Paris closes out the 2024 Olympics with a final star-studded show

Paris closes out the 2024 Olympics with a final star-studded show
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In this combo image, Hollywood superstar Tom Cruise is lowered on the Stade de France, ride a motorbike and carries the Olympic flag during the 2024 Summer Olympics closing ceremony in Saint-Denis, France, on Aug. 11, 202. (AP photos)
Paris closes out the 2024 Olympics with a final star-studded show
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Participants gather during the 2024 Summer Olympics closing ceremony at the Stade de France, on Aug. 11, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP)
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Updated 12 August 2024
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Paris closes out the 2024 Olympics with a final star-studded show

Paris closes out the 2024 Olympics with a final star-studded show
  • Tom Cruise stunt caps handing of Olympic flag to Los Angeles; Red Hot Chili Peppers, Billie Eilish perform in LA sequence
  • Paris breathe new life into an Olympic brand hurt by the difficulties of Rio de Janeiro’s 2016 Games and the soulless spirit of Tokyo’s COVID-hit event

SAINT-DENIS, France: Setting out to prove that topping Paris isn’t mission impossible, Los Angeles rolled out a skydiving Tom Cruise, Grammy winner Billie Eilish and other stars on Sunday as it took over Olympic hosting duties for 2028 from the French capital, which closed out its 2024 Games just as they started — with joy and panache.
Paris was bringing down the curtain on an Olympic Games that brought dazzling sport to heart of the capital, breathing new life into an Olympic brand hurt by the difficulties of Rio de Janeiro’s 2016 Games and the soulless spirit of Tokyo’s COVID-hit event.
Even Parisians were carried away by the Olympic fervor.
“We wanted to dream. We got Leon Marchand,” Paris 2024 chief Tony Estanguet told the crowd, referring to the French swimmer who won four golds in the swimming.
“From one day to the next Paris became a party and France found itself. From a country of grumblers, we became a country of frenzied fans.”

Following in Paris’ footsteps promises to be a challenge: It made spectacular use of its cityscape for its first Games in 100 years, with the Eiffel Tower and other iconic monuments becoming Olympic stars in their own right as they served as backdrops and venues for medal-winning feats.

But the City of Angeles showed that it, too, has aces up its sleeves, like the City of Light.
Cruise — in his Ethan Hunt persona — wowed by descending from the top of the stadium to electric guitar “Mission Impossible” riffs. Once his feet were back on the ground — and after shaking hands with enthralled athletes — he took the Olympic flag from star gymnast Simone Biles, fixed it to the back of a motorcycle and roared out of the arena.

 

The appetite-whetting message was clear: Los Angeles 2028 promises to be an eye-opener, too.
Still, this was largely Paris’ night — its opportunity for one final party. And what a party it was.

The closing ceremony capped two and a half extraordinary weeks of Olympic sports and emotion with a boisterous, star-studded show in France’s national stadium, mixing unbridled celebration with a somber call for peace from IOC President Thomas Bach.

“These were sensational Olympic Games from start to finish,” Bach said.
Having announced his intention to leave office next year, Bach also struck a more somber note as he appealed for ”a culture of peace” in a war-torn world.
“We know that the Olympic Games cannot create peace, but the Olympic Games can create a culture of peace that inspires the world,” he said. “Let us live this culture of peace every single day.”
Then came another change of gear, courtesy of Cruise.
In a prerecorded segment after being lowered on a rope live from the roof’s giddy heights, Cruise drove his bike past the Eiffel Tower, onto a plane and then skydived over the Hollywood Hills. Three circles were added to the O’s of the famed Hollywood sign to create five interlaced Olympic rings.
The thousands of athletes who danced and sang the night away cheered it — and the artistic show that celebrated Olympic themes, complete with firework flourishes.
Their enthusiasm bubbled over when crowds of them rushed the stage at one point. Stadium announcements in French and English urged them to double back. Some stayed, creating an impromptu mosh pit around Grammy-winning French pop-rock band Phoenix as they played, before security and volunteers cleared the stage.
Multiple time zones away, Eilish, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, rapper Snoop Dogg — wearing pants with the Olympic rings after being a popular mainstay at the Paris Games — along with his longtime collaborator Dr. Dre kept the party going with performances on Los Angeles’ Venice Beach.
Each is a California native, including H.E.R., who sang the US national anthem live at the Stade de France, crammed with more than 70,000 people.




