Photo caption: The closing ceremony of the game in Paris
August 11, 2024
The closing ceremony of the Olympic Games took place at the Stade de France in Paris.
Present at the stadium along with thousands of athletes and tens of thousands of spectators were French President Emmanuel Macron, Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach and UEFA President Gianni Infantino.
Photo credit: Reuters
Photo caption: Gold medals are more than 90% silver and are only gold plated. Silver medals are actually silver, and bronze medals are actually bronze.
Photo credit: Reuters
Photo caption: Thomas Bach and Emmanuel Macron before the ceremony
The organizers of the Paris Games kept the closing program a secret until the very last moment, although it was known that such stars as Billie Eilish, the American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers and rapper Snoop Dogg, aka Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr., would take part.
Their participation was confirmed by the organizers of the next Olympics, which will be held in Los Angeles in 2028, since all the musicians are California natives.
“This will be the most important moment to date in the history of the upcoming Olympic Games, as the Olympic flag is moved from Paris to Los Angeles,” said Chairman of the 2018 Olympic Organizing Committee Casey Wasserman. “We are thrilled to be able to showcase the best of what Los Angeles is known for and grateful for the opportunity to showcase the best of Los Angeles with local artists, thank you Billy, HER [сценический псевдоним американской певицы Габриэллы Сармьенто Уилсон]Red Hot Chili Peppers and Snoop Dogg will be taking part in this fantastic performance for audiences around the world, and will show exactly what awaits them in 2028.”
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Image caption Leon Marchand, the French swimmer who won five gold medals at the 2024 Games, holds a lamp containing the small Olympic flame after the flame in the large cauldron was extinguished
French musicians and performers will also take part in the ceremony.
Photo by PA
Photo caption: French rock band Phoenix at the stadium
The first Olympic closing ceremony took place at the very first modern games in 1896. However, that ceremony was much shorter and, according to the organizing committee of this year’s Olympics, “had almost nothing in common with the current ceremonies.”
Although each host country tries to bring something special to the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics, some elements are necessarily repeated over and over again.
The ceremony was opened by Emmanuel Macron and Thomas Bach.
Photo caption: The traditional award ceremony for the winners of the women’s marathon at the closing ceremony. Olympic gold went to Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands
The mandatory program includes: a parade of athletes, an expression of gratitude to the many thousands of volunteers who helped hold the games, and an awards ceremony for the winners of the women’s marathon.
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Photo caption: Following the medalists, athletes who took part in the games but did not win medals appeared at the stadium
The host country’s anthem, the parade of flags of the countries that took part in the Olympics, and the handing over of the Olympic flag to a representative of the city that will host the games next time are also traditional. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo handed over the Olympic baton to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.
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Photo caption: Lowering the Olympic flag. No problems
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Photo caption: Los Angeles Mayor Karin Bass received the Olympic flag from her Parisian counterpart
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Photo caption: Tom Cruise finally took part in the flag-transfer ceremony
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Caption: Cruz received the Olympic flag and took it to Los Angeles. Right from the stadium…
This is the moment when the countdown to the Los Angeles Olympics began. The opening ceremony is scheduled for July 14, 2028. In other words, there are 1,434 days left.
At the very end, the Olympic flame is extinguished.
The artistic director of the closing ceremony is the same Thomas Jolly who conceived and staged the opening ceremony, which some criticized.
He promised that the show he had in mind would take viewers on a sci-fi journey through time, starting with the origins of the Olympic Games and moving into a future where the Olympics had disappeared and had to be reinvented.
Caption: A golden figure of a space traveler who descends to Earth in the distant future and begins to find out what exactly our civilization was famous for. Caption: A space traveler receives the flag of Greece, where the Olympic Games were born.
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Image caption: A scene from the closing ceremony, symbolising the revival of the Olympic Games in 1896
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Image caption: The Olympic movement has been revived and, in the words of a BBC commentator, ‘the space traveller can fly home reassured’
The Stade de France has been transformed into a giant concert hall. Thomas Jolly said the end-of-Olympics celebrations would be “an opportunity to reflect on the importance of the Olympic Games in our society.”
“It’s a very spectacular, choreographed and acrobatic performance designed to create a magnificent visual canvas to say goodbye to athletes from all over the world,” he explained.
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Image caption: Briony Page with the Union Jack
At the closing ceremony, the flags of the participating countries are carried by particularly distinguished athletes. For example, the flag of Great Britain was carried by Briony Page, who won gold in trampoline, and the flag of France by Antoine Dupont, who led his country to victory in rugby sevens.
The US flag is held by swimmer Katie Ledecky, who won two Olympic gold medals.