The 2024 Paris Olympics is coming to a close. These past 16 days flew by faster than Noah Lyles’s sprints. After tonight, people around the world will be hard-pressed to find as captivating a source of entertainment.
The grand finale of the Games is the Closing Ceremony, which starts at 9 p.m. CEST or 3 p.m. ET. Several competitions are scheduled for during the day on Sunday, including the women’s marathon, women’s basketball, and men’s water polo. And then, it will be time for the always-emotional Closing Ceremony. Here’s what to know about the event and how to watch the 2024 Paris Olympics one last time.
Tradition with a twist
The Closing Ceremony takes place at the Stade de France, just north of Paris, the venue where rugby and track-and-field events were held. The ceremony will contain several traditional elements, including the final medal presentations, a parade of athletes, and a handover of the Olympic flag to Los Angeles for the 2028 Games.
As the event’s artistic director is Thomas Jolly, the man responsible for the unique Opening Ceremony, audiences are surely in for a good show. Many of the specifics are being kept secret, but Jolly did offer something of a sneak peek. “It’s a very visual, very choreographic, very acrobatic show with an operatic dimension to give a great visual fresco and say goodbye to athletes from all over the world,” he offered.
Audiences can expect to see more than 100 acrobats and aerial performers. “World-renowned singers” are also promised, with no specific names being given.
Hollywood takes over for the next Olympics
In true stellar-L.A. fashion, the host city for the next Olympics is featuring a movie star at Sunday’s Closing Ceremony. Adding a bit of American star power, Tom Cruise will perform some stunts at the event. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass also will be on hand to help accept the handover from Paris.
Team USA flagbearers
Swimmer Katie Ledecky and rower Nick Mead will carry the flag for Team USA during the closing ceremony.
The Paris Olympics helped Ledecky hit a major career milestone. She won gold in the 800m and 1500m freestyles, silver in the 4x200m relay, and bronze in the 400m freestyle. This made her the most-decorated female Olympian from the United States—and the second most-decorated Olympian in American history, behind Michael Phelps.
This is Mead’s second Olympics. He helped his teammates win gold in the men’s four rowing final—the first time Team USA made the podium in this event since the 1960 Olympics in Rome. In Tokyo, they just missed medaling, coming in fourth.
Olympics controversy
Marcel Ciolacu, the Romanian Prime Minister, announced he will not attend the closing festivities. He is not happy with how the women’s gymnastics individual beam event ended. After the competition, Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu and the audience believed she was winning a bronze medal. She and her coaches even got out their country’s flag and began to celebrate. Meanwhile, U.S. gymnast Jordan Chiles’s coaches submitted an appeal to the judges which was granted. This raised Chiles’s score by 0.1 point, which was enough to knock Barbosu out of third place.
Who’s hosting the closing ceremony
A quintet of hosts and commentators will keep audiences informed during the Olympics Closing Ceremony. Funny man Jimmy Fallon and sports reporter Mike Tirico will cohost. Former Olympians Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski will also weigh in, as will Terry Gannon.
How to tune in
To watch all the action live, tune in to Peacock or NBC at 2 p.m. ET., the hour leading up to the final pomp.
You can also stream the Closing Ceremony on NBCOlympics.com for free. If you have an over-the-air antenna and reception, NBC is also free.
The event itself begins at 3 p.m. ET and will last about two hours and fifteen minutes. But if you miss out during the day, not to worry. NBC and Peacock will rebroadcast the fun at 7 p.m. ET.