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Check out highlights from LA's star-studded Olympics handoff in Paris. Onward to the 2028 Games

By  Megan Garvey
Published Aug 11, 2024 3:08 PM
Blue, yellow, purple, green and red puffs in the air represent the Olympic rings on the beach.
Tom Cruise leaves with the Olympic flag, as Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Simone Biles look on.
(
Emma McIntyre
/
Getty Images
)
The highlights

It's official.

The International Olympic Committee has called on the athletes of the world to gather again in Los Angeles in 2028, closing out the games of the XXXIII Summer Olympic games in Paris.

The Olympic flag was passed on stage from Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo to Thomas Bach, in his final games as president of International Olympic Committee to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who waved it back and forth before walk it over to gymnast Simone Biles.

@nbcolympics The Summer Olympics are now officially in the hands of Los Angeles. 🇺🇸 #ParisOlympics ♬ original sound - NBC Olympics & Paralympics

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A Black woman in a red dress waves the Olympic flag as a white man in suit applauds.
L.A. Mayor Karen Bass waves the Olympic flag as Thomas Bach, president of International Olympic Committee, applauds.
(
Carl Recine
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Getty Images
)

A Hollywood-style show

The games closed with a dramatic series of stunts kicked off by Tom Cruise. The worldwide superstar rappelled from the roof of the Stade de France to its floor. H.E.R., who had just performed the "The Star-Spangled Banner," rocked out on guitar as Cruise made his way through the air to pick up the Olympic flag.

Olympics: LA 2028

Cruise ran through a gauntlet of athletes (pausing for selfies) and onto the stage to take the Olympic flag from L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and gymnastics superstar Simone Biles.

From there, Cruise took a motorbike to the streets of Paris, riding past the Eiffel Tower and onto a cargo plane. The clearly pre-taped sequence then had him parachute into Los Angeles where he stapled fabric Olympic rings to the Hollywood sign.

That particular stunt had a lot of Angelenos looking to the hills to see if those rings were really out, asking folks with a view to take a look during the live daytime broadcast of the closing cerememonies. (The answer was they were not there, the scene was apparently filmed back in the spring, Hollywood-style).

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From the Hollywood sign, Cruise handed the flag off for a relay that took it past L.A.'s City Hall, Memorial Coliseum and through city streets to the beach.

A man descend through the air on a wire.
Tom Cruise rappels from the roofduring the Closing Ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris.
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Arturo Holmes
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Getty Images
)
A man with light-tone skin descends to a stage from a wire. The sillhouette of a woman in red is in the foreground.
Tom Cruise lands from the roof during the closing ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
(
Franck Fife
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AFP via Getty Images
)
A man with light-tone skin walks with a flag away from two women, both with dark-tone skin. All are smiling.
Tom Cruise leaves with the Olympic flag in front of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Simone Biles.
(
Franck Fife
/
AFP via Getty Images
)
A man with light-tone skin hold the Olympic flag and grins
Tom Cruise waves the Olympic flag during the closing ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Stade de France.
(
Franck Fife
/
AFP via Getty Images
)
Man on motorike speeds past crowd on both sides of a narrow aisle
An overview shows Tom Cruise leaving the stadium with the Olympic flag.
(
Julie Sebadelha
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AFP via Getty Images
)
The headlight of a motorbike are on as a man ride past people waving the flags of various countries.
Tom Cruise heads out of the stadium.
(
Jamie Squire
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Getty Images
)

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On the beach

For view worldwide, the flag then made its way through sleight of hand all the way to the Pacific Ocean. There, a star-studded concert in Long Beach (filmed Saturday) kicked off with Red Hot Chili Peppers, then Billie Eilish. Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre closed out the performance in Snoop's hometown.

A man and a woman with light-tone skin sit on the steps of a pale aqua lifeguard station. He plays a guitar and she holds a mic. In the background a person with dark-tone skin has an electric guitar.
FINNEAS and Billie Eilish perform at beach in an image released Sunday after the footage was used in the handoff to L.A. from the Paris Olympics.
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Emma McIntyre
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Getty Images
)

Two Black men perform on stage in front of big LA 28 sign, the A is represented by the flags of France and the U.S.
Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg on stage in Long Beach for the Olympic handover,
(
Kevin Mazur
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Getty Images
)
Blue, yellow, purple, green and red puffs in the air represent the Olympic rings on the beach.
Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg perform at the LA28 Olympic Games handover celebration in a photo released Sunday.
(
Emma McIntyre
/
Getty Images
)

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