Team USA topped the Paris Olympic Games medal tally, with 42 bronze, 44 silver, and tying with China's 40 gold after all events were completed on Sunday.
Hollywood's top gun, Tom Cruise, rappelled from the roof of the Stade de France into the Paris Games for the closing ceremony before speeding off with the Olympic flag in a dramatic handover that began the countdown to the Los Angeles Games in 2028.
A beaming Cruise high-fived athletes after making the roughly 160-foot descent before jumping on a motorcycle and exiting the stadium as the crowd at the 80,000-seat stadium roared.
The Olympic flag is officially handed over from Paris to Los Angeles, the host of the next Summer Games in 2028.
The lights are going down. The orchestra is tuning in. A light show is displayed on the roof of the Stade de France.
French swimmer Léon Marchand, wearing a black suit and tie, walks around the Olympic cauldron.
He picks up a lantern carrying the Olympic flame. At the same time, the Stade de France is roaring as Marchand is shown on the giant screens. Marchand is perhaps the most celebrated athlete at the Paris 2024 Olympics with 4 gold medals and 1 bronze medal.
The show is under way. French singer Zaho de Sagazan is singing the famous French song “Sous le ciel de Paris” in the Jardin des Tuileries, next to the Olympic cauldron, in the heart of Paris.
While the opening ceremony was held on the river Seine, the closing ceremony is staged in the 80,000-capacity Stade de France which hosted athletics events after rugby sevens.
The Olympic flame will be extinguished and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo will give the flag to her Los Angeles counterpart Karen Bass, a symbolic handover to the next hosts for the 2028 Games.
The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee is planning to appeal the decision to strip American gymnast Jordan Chiles of her bronze medal. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled that Chiles’s coach missed the deadline by four seconds to challenge her initial score, resulting in the reinstatement of the original results.
The USOPC contends that the initial scoring error by FIG was compounded by procedural issues during the appeal process, preventing them from adequately defending her position.
Team USA took its seventh consecutive medal in women’s basketball with a 67–66 victory over France.
The game was a rollercoaster, with both teams trading the lead throughout the match on France's home court.
Team USA won the bronze medal in water polo, ending a 16-year drought since winning silver in 2008. The Americans battled to an eight-all draw with water polo powerhouse Hungary before emerging victorious in a dramatic shootout.
Hungary missed all three of their penalty shots, while the United States converted all three to secure the bronze. Serbia took the gold.
Just hours before the Paris Olympics Closing Ceremony, a shirtless man was seen ascending the Parisian landmark, prompting an evacuation of the tower and surrounding areas. Some visitors were briefly locked in on the second floor before being escorted out.
The man was able to reach the point just above the Olympic rings on the second level. The tower played a central role in the opening ceremony, during which Celine Dion performed her set. However, the Eiffel Tower was not scheduled to be part of the closing ceremony, which will be held at the Stade de France.
On Sunday, more than 30,000 police officers were deployed around Paris, with at least 3,000 officers focused on the Stade de France.
Kennedy Blades won the silver medal in her first Olympic appearance, finishing second in the women’s freestyle 76 kg division.
The 20-year-old faced off against reigning world champion Yuka Kagami of Japan in the gold medal match. After a tightly contested first period, Kagami managed to secure a crucial takedown in the second, ultimately securing the gold medal.
San Diego’s Jennifer Valente successfully defended her Olympic title, securing gold for Team USA.
Dominating the four-discipline event, Valente entered the final points race with a commanding 10-point lead. Her opponent, Australia’s Georgia Baker, was unable to score in the final race, solidifying Valente’s victory by a comfortable 5-point margin.
Italy beat the United States 3–0 to win the women's volleyball gold on Sunday.
Brazil beat Turkey 3–1 on Saturday to take the bronze medal.
Flying Dutchman Harrie Lavreysen confirmed his status as the king of men's sprinting by winning the Olympic keirin on Sunday to complete a remarkable hat-trick at the National Velodrome.
Lavreysen flew around the final corner to beat Australia's Matthew Richardson, who took the silver.
Kotaro Kiyooka of Japan won the men's 65 kg freestyle gold, while Iran's Rahman Amouzadkhalili took silver.
Sebastian Rivera of Puerto Rico and Albania's Islam Dudaev took bronze.
Hungary's Michelle Gulyas showed the steady eye and hand of a sharpshooter to win the women's Modern Pentathlon gold medal with a world record points haul at the Paris Olympics on Sunday.
France's Elodie Clouvel took the silver, after starting the final laser run with a 13-second advantage but losing it with a series of agonizing misses in the target shooting, in front of her home crowd.
The IOC announced early Sunday it was reallocating the bronze from last Monday's women's floor final to Romanian Ana Barbosu after the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) said Saturday night it would respect the court's decision and elevate Barbosu to third.
The decision came less than 24 hours after the Court of Arbitration for Sport voided a scoring appeal made by Team USA coach Cecile Landi during the competition that placed Chiles on the podium.
The U.S. women look to defend their gold against Italy, which is appearing in its first final and is guaranteed a first medal. Its previous best finish was fifth. Outside hitters Myriam Sylla and Loveth Omoruyi will look to cause an upset. The match starts at 1 p.m. CEST (7 a.m. ET).
The Netherlands' Sifan Hassan deployed her famous late kick to win the women's marathon at the Paris Olympics on Sunday, adding the gold to her bronze medals in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters earlier in the week.
Hassan battled with Tigst Assefa of Ethiopia and managed to shake her in the last stretch, crossing the finish line in an Olympic record time of 2 hours, 22 minutes, and 55 seconds.
The French women face a tall order to win their first Olympic gold medal in basketball at 3:30 p.m. local time (9:30 a.m. ET). They must beat Breanna Stewart and the seven-time defending champion United States at Bercy Arena. Team USA is looking to win their 10th gold since the women’s competition started at the 1976 Games. The final is a rematch from the London 2012 title showdown, which France lost. In the bronze-medal game, Belgium faces Australia.
The United States showcased its dominance on the track by winning both the men's and women's 4x400 meters relays on Saturday evening. Elsewhere, the U.S. men's basketball team triumphed over France with a hard-fought 98–87 victory, securing their fifth consecutive Olympic gold medal. The U.S. women's soccer team earned a record fifth gold medal with a narrow 1–0 victory against Brazil.
