Cruise’s message for millions after scene-stealing Paris stunts
Source: LA Games
Tom Cruise has shared a special message to his millions of fans after his star turn at the glittering ceremony to close the Paris Olympics.
The 62-year-old Mission: Impossible star wowed millions around the world with his skydiving and motorbike-riding stunts at Sunday’s ceremony.
Shortly afterwards, he shared a snap with his 12.3 million Instagram followers.
“Thank you, Paris! Now off to LA,” Cruise wrote, alongside a selfie from Paris’s packed Stade de France.
Cruise was just one of the stars to shine as Paris officially handed over Olympics duties to Los Angeles, which will host the 2028 Games.
Sunday’s closing ceremony capped 2½ extraordinary weeks of Olympic sports and emotion with a boisterous, star-studded show in France’s national stadium, mixing unbridled celebration with a sombre call for peace from IOC president Thomas Bach.
Following in Paris’ footsteps promises to be a challenge: It made spectacular use of its cityscape for its first Games in 100 years, with the Eiffel Tower and other iconic monuments becoming Olympic stars in their own right as they served as backdrops and venues for medal-winning feats.
But the City of Angeles showed that it, too, has aces up its sleeves, like the City of Light.
Cruise – in his Ethan Hunt persona – wowed by descending from the top of the stadium to electric guitar Mission: Impossible riffs.
Once his feet were back on the ground – and after shaking hands with enthralled athletes – he took the Olympic flag from star gymnast Simone Biles, fixed it to the back of a motorcycle and roared out of the arena.
The appetite-whetting message was clear: Los Angeles 2028 promises to be an eye opener, too.
Still, this was largely Paris’ night – its opportunity for one final party. And what a party it was.
“These were sensational Olympic Games from start to finish,” Bach said.
Bach, who will leave office next year, also struck a more sombre note as he appealed for “a culture of peace” in a war-torn world.
“We know that the Olympic Games cannot create peace, but the Olympic Games can create a culture of peace that inspires the world,” he said. “Let us live this culture of peace every single day.”
Tom Cruise leaps from the roof in an electric stunt. Photo: Getty
Then came another change of gear, courtesy of Cruise.
In a pre-recorded segment (shared later to the LA Games official Instagram account) after being lowered on a rope live from the roof’s giddy heights, Cruise drove his bike past the Eiffel Tower, onto a plane and then skydived over the Hollywood Hills.
Three circles were added to the O’s of the famed Hollywood sign to create five interlaced Olympic rings.
The thousands of athletes who danced and sang the night away cheered it – and the artistic show that celebrated Olympic themes, complete with firework flourishes.
Multiple time zones away, Billie Eilish, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and rapper Snoop Dogg – wearing pants with the Olympic rings after being a popular mainstay at the Paris Games – along with his long-time collaborator Dr Dre kept the party going with performances on Los Angeles’ Venice Beach.
With the 329 medal events finished, the expected 9000 athletes – many wearing their shiny medals – and team staffers filled the arena, dancing and cheering to thumping beats.
The US team again topped the medal table, with 126 in all and 40 of them gold.
Three were courtesy of gymnast Biles, who made a resounding return to the top of the Olympic podium after prioritising her mental health instead of competition in Tokyo in 2021.
Unlike the rain-drenched but exuberant opening ceremony that played out along the Seine River in the heart of city, the closing ceremony’s artistic portion took a more sober approach, with space age and Olympic themes.
A golden-shrouded figure dropped spider-like from the skies into a darkened world of smoke and swirling stars.
Olympic symbols were celebrated, including the flag of Greece, birthplace of the ancient Games, and the five interlaced Olympic rings, lit up in white in the arena where tens of thousands of lights glittered like fireflies.
-with AAP