French swimmer Leon Marchand carries a lantern containing the Olympic flame with IOC President Thomas Bach, left, at the Stade de France, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP)

At the start of the show, the stadium crowd roared as French swimmer Léon Marchand, dressed in a suit and tie instead of the swim trunks he wore to win four golds, was shown on the giant screens collecting the Olympic flame from the Tuileries Gardens in Paris.
To spectators’ loud chants of “Léon, Léon,” Marchand then reappeared at the end of the show, blowing out the flame. Paris Games were over.
But they’ll be back.
“I call upon the youth of the world to assemble four years from now in Los Angeles,” Bach declared.

205 countries, 9,000 athletes

As a delicate pink sunset gave way to night, athletes first marched into the stadium waving the flags of their 205 countries and territories — a display of global unity in a world gripped by global tensions and conflicts, including those in Ukraine and Gaza. The stadium screens carried the words, “Together, united for peace.”
With the 329 medal events finished, the expected 9,000 athletes — many wearing their shiny medals — and team staffers filled the arena, dancing and cheering to thumping beats.

Unlike in Tokyo in 2021, where the Games were pushed back a year by the COVID-19 pandemic and largely stripped of fans, athletes and the more than 70,000 spectators at the Paris arena celebrated with abandon, singing together as Queen’s anthem “We Are the Champions” blared. Multiple French athletes crowd-surfed. US team members jumped up and down in their Ralph Lauren jackets.
The national stadium, France’s largest, was one of the targets of Daesh gunmen and suicide bombers who killed 130 people in and around Paris on Nov. 13, 2015. The joy and celebrations that swept Paris during the Games as Marchand and other French athletes racked up 64 medals — 16 of them gold — marked a major watershed in the city’s recovery from that night of terror.
The closing ceremony saw the awarding of the last medals — each embedded with a chunk of the Eiffel Tower. Fittingly for the first Olympics that aimed for gender parity, they all went to women — the gold, silver and bronze medalists from the women’s marathon earlier Sunday.
The women’s marathon took the spot of the men’s race that traditionally closed out previous Games. The switch was part of efforts in Paris to make the Olympic spotlight shine more brightly on the sporting feats of women. Paris was also where women first made their Olympic debut, at the Games of 1900.

The US team again topped the medal table, with 126 in all and 40 of them gold. Three were courtesy of gymnast Simone Biles, who made a resounding return to the top of the Olympic podium after prioritizing her mental health instead of competition in Tokyo in 2021.
Unlike Paris’ rain-drenched but exuberant opening ceremony that played out along the Seine River in the heart of city, the closing ceremony’s artistic portion took a more sober approach, with space-age and Olympic themes.
A golden-shrouded figure dropped spider-like from the skies into a darkened world of smoke and swirling stars. Olympic symbols were celebrated, including the flag of Greece, birthplace of the ancient Games, and the five interlaced Olympic rings, lit up in white in the arena where tens of thousands of lights glittered like fireflies.

‘Culture of peace’
The two weeks of sporting drama saw China and the United States duke it out for top spot in the medal table right down to the last event.
Echoing the heartache delivered to France by the United States in the men’s basketball final, the American women’s basketball side handed France a gut-wrenching one-point defeat to earn a 40th gold medal and top spot on the medal table.




