The 2024 Paris Olympics are finally coming to a close this weekend.
On August 11, the Closing Ceremony of the Olympic Games will bring to a conclusion 17 historic days of sporting feats and festivities in France.
The event will include traditional elements, such as:
- The parade of athletes
- The thanking of the 45,000 volunteers
- The medal ceremony for the women’s marathon
- The extinguishing of the Olympic flame, which will be brought from Tuileries, where the cauldron has been on display and visited by tens of thousands of fans
- The proclamation of the end of the Olympic Games, made by the President of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach
- The handover of the Olympic flag from Anne Hidalgo to Karen Bass – the respective mayors of Paris and Los Angeles (hosts for the 2028 Olympics)
On the more artistic side, Artistic director Thomas Jolly, who produced the Opening Ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games (the biggest-ever open-air spectacle in the heart of Paris) will once again direct celebrations for the final moments of the Games. He has tagged the event as ‘Records’, which is expected to be a unique and exceptional show on a 2,800 m2 stage.
The event holds at the iconic 80,000-seater Stade de France, to be transformed into a gigantic concert hall, featuring traditional highlights such as the athletesβ parade and the handover of the Olympic flag to the organisers of the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
H.E.R., the five-time Grammy winner, is expected to sing the U.S. national anthem live as part of the handover. There will be a medal presentation ceremony β for the womenβs marathon from earlier in the day.
Although organisers have remained secretive, it is heavily rumoured that film star Tom Cruise will be taking part by abseiling down the stadium.
Snoop Dogg, who has been prominent throughout the Games, is expected to perform – as are French artists Air and Phoenix. and perhaps the Red Hot Chili Peppers, as well as Billie Eilish.
More than 100 performers, acrobats, dancers, and circus artists will join world-renowned singers in various musical performances.
Part of the show will take place in the air, accompanied by spectacular lighting effects and the flair of the French in the costumes, with the overall effect taking spectators β both those at home and in person β “on a journey into the past, to the origins of the Games, but also into the future, and ultimately to a timeless universe”.
Says Jolly:
On 11 August 2024, the Olympic Games will be over, and the Olympic flame will be extinguished. That moment will remind us just how precious these Olympic Games are – a unique monument to a shared experience – and therefore fragile.
- Numeris MΓ©dia is officially accredited media to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games