St.-Denis, France • The 2024 Summer Games, a global sports festival that descended upon Paris for 19 days of spirited competition, drew to an end Sunday with a grandiose closing ceremony at the Stade de France.
It was in this stadium more than two weeks ago that these Games got off to their roaring start, with roughly 80,000 fans cheering on French star Antoine Dupont and his rugby-sevens teammates, who went on to win the host nation’s first gold medal.
Team France during the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, France, on Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024. (Chang W. Lee/The New York Times)
More champions were crowned in the days that followed as sporting events unfolded amid some of France’s most famous landmarks: fencing at the Grand Palais, beach volleyball in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, equestrian contests at the gardens of Versailles.
Team USA during the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, France, on Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024. (Chang W. Lee/The New York Times)
China and the United States ended the Games tied for gold medals with 40 apiece, but the American team won the overall count, 126 to 91. Britain (65) was third, one ahead of host France.
The ceremony — featuring more than 100 performers and live music from international pop stars — offered one last moment for the city to bask in the joy of these Olympics, which seemed to stir the spirits of a once-skeptical local population. And when the fanfare was done, the Olympic flag was ceremoniously passed to the city hosting the next Summer Games: Los Angeles. The next Winter Games will be held in Italy, in Milan and Cortina, in February 2026.
The band Phoenix performs during the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, France, on Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024. (Chang W. Lee/The New York Times)