French President Emmanuel Macron, top, third right, and IOC President Thomas Bach greet during the 2024 Summer Olympics closing ceremony at the Stade de France, on Aug. 11, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP)

As the world emerged from the COVID pandemic in 2022, Paris had promised an Olympic “light at the end of the tunnel” and to provide the stage for a carefree Games as they returned to Europe for the first time in over a decade.
But Russia’s war in Ukraine on Europe’s eastern flank, the threat of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza erupting into a wider conflict in the Middle East, and France’s heightened state of security alert loomed large as the Games got under way.
International Committee President Thomas Bach saluted the athletes as he declared the Games closed.
“During all this time, you lived peacefully together under one roof in the Olympic Village. You embraced each other,” Bach said. “You respected each other, even if your countries are divided by war and conflict. You created a culture of peace.”

High bar for LA
The French had a new golden boy to celebrate with swimmer Marchand emerging as the king of the pool, before French judoka Teddy Riner reigned supreme as he claimed his fifth Olympic gold medal.
Simone Biles put her twisties misery of Tokyo behind her, making a long-awaited Olympic return in front of a star-studded crowd. She arrived the world’s most decorated gymnast and left with a further three gold medals for her trophy cabinet.
Breaking made its Olympic debut — to some derision on social media — whilst 3x3 basketball, sports climbing, skateboarding and surfing made their second appearances.
The IOC will be relieved that no major scandals erupted, although it did have to grapple with some controversies.
A simmering doping row involving Chinese athletes hung over the Olympic swimming meet where the United States faced the biggest challenge to their reign in decades.
A storm around gender eligibility hit the women’s boxing competition, revealing the toxic relations between the IOC and a widely discredited International Boxing Association.
Meanwhile, a $1.5 billion clean-up of the Seine rewarded Paris with the optics of triathlon and marathon swimmers competing in the river through central Paris, without a wave of illness ensuing — even if bacteria levels forced some training to be canceled.
But for all the sporting triumph and drama, the biggest star of the show for many was the City of Light itself and the fabulous backdrop it lent to much of the competition.
“They’ve got a high bar to reach. A lot of work to do,” said James Rutledge, 59, a former banker wearing a Team USA t-shirt outside the Stade de France. “Hollywood next? That’s something to play with.”


Manchester United vow to improve on and off pitch after fifth year of losses

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Manchester United vow to improve on and off pitch after fifth year of losses

Manchester United vow to improve on and off pitch after fifth year of losses
United have embarked on a slew of changes since British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe bought a 25 percent stake in the club
Newly appointed CEO Omar Berrada said: “Our clear objective is to return the club to the top of European football“

LONDON: Manchester United’s new chief said on Wednesday the club was working toward improving performance on and off the pitch after a fifth consecutive year of net losses following a poor 2023-24 season and heavy investments in the new squad.
The English Premier League soccer club’s shares slipped 8 percent in early US trading as net losses widened to more than 113 million pounds ($147 million) in the year to June, making it only the second time since its New York listing in 2012 that losses topped 100 million pounds.
United have embarked on a slew of changes since British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe bought a 25 percent stake in the club and under his stewardship had a busy summer in the transfer market, securing several promising young players.
“We are working toward greater financial sustainability and making changes to our operations to make them more efficient, to ensure we are directing our resources to enhancing on-pitch performance,” newly appointed CEO Omar Berrada said.
“Our clear objective is to return the club to the top of European football.”
The Premier League has clamped down on big spending by clubs with its Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR) to try to level the playing field and prevent rich owners from spending vast sums on players.
To comply with PSR, clubs must rack up no more than 105 million pounds of losses over a three-year period, although investments in infrastructure, academies, charity foundation and women’s soccer can be deducted.
United have recorded losses of more than 257 million pounds in the past three years, and more than 370 million pounds over five years. The club said it was committed to and compliant with the PSR, as well as European governing body UEFA’s Financial Fair Play Regulations.
United finished eighth in the Premier League last season, their lowest position since the league’s inception in 1992. This season has not started any better, with two losses from the first three games.
For fiscal 2025, the club expects an adjusted core profit of 145-160 million pounds and revenues of 650-670 million pounds. It reported adjusted core profit of 147.7 million pounds on record revenues of 661.8 million pounds in fiscal 2024.
The forecast reflects the impact of recent restructuring that included 250 job cuts.

