Closing Ceremony | They got everything right

The closing ceremony of the Paris Olympics lacked the panache of the one that marked their opening on July 26. It was disjointed, somber, the songs were closer to Shakespeare than to Molière, and it was seriously lacking in rhythm.

However, the director Thomas Jolly composed with a closed place, the Stade de France, and enjoyed the convergence of gazes. I expected more. But through the many segments, there were still some moments of grace.

This show, called Recordstook a good hour to get going. It all started slowly with Zaho de Sagazan, a new figure in French song, who performed Under the Parisian sky with a choir.

We were able to admire once again the Tuileries Garden, one of the highlights of these Olympic Games, which, with the other buildings and monuments of Paris (Grand Palais, Eiffel Tower, Palace of Versailles, etc.), gave rise to the expression “postcard Games”.

Rarely have we seen so much beauty on television during the broadcast of competitions. How many times have we said to ourselves: I would love to be there!

At the foot of the famous Olympic cauldron, swimmer Léon Marchand, the new idol of the French, carried the flame contained in a small lantern. He was very moved.

Then came the athletes’ entrance preceded by the flag bearers. For the Canadians, this honour went to Summer McIntosh (four medals in swimming, including three gold) and Ethan Katzberg (gold medal in the hammer throw).

The two athletes had already left Paris. Summer was in a chalet and Ethan was about to head to a training camp in Slovakia when the Canadian Olympic Committee extended the invitation. They arrived back in the City of Lights on Sunday morning. They knew that such an honour doesn’t come around often in a lifetime.

Clothing comment here: we had the good idea to ask the athletes of the Canadian delegation to leave in their suitcase the red and white uniform that was much ridiculed during the Games. A photo montage even compared them to slices of bacon. Ouch!

Then we were treated to some great Thomas Jolly. The concept revolved around a character, the Golden Voyager, who arrives on Earth and discovers the remains of the Olympic Games. It was a tribute to Pierre de Coubertin when he revived the ancient games created 2800 years ago.

It was very theatrical. We were far from the choreographies of children waving colored scarves. We were immersed in mythology and science fiction where strange creatures evolved. The music performed by the Divertimento orchestra magnified everything.

The moment where Alain Roche played the piano suspended vertically while accompanying tenor Benjamin Bernheim while five giant wheels were hoisted to form the Olympic rings was breathtaking. Some will say that this concept would have been better suited to the Avignon Festival. But it was this theatricality that we loved about the opening ceremony.

Thomas Jolly likes to exploit lighting. So he took advantage of the thousands of spectators by equipping them with an LED light bracelet designed by the Quebec firm PixMob. The effect was striking on television. It must have been even more so on site.

While we gave space to Edith Piaf, Charles Aznavour, Joe Dassin and Johnny Hallyday during the two ceremonies, we also wanted to show that the young generation of French-speaking artists in Europe is also succumbing to the English language: Phoenix, Angèle (accompanied by DJ Kavinsky) and Air all sang in English. Too bad…

The two Radio-Canada anchors for these Olympic Games, Jacinthe Taillon and Martin Labrosse, assisted by Dominick Gauthier, were more talkative and cheerful than during the opening ceremony.

The many commercial breaks that Radio-Canada presented during the opening ceremony were widely criticized. The hosts promised us a show without breaks. The result: there were endless three-minute sequences. However, we felt less like we were missing anything.

The closing ceremonies are an opportunity to pass the torch to the city that will be the next to host the Games. The organizers of Los Angeles 2028 therefore inhabited this ceremony for about fifteen minutes.

The artist HER scratched the American national anthem. This is often the case with singers with flourishes who want to overdo it. Tom Cruise, whose presence was very persistently announced, then made a spectacular entrance by arriving suspended from a wire from the stadium roof. What guts!

The hero of Mission impossible rode a motorcycle. This was followed by a video montage of American athletes passing the Olympic flag to a stage set up in Los Angeles where the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Billie Eilish and Snoop Dogg were performing. This portion took on the appearance of a Super Bowl halftime show.

It was downright ordinary. A big déjà vu. Zero creativity. The Americans have a lot of trouble eating if they want to surpass the French in four years. Who would have thought I could ever write that?

The grand finale was entrusted to the singer Yseult. It is strange that Thomas Jolly did not want to repeat the impact that Celine Dion had by performing a jewel of French song. We were treated to My WayEnglish version of As per usual by Claude François. Curious choice.

Rarely has an Olympic Games preparation been so criticized and booed. But in the end, they got the better of everything. They are the most beautiful I have seen. Last Saturday, I went to read the major French dailies. All praised their great quality and extreme creativity. Parisians, who had fled the city, even said they regretted it.

The Olympic Games often leave a legacy of physical infrastructure. Paris’s is one based on pride. “We saw ourselves as a people of die-hard grumblers, we woke up in a country of unbridled supporters who no longer want to stop singing,” said Tony Estanguet, president of Paris 2024, in his speech.

For that alone, it was well worth holding these Games.