Paris 2024 Ends with Spectacular Ceremony
by Philip Barker at the Stade de France
“That’s it” said International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach as a group of athletes representing all the continents blew out the Flame to close the Paris 2024 Olympics after a tumultuous two weeks.
They had included four-time Paris 2024 Olympic Champion Leon Marchand and judoka Teddy Riner, boxing medallist Cindy Winner Djankeu Ngamba of the Refugee Olympic team, table tennis champion Sun Yingsha of China, marathoner Eliud Kipchoge from Kenya, Mijain Lopez Nunez of Cuba and Australian swimmer Emma McKeon.
Bach’s speech had a dual meaning because he has announced that he will stand down as IOC President next year, exactly 100 years after Baron Pierre de Coubertin had relinquished control of the Olympic Movement.
Bach had closed the Games with the traditional summons, “I call upon the youth of the World to come together four years from now in Los Angeles, there to celebrate with us the Games of the 34th Olympiad.”
A giant Olympic medal had taken centre stage at the Ceremony which had the theme of “Records.”
It had begun with a rendition of “Sous le Ciel de Paris” by singer Zaho de Sagazan and the Choir of the Haendel-Hendrix Academy in the Jardin de Tuilleries.
Those watching in the Stadium roared as four-time swimming gold medal winner Leon Marchand appeared to carry a lantern containing the Olympic Flame from the Balloon which had been the representation of the Flame throughout the Games.
In the stadium, flag bearers of the competing nations were followed by the athletes.
The final medal ceremony was for the women’s marathon, won by Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands.
This had deliberately been staged after the men’s race to emphasise gender equality.
The main set piece included a “Golden Voyager.”
As he came to earth, the Greek anthem was played to recognise the home of the Olympic Games of antiquity.
It is a tradition introduced at the 1924 Olympics in Paris and one which Coubertin heartily endorsed.
The performance also included extracts from the 1894 Congress which agreed to revive the Games including the “Hymn to Apollo,” the musical piece which had been played at the Ceremony.
The Olympic Rings had been “excavated” and were raised above the stadium.
The Olympic Handover took place before the official declaration of closure and before the playing of the Olympic hymn, sung in English by the choir. Estanguet was greeted by cheers when he took to the stage.
“We planned for every scenario but there is no way we could have prepared for everything we have just experienced together,” Paris 2024 President Estanguet told the crowd. “With the first medals, a wave started building. This wave took over the country, carried the whole world in its wake and went beyond anything we could imagine. We wanted excitement, we got passion. We wanted to be inspired, we got Léon Marchand, I have never felt so proud to be French.”
In a break with convention, Paris 2024 President Tony Estanguet joined Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo to bring the Ceremonial Olympic Flag to the stage.
The supreme gymnast Simon Biles joined LA Mayor Karen Bass on stage to receive the Flag before Tom Cruise carried it away on a motorcycle.
As if by magic the Flag instantly appeared in California where Michael Johnson was amongst those to carry it.
There were filmed performances from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Snoop Dog, Dr Dre and Billie Eilish.
The Stars and Stripes was raised as the “Star Spangled Banner” was performed by Gabi Wilson, better known as H.E.R.
The last time Los Angeles anticipated the Games, there was no handover ceremony.
They had been chosen as hosts for 1984.
The 1980 Moscow Games had been blighted by a boycott, led by United States President Jimmy Carter in protest at the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
The White House refused to allow the Stars and Stripes to be flown so the Los Angeles City Flag was flown.
This time Los Angeles will also hold the Ceremonial Olympic Flag for the next four years.
In 1984 after a change in the protocol regulations, it only stayed in the city for the two weeks of the Games.
There are no comments published yet.