Olympics closing ceremony: Paris Games close with a star-studded show

Breathtaking closing ceremony at Stade de France celebrates sporting excellence, passing the Olympic baton to Los Angeles.

Highlighting the marriage of tradition and modernity as one of its underlying themes, Paris 2024, which began unconventionally on the beautiful Seine River, closed the greatest show on earth conventionally with the Stade de France serving as a grand theatre to emphasise the Olympic Games as a human monument.

The Sunday night wowed more than 71,000 spectators in the stands and millions around the world to celebrate humanity as well as the extraordinary athletic endeavours, in the form of nearly 850 medals won and 42 records broken (including 10 world records and 32 Olympic records).

The ceremony began with a musical performance as an ode to the Games’ host city as the Olympic flame travelled from Louvre to the Stade de France.

Following the entry of French President Emmanuel Macron and International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach, the French National flag and the Olympic flag were raised while the National anthem of the host country, the Marseillaise, was sung by the Maîtrise de Fontainebleau and Orchestre Divertimento, under the baton of conductor Zahia Ziouani.

The entry of the flag-bearers and the parade of athletes from 205 delegations were the ultimate celebration of the heroes of Paris 2024. They started the parade on the stage, in the centre of the stadium, that symbolically represented a planisphere. Then the athletes entered the arena together from two entry points to join the parade.

India could not have found a better pair of flag-bearers as double bronze medallist shooter Manu Bhaker, the best Indian athlete here, and double bronze medallist hockey goalkeeper P.R. Sreejesh, who signed off on a high, proudly performed their duty.

For the first time, the women’s marathon concluded the Olympic Games and its top three finishers were handed medals in the final victory ceremony to underline Paris 2024’s effort to make it the most equal Games.