Dutch striker Memphis Depay arrives in Sao Paulo to join Corinthians

Dutch striker Memphis Depay arrives in Sao Paulo to join Corinthians
Updated 11 September 2024
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Dutch striker Memphis Depay arrives in Sao Paulo to join Corinthians

Dutch striker Memphis Depay arrives in Sao Paulo to join Corinthians
  • The 30-year-old Depay, who left Spanish team Atletico Madrid on a free transfer, is expected to be introduced to fans later Wednesday

SAO PAULO: Dutch striker Memphis Depay arrived early Wednesday at Sao Paulo’s Guarulhos international airport after signing a two-year deal with Brazilian soccer club Corinthians.
The 30-year-old Depay, who left Spanish team Atletico Madrid on a free transfer, is expected to be introduced to fans later at the Neo Quimica Arena before Corinthians play in the second leg of its Brazilian Cup quarterfinal tie against Juventude. The Sao Paulo-based team, which has more than 35 million supporters, lost the first leg 2-1.
Depay is scheduled to give a press conference at the same stadium on Thursday morning.
Depay left Rotterdam on Tuesday afternoon in a Gulfstream G550 jet. The striker published a picture of the plane on his social media channels with the message: “Going home.”
The former PSV Eindhoven star played for the Netherlands at the European Championship.
Other European players who had spells at Brazilian clubs include Clarence Seedorf at Botafogo; Serbian Dejan Petkovic, who played for multiple clubs and remains a hero for Flamengo fans; and Frenchman Dimitri Payet, currently at Vasco da Gama.
Depay, who undertook his medical tests in the Netherlands earlier this week, had spells at Manchester United, Lyon and Barcelona before joining Atletico Madrid.
Corinthians is fighting to avoid relegation in the Brazilian league, with 13 rounds remaining. It is in the quarterfinals of the Brazilian Cup and the Copa Sudamericana, South America’s second most prestigious club tournament.


UAE’s Al-Qemzi stays focused as place in record books beckons

UAE’s Al-Qemzi stays focused as place in record books beckons
Updated 11 September 2024
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UAE’s Al-Qemzi stays focused as place in record books beckons

UAE’s Al-Qemzi stays focused as place in record books beckons
  • Team Abu Dhabi star aims for third Grand Prix win of season as F2 title race heads for climax in Portugal

PESO DA REGUA: Team Abu Dhabi’s Rashed Al-Qemzi is taking nothing for granted as he returns to the scene of his latest title triumph in the UIM F2 World Championship this weekend, with a place in the record books beckoning in Portugal.

It was in Peso da Regua a year ago that Al-Qemzi clinched the F2 crown for a fourth time, and he goes back into action there in prime position, leading the 2024 championship by eight points from Sweden’s Mathilda Wiberg, with Lithuania’s Edgaras Riabko another point adrift in third.

A runner-up finish behind Riabko 12 months ago was enough to crown the Emirati as champion, and after his second victory of the season in San Nazzaro, Italy, just under two weeks ago, he is close to becoming the first ever five-time title winner.

“That’s the target for myself and the team, and after the victory in Italy, we’re focused on another first place in Regua,” Al-Qemzi said, ahead of Sunday’s Grand Prix of Portugal, with the final round to follow in Vila Velha de Rodao a week later.

“It was good to become champion last year with one race to spare, but that’s not in my mind now because the championship is still very close. The aim is to win this weekend and open up a bigger lead for the final round. Then we’ll take it from there.”

His Abu Dhabi team-mate, Mansoor Al-Mansoori, is also aiming high after his second-place in San Nazzaro lifted him to fourth position in the championship standings, with an overall podium finish now the clear target.

