Tom Cruise and Billie Eilish helped draw a close to the 2024 Paris Olympics on Sunday night. The star-packed closing ceremony highlighted French artistry and included Cruise descending from the roof of the Stade de France and riding out carrying the Olympic flag toward Los Angeles, host of the 2028 Summer Olympics. Who said what France "closed out its 2024 Games just as they started — with joy and panache," The Associated Press said. Los Angeles will have a challenge topping Paris, which made "spectacular use of its cityscape," but...

With the 2024 Summer Olympics just concluded in Paris, we look at the highlights and lowlights of the past few weeks, both on and off the field. Journalist Shireen Ahmed discusses the victories for women in sport, including Dutch runner Sifan Hassan’s gold medal in the women’s marathon, which she accepted at the closing ceremony wearing a hijab while France’s ban on its women athletes competing in hijabs was in effect. “It was a very beautiful and quiet message to women all around the world, and particularly those in France,”...

New Zealanders have gone from celebrating their most successful Olympics ever to being on the end of an emphatic snub during the closing ceremony in Paris. Thousands of athletes remained in France to celebrate their achievements in the State de France and entered the venue in party mode on Monday morning, Australian time. That included the Kiwi contingent, who had an Olympic campaign to remember, only to find they'd been forgotten about by organisers. An artistic rendition of a world map was wheeled out into the stadium to commemorate all...

The US and China ended the games with 40 gold medals each, but the US topped the table because it had more silver medals. Hollywood star Tom Cruise abseiled from the roof of the Stade de France drawing gasps from spectators as Paris bade farewell to an Olympics hailed as one of the most successful. Cruise descended on a wire in front of 71,500 people, grabbed the Olympic flag and jumped on a motorbike, to the delight of athletes and fans. In a preview of what the world can expect...

PARIS — With one last big exhale from French swimmer Léon Marchand, the Olympic flame in Paris is out. The closing ceremony on Sunday drew the curtain on a historic two-plus week stretch of Olympic competition. And historic it was. The Summer Games made novel use of the country’s iconic venues (the Eiffel Tower, Grand Palais and The Palace of Versailles to name just a few). Meanwhile, American swimmer Katie Ledecky, who added four more medals to her overall total of 14, became the most decorated female Olympian, while Marchand...

Fireworks mark the end of the closing ceremony of the Paris Olympics

Paris closed out two and a-half extraordinary weeks of Olympic sports and emotion with a boisterous, star-studded show in France’s national stadium on Sunday, handing over hosting duties for the Summer Games to the next city in line: Los Angeles in 2028.

Stars of sport, screen and music came together at the Paris 2024 closing ceremony to bring the 33rd Olympic Games to an end. Actor Tom Cruise descended from the roof of Stade de France to collect the Olympic flag as part of the handover to the American city of Los Angeles, which will host the next Games in 2028, before departing on a motorcycle. Red Hot Chili Peppers, Billie Eilish, Snoop Dogg and Dr Dre then performed on Venice Beach as part of a star-studded music set to conclude the...

“This is not the time for high art,” BBC presenter Hazel Irvine announced, as coverage of the Olympic closing ceremony began. “It’s time for a singsong.” After an opening ceremony marred by the weather (“Damp and extraordinary,” in the words of Irvine’s commentary partner, Andrew Cotter) and subject to a series of confected rows (Donald Trump called it a “disgrace” prompting artistic director Thomas Jolly to revise his script for the closer), this Parisian finale played it far safer. Less high art, more pop concert. Opening in the Tuileries, where...