The curtain of the Paris Olympics came down in Paris Sunday August 11.
A dazzling closing ceremony attended by 71,500 spectators was widely praised as one of the greatest Olympics crowning glory ever held that culminated with Hollywood star Tom Cruise abseiling off the roof of the Stade de France.
Around 9,000 athletes flooded into the stadium to be entertained by 270 performers and artists in a ceremony billed as a celebration of humanity and the unifying power of sport.
International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach said the Paris Games had been “sport at its best”.
Paris being the ‘City of Light’, has an enormous and special intellectual place in the heart of all. Thus, the closing spectacle that was opened amid rain-soaked ceremony on the River Seine marked the beginning of the four-year countdown to the Los Angeles Olympics.
Winner of four gold medals at these Games, France’s swimming hero Leon Marchand kicked off the festivities at the Stade de France.
The United States pip China for top spot in the battle for medals on the final day of the 2024 Paris Olympics. The USA won 40 gold, 44 silver and 42 bronze while China won 40 gold, 27 silver and 24 bronze.
Japan, in third position, won 20 gold, 12 silver and 13 bronze. Australia in fourth position host France tops on the fifth position with 16 gold, 26 silver and 22 bronze.
Among south Asian nations, Pakistan won one gold while Indian won 1 silver and 5 bronze.
The remaining other nations of the region went back with empty hands.
Paris, the French capital is among the world’s most important cultural and intellectual centers, and a city of great history and energy.
History proved that France is the “Liberty, equality and fraternity” country based on enlightenment ideals and new understandings, Paris has been the venue for intellectual battles over different ideas, a place for conservative and reformist to secular and religious either from East or West, and left and right.
