Watch Tom Cruise perform stunt at Olympics closing ceremony from Paris to Los Angeles
Tom Cruise and the Olympics joined when the actor performed a skydiving stunt to close out Paris 2024 and ring in Los Angeles 2028.
Updated Aug. 11, 2024; originally posted Aug 1, 2024.
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Tom Cruise’s stunt at Olympics closing ceremony
The summer Olympics in Paris started with Céline, and they concluded with Cruise. On Aug. 11, 2024 as part of the Olympics closing ceremonies, Tom Cruise performed a stunt in two continents to transition the summer Games from France to the U.S.
Team USA is on deck for hosting duties, with the summer 2028 Olympics taking place in Los Angeles, Calif.
After H.E.R. performed “The Star-Spangled Banner” live at Paris’ Stade de France — the stadium venue of the closing ceremonies — Tom Cruise rappelled into the stadium and retrieved the Olympic flag from Team USA gymnast Simone Biles (who had herself just received it from Mayors Anne Hidalgo and Karen Bass, and International Olympics Committee President Thomas Bach).
After that, the broadcast transitioned to a prerecorded segment involving Cruise carrying the flag away on a motorcycle, boarding a plane, and skydiving onto the Hollywood sign.
From there, Cruise passed the flag onto Team USA Olympic athletes, who carried it throughout Los Angeles. The ceremonial journey concluded with skateboarder Jagger Eaton at Venice Beach, welcomed with performances by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Billie Eilish, Finneas, Snoop Dogg, and Dr. Dre.
How to watch Tom Cruise at the Olympics closing ceremonies
Other than brief clips of Cruise’s stunt posted on NBC Sports social media platforms, the Paris summer Olympics closing ceremonies will rerun on NBC at 7 p.m. ET on Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024. The program will also be available for playback viewing on Peacock.
The closing ceremonies were hosted by:
- Mike Tirico, NBC Sports host and “Sunday Night Football” commentator
- Jimmy Fallon, “The Tonight Show” host
- Terry Gannon, Tara Lipinski, and Johnny Weir, NBC Sports hosts and Olympics figure skating and gymnastics commentators
A television special titled “Countdown to LA28” will premiere Aug. 11, 2024 at 10 p.m. on NBC, immediately following the primetime rerun of the closing ceremonies.
Olympics and Los Angeles theme parks
In anticipation of any uptick in local tourism, theme parks near Los Angeles have four years to prepare new attractions.
Disneyland Resort in Anaheim will open Tiana’s Bayou Adventure log flume on Nov. 15, 2024, and is in early development on future attractions based on “Avatar,” “Coco,” and Marvel’s Avengers.
Meanwhile, Universal Studios Hollywood will debut the Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift roller coaster in 2026. Then there’s Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park and Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, now siblings, both under the same corporate leadership following the recent merge of Six Flags and Cedar Fair.
Pageantry and spectacle bookend the Paris Olympics
Tom Cruise’s Olympics stunt, and the closing ceremonies at large, follow the wake of the jam-packed opening ceremonies from July 26. The four-hour proceedings took place in and around the River Seine, concluding with a grand finale performed by Céline Dion. NBC’s television broadcast kicked off with a message from Steven Spielberg, followed later in the show by a takeover by the Minions, with the thousands of athletes in the middle of it all, parading in boats down the Seine.
Image courtesy of NBC
Organizing the Paris opening ceremonies was a multi-year effort. A docuseries about the creation of the opening ceremonies called “La Grande Seine” is now streaming on Peacock.
As the Games continued, “Sesame Street” Muppets mingled with athletes and entertainment personalities alike.
And just in case you missed it … who were those Olympics mascots, anyway?
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