PARIS – Californian music icons Billie Eilish, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Snoop Dogg were set to perform to thousands of fans on Sunday as Paris prepared to end a Summer Games that restored the Olympics’ mojo, handing over to Los Angeles and Hollywood’s razzle dazzle.
While Paris used its most famous landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower and the Palace of Versailles as its star draw, LA is already turning to its home-grown A-list celebrities to impress the crowds.
The closing ceremony began with French swimming sensation Leon Marchand collecting the Olympic flame in a lantern from the gardens overlooking the Louvre museum, beginning its short journey to the stadium in the Paris outskirts.
Moments later flagbearers of each of the 205 Olympic delegations paraded into the stadium, led by French rugby star Antoine Dupont, before thousands more athletes spilled into the arena to rapturous applause and a thumping soundtrack.
The 2-1/2 hour show will include a theatrical sequence entitled “Records”, which promises a dream-like immersive journey through time, led by a “Golden Voyager”.
His odyssey begins at the origins of the Olympic Games before proceeding to a science-fiction filled dystopian future where the Olympic Games have vanished and must be rediscovered.
Along the way, the voyager will discover the symbols of peace and unity than underpin the values of Olympism.
But it is the musicians and Eilish, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Snoop Dogg, the U.S. rapper who has been contributing to NBC Primetime’s coverage of the Games, that will awe fans and television spectators.
Grammy-winning artist H.E.R. will perform the U.S. national anthem live in Paris, while rumours have swirled around Paris that Tom Cruise will perform a stunt worthy of Mission Impossible.
FLAG TO PASS TO LA
“This is the biggest moment in LA28 history to date, as the Olympic flag passes from Paris to LA,” LA28 Chairperson and President Casey Wasserman said in a statement.
A final unnamed star is also expected to perform and a version of Frank Sinatra’s “My Way”, originally sung by French musical icon Claude Francois, will end the show, perhaps a wink to the world that Paris did it its way.
The two weeks of sporting drama saw China and the United States duke it out for top spot in the medal table right down to the last event.
Echoing the heartache delivered to France by the United States in the men’s basketball final, the American women’s basketball side handed France a gut-wrenching one-point defeat to earn a 40th gold medal and top spot on the medal table.
Ahead of the ceremony, fans praised France’s handling of the Games and recounted a fortnight of sporting drama and Olympic spirit in packed-out venues at the heart of one of the world’s most beautiful cities.
“I think these were Games for the ages,” said Adam Osprey, 60, a retired American civil servant who lives in France.
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, before 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 3×3 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.
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.
But for all the sporting triumph and drama, the biggest star of the show for many was the City of Light itself and the fabulous backdrop it lent to much of the competition.
“They’ve got a high bar to reach. A lot of work to do,” said James Rutledge, 59, a former banker wearing a Team USA t-shirt outside the Stade de France. “Hollywood next? That’s something to play with.”
—Reuters
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