Tom Cruise introduced a contact of Hollywood glamour to the Olympics closing ceremony in Paris on Sunday night time when he hurled himself off the roof of the Stade de France — firmly secured to a cable, in fact — to cheers from the 71,500-strong crowd.
After rappelling all the way in which to terra firma to the Mission Not possible soundtrack performed by Grammy-winning R&B artist H.E.R , the film legend grabbed the Olympic flag, jumped on a bike, and raced out of the stadium. Viewers all over the world had been then handled to a slickly produced motion sequence that includes Cruise racing by way of the streets of Paris, driving straight onto an plane, and parachuting into Los Angeles — the situation of the 2028 Olympics — earlier than handing the flag to American mountain biker Kate Courtney.
Passing the flag from the present host metropolis to the subsequent one is a part of the Olympic custom and so utilizing a consultant like Cruise made excellent sense for an Olympic Video games being held in a metropolis that’s residence to Hollywood. The sixty-two-year-old Cruise has lengthy been identified to like performing his personal stunts (together with this utterly crazy one in Mission: Not possible – Rogue Nation), and so the closing ceremony offered a wonderful alternative for him so as to add one more one to the checklist.
The film star additionally posted a photograph of himself on the Olympic stadium with the message, “Thanks, Paris! Now off to L.A.”
Thanks, Paris! Now off to LA. pic.twitter.com/MxlAb0hZbT
— Tom Cruise (@TomCruise) August 11, 2024
Happening throughout the confines of a stadium, the Paris Olympics’ closing occasion was a extra conventional affair in comparison with the opening ceremony final month, which happened exterior for the primary time within the sporting extravaganza’s historical past. Whereas rain on the opening occasion soaked athletes and the gathered crowds, Sunday night time’s closing ceremony loved respectable climate in what seemed to be an thrilling night of leisure.
