Tom Cruise confirms himself as the announced protagonist of the Closing Ceremony of the Paris 2024 Games. In the handover to Los Angeles 2028, the Hollywood actor jumped from the roof of the Stade de France and landed among the athletes, climbing onto a motorbike to the tune of "Mission Impossible". Then he raced down the Champs-Elysées and along the Seine, with the Olympic flag to the airport. In a video, he gets on the plane and, on the phone, announces: "I'm coming". Finally, to make sure he doesn't miss anything, he jumps in a parachute. See you in 4 years in California.

Like the opening, the closing in Paris was also in grand style with Italy parading in front of 80,000 spectators at the Stade de France with the tricolor flag bearers, Rossella Fiamingo and Gregorio Paltrinieri, the perfect Italian couple , who won two medals in just a quarter of an hour in the Olympic capital. On the same evening of Tuesday 30 July, he won the bronze in the final of the 800 meters freestyle, while she took home the first historic gold in the women's épée team event at the Grand Palais, a success shared with her fencing partners, Alberta Santuccio, Giulia Rizzi and Mara Navarria, as well as one of the greatest Italian emotions of these Olympics.

“The spirit of peace is the message that the Olympics leave to the world,” said IOC President Thomas Bach, before the Olympic flag passed into the hands of Los Angeles for 2028 and the Games were declared closed.

In the packed Stade de France, the closing ceremony began promptly, at 9 pm, with President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte doing the honors in the official stands together with Bach, who paid homage to the "City of Lights" that has vibrated to the Olympic rhythm and will continue to do so at the end of August with the Paralympic Games. No rain problems to ruin the show, on the contrary, the evening began with one of Edith Piaff's most famous songs, "Sous le Ciel de Paris", precisely, performed under the golden hot air balloon with the Olympic flame that for fifteen days shone in the Tuileries Gardens, conquering locals and tourists. Shorter than the mega-parade on the Seine capped by Celine Dion's Hymn to Love on the Eiffel Tower, on July 26, the grand finale began with the athletes' "return" to the stadium, followed by a 40-minute show that paid homage to classical Greece, then concluded with a musical celebration. In a strange twist of fate, at about the same time, the Greek authorities ordered the evacuation of the historic city of Marathon, near Athens, threatened by fires.

On the 2,800 square meter stage, in a ceremony this time in the name of tradition and without "transgressions", the hosts were Air and Phoenix, the two bands that spearheaded the so-called "French Touch", the electro-pop movement from France that together with the now disbanded Daft Punk conquered the planet. This was followed by speeches of thanks from Bach and the president of the organizing committee of the Games, Thomas Estanguet. Then the baton was passed to LA, as a tribute to the two countries. It was in fact the Marquis of La Fayette who fought for independence under the stars and stripes and along the Seine, even today, a miniature copy of the Statue of Liberty stands tall, conceived by the French sculptor and patriot Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi. The final twist, Tom Cruise lowered from above like Mission Impossible.

(Unioneonline/D)

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