In contrast to the rain-soaked opening ceremony, Sunday’s festivities began as a golden sunset bathed 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 squeezed past France 67-66 to clinch the last gold of the Games.
The win — the eighth consecutive Olympic women’s basketball title won by the USA — ensured the Americans finished level with China on 40 golds each.
The USA however finished on top of the overall medal table with a total of 126 medals, with China in second place on 91.
Ireland finished 19th in the overall medal table, with a record tally of four golds and three bronze medals.
Cork rower Fintan McCarthy and Sligo swimmer Mona McSharry, two of our medal-winners, carried the Irish flag during the closing ceremony.
Irish Olympians are due to be celebrated in a homecoming ceremony in Dublin city this afternoon.
- © AFP 2024 with reporting by Órla Ryan
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Even leaving the Irish success aside, it’s been a wonderful Olympics, and arguably the greatest Olympics ever alongside London 2012 which was the best in my lifetime. I actually am going to miss it all now that it’s over, might have to start speaking to the missus again.
@The Firestarter: not really with so much controversy
@The Firestarter: Ha ha, you can keep quiet with the missus for a while yet.
If you want more, you’ve the Winter Olympics in 2 years’ time in Milan-Cortina. There won’t be as many Irish athletes but you can expect the same kind of action overall
Maybe I am the only one when watching the opening and closing ceremony for the olympcs just see it as nothing more than a travelling freak show at this stage
@Tom Newell: maybe they are all normal and you are the freak Tom? Have a think about that one
@Tom Newell: well I mean it has to travel, it’s held in a different place each time….
@Tom Newell: Nah, you’re not the only one. Most insecure people who feel unnecessarily threatened by otherness think the same as you.
@Tom Newell: I’m sure they’ll be delighted to hear from you below the line in the Daily Mail. You can all have a good moan about living in a world where everyone doesn’t look and act exactly like you. You might get an upvote from Littlejohn and Hitchens!
@JOHN O CONNELL: As if normal is some sort of gold standard in life. Who cares. If evolution has given us one thing it’s a mind boggling amount of variety. It would be an insanely boring world if everyone looked and acted like all the Journal reactionaries.
@JOHN O CONNELL: and the Darwin Award goes to …
@Tom Newell: you can garuntee Los Angeles is going to be the biggest freskshow of all time.
@Tom Newell: in reality you can’t stomach the fact that the french did a very good job, and they are indeed at a way different level than you
It was absolute cringe commentary from RTE. Waited up to see what involvement Mr Tom Cruise Esq was going to do, he just fell from the top on a wire. Didn’t show him jumping on a Motorbike. It was absolutely dire.
Aah Tom and Snoop,2 great sporting icons
Ahh Tom have a heart. It’s fun ..the French are a bit mad that’s why we love the place
Tom Cruise stealing the show. What a great man performing his dangerous stunts.
@Sean Money: he’s a creep
@Dermot Blaine: well he can pilot a fighter jet
@Dermot Blaine: his a WEIRDO what the hells he doing here he don’t belong here!
@jak: you must need a job then
@Sean Money: great man for the celebrity face of the very cruel and extortionate ‘Church’ of scientology
Am I the only one who missed Tom falling off the building because the langers at RTE took another one of their interminable ad breaks
@pauldorgan: Switched over to BBC because the RTE crowd were yapping the whole time. And the endless ad breaks of course.
You didn’t miss much, a Hollywood nod and wink at the camera and off he went. The fools taking selfies with him on his way to the stage was ridiculous
@pauldorgan: Could you not just switch to BBC?
@The Firestarter: live in West Cork… Dont actually have BBC
Was Cruise’s appearance in part an attempt to promote the upcoming final(?) Mission Impossible film? He did grab a lot of media coverage with this stunt.
@Numinous20111: By his standards it was a pretty tame stunt.
Watching the making of the one from the Part One, is just amazing levels of preparation and commitment.
That Tomeen Cruise, he’s fit for anything.
If only that wire snapped scientology would be a better place
@Darragh O Loughlin:
Is he still financing that cult?
@Mary.E.: financing, promoting, running, enforcing rules, persecutingg, take your pick. He’s a major player in the organisation.
@Darragh O Loughlin: OMG hahaha!!
A born-again Christian and a Scientologist walk into a bar …
What have these two egomaniac to do with the Olympics?
@Padraig O’Brien: They’re heavily into supernatural beings like the Ancient Greeks.
I’ll never forgive him for Gooses death.
The last time the games were held in LA, the Russians boycotted the event. This time round, they won’t even be invited
@Paul Moore: An yet the genocidal Israelis are welcomed with open arms.
Shame he doesn’t spend as much time with his daughter as he does on his creepy sci-fi cult and his embarrassing stunts.
So, they gave something to Snoop, which was lit… And expected him to pass it on? Did anyone stop to think about this?
@Meh Meh: serous talent that snoopy kid et al. Compare that to French Class. Where’s me chips?
@Meh Meh: Cracker!
Tom will be old by 2028.
Surely that weirdo Gom Cruise didn’t need a harness!? After all he’s a scientoloJest and they are all on a completely different level to ordinary people.
The syrup stayed on.
have your say