Athletes head to the Stade de France for the closing ceremony. (David Davies/PA Images via Getty Images)
Almost as quickly as they arrived in Paris, the 2024 Summer Olympics are coming to an end. It seems like only yesterday that Céline Dion’s surprise appearance atop the Eiffel Tower capped off a rainy opening ceremony that saw athletes from around the world arrive at the Games in a boat parade down the Seine.
Highlights included incredible performances by stars like Simone Biles, Katie Ledecky, Noah Lyles and Stephen Curry for Team USA, as well as some big surprises, such as the bronze medal for the U.S. men’s gymnastics team.
This year’s Games also saw controversy, with American gymnast Jordan Chiles losing her bronze medal in floor exercise and Algerian boxer Imane Khelif winning gold after a gender controversy made headlines around the world in the middle of the Games.
Next on the Olympic calendar are the 2024 Paralympics, scheduled to take place in Paris from August 28 to September 8. The next Winter Games will be held in Italy in February 2026 in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, and the next Summer Olympics will be held in Los Angeles in 2028.
Date: Sunday, August 11
Time: 3:00 p.m. ET
Location: Stade de France, Paris, FR
TV channels: NBC
Streaming: peacock
Follow the closing ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris with Yahoo Sports.
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Bach recently announced that he will step down from office after this year. He has chosen not to change the current rules, which limit the term of office to 12 years. Bach has been IOC President since 2013.
IOC President Thomas Bach has the microphone. We are approaching the handover from Paris to Los Angeles.
Estanguet also thanks the volunteers and other helpers who helped make these Olympic Games possible. He ends his speech with a few sentences in English praising the athletes and talking about how exciting these Games were.
Estanguet added that the 2024 Olympics saw the most marriage proposals of any Olympic Games. Several athletes have either proposed to their partners or have been proposed to. It is, after all, the city of love.
In his speech, Tony Estanguet praised the Frenchman Léon Marchand, who won four gold medals in swimming for France and had the honour of extinguishing the torch.
“We wanted to be inspired, and we brought in Léon Marchand,” he said, drawing great applause from the audience. Perhaps a little ingratiating, but effective.
Tony Estanguet, President of the Paris Organising Committee, speaks now, thanking everyone who made the Games possible and paying tribute to Paris’ achievement.
“Tonight I have never been so proud to be French.”
Surfing in Team USA
Has there ever been crowd surfing at the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games? Phoenix singer Thomas Mars may have broken through a barrier at the Stade de France.
With all due respect to breaking, it has the potential for another future Olympic event.
A foretaste of the dance party with Belgian singer Angèle, French DJ Kavinsky and Phoenix:
After a few alternating performances with other artists, Phoenix stays true to the hits and ends the concert with “1901”. The audience and the athletes are thrilled.
The lead singer of Phoenix jumps into the middle of Team USA and does a bit of crowd surfing, and the performance is rounded off with some confetti.
Ezra Koenig from Vampire Weekend is now on stage with Phoenix. After a breathtaking artistic part, we have now officially moved on to the party part of the closing ceremony. French DJ Kavinsky will also provide a dance party.
Now the French indie band Phoenix is performing their 2009 hit “Lisztomania”. Athletes stormed the stage for the improvised rock concert.
Now a grand piano and player have been brought out from under the stage. The pianist Alain Roche plays while dangling vertically from wires. What a spectacle.
Alain Roche plays the piano while dangling in the air during the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games at the Stade de France. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
According to NBC, the Golden Voyager segment features 110 performers and imagines a rebirth of the Olympic Games in a world where they never existed.
The spectacle has begun. A shimmering “Golden Voyager” is lowered from the rafters into the Stade de France.
The Golden Voyager has entered the building. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Now the show is about to begin. The lights are out in the Stade de France and the orchestra on the pitch has agreed to begin playing.
Now the Olympic volunteers are making their big appearance and will be honored at the closing ceremony. According to NBC, more than 45,000 people have volunteered to make the games happen in Paris.
Hassan can hear the Dutch national anthem being played in her honor, in front of the entire athlete delegation and the tens of thousands at the Stade de France. An incredibly cool moment.
The parade is over and the medal ceremony for the marathon winners is taking place. Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands won gold earlier in the day. What a cool place to be awarded an Olympic medal.
And here is Nikola Jokić, not at the Stade de France, but at home in Sombor at the horse racing track, a day after leading Serbia to the basketball bronze medal in Paris. Because of course he is.
Now “We Are the Champions” by Queen is playing and the athletes are singing along passionately. Athlete karaoke is apparently exactly what it sounds like.