“It has been a tough season because the competition is very strong, and you can’t afford to make any mistakes,” Al-Mansoori said. “Like Rashed, I feel good after San Nazzaro, and we both want to work together to get the best results for the team in Portugal.”

With the obvious exception of Portugal’s Duarte Benavente, no driver will feel more at home on the Douro River than Al-Qemzi this weekend.

Apart from his title-clinching performance there last year, he has secured five of his 13 career Grand Prix wins in Portugal, including last year’s final round success on the Tegus River circuit at Vila Velha de Rodao, and two victories during his 2021 championship triumph.

If he can beat off the challenge of Wiberg and Riabko this weekend, he would be in position to go for a fourth Grand Prix win of the season, something he achieved en route to his second F2 world title in 2019.


‘Latino Night’ to feature WBA and WBO cruiserweight world championship unification battle between Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez and Chris Billam-Smith

‘Latino Night’ to feature WBA and WBO cruiserweight world championship unification battle between Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez and Chris Billam-Smith
Updated 11 September 2024
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‘Latino Night’ to feature WBA and WBO cruiserweight world championship unification battle between Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez and Chris Billam-Smith

‘Latino Night’ to feature WBA and WBO cruiserweight world championship unification battle between Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez and Chris Billam-Smith

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh Season and Golden Boy Promotions announced an inaugural show as part of the broader partnership. The event, “Latino Night,” will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Nov. 16.

Scheduled to be one of the biggest celebrations of Latino boxing talent, “Latino Night” will see the history-making WBA cruiserweight world champion Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez (46-1, 30 KOs) of Mazatlan, Mexico, in hot pursuit of becoming undisputed in the division. His first step will be challenging WBO cruiserweight world champion Chris Billam-Smith (20-1, 13 KOs) of Surrey, UK, who is coming off the heels of three straight title defenses.

Ramirez left his mark in the sport as the first Mexican to become a super middleweight and cruiserweight world champion and will be looking to take over the cruiserweight division. Billam-Smith is an English professional boxer who has held the WBO cruiserweight title since 2023 and has held the European, British, and Commonwealth cruiserweight titles between 2019 and 2022.

In the co-main event, former US Olympian and unified champion Jose Ramirez (29-1, 18 KOs) of Fresno, California, will face the undefeated title contender and currently No. 1 WBO-ranked Arnold Barboza Jr. (30-0, 11 KOs) of Los Angeles, California, in a 12-round WBO super lightweight world title eliminator fight.

Also on the card, the unstoppable knockout machine, William “El Camaron” Zepeda (31-0, 27 KOs) of San Mateo Atenco, Mexico, will challenge former American IBF world champion Tevin “2X” Farmer (33-6-1, 8 KOs) of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in a 10-round lightweight fight. In association with Miguel Cotto Promotions and defending his WBO Minimumweight World Championship for the fourth time, the history-making Puerto Rican Oscar “El Pupilo” Collazo (10-0, 7 KOs) of Villalba, Puerto Rico, will measure up against Queretaro, Mexico’s Edwin “Canito” Cano (13-2-1, 4 KOs) in a 12-round world title bout. Opening the historic show with a 12-round WBA super lightweight eliminator fight, Chihuahua, Mexico’s Oscar “La Migrana” Duarte (27-2-1, 22 KOs) will face No. 1 WBA-ranked Kenneth “Bossman” Sims Jr. (21-2-1, 8 KOs) of Chicago, Illinois.

Turki Alalshikh, chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, said: “We are looking forward to staging our first event as part of our partnership with Golden Boy Promotions with ‘Latino Night.’ This card features some of the best Latino fighters around and continues our drive to deliver top-tier boxing events by giving fans throughout the world the fights they want to see.”

Oscar De La Hoya, chairman and CEO of Golden Boy Promotions said: “His Excellency and I have the exact same vision — to match the best versus the best for the fans of our sport. From a world championship unification fight to battles between former champions and on-the-rise contenders to a stacked undercard of prospects, this show will feature everything great that boxing has to offer.”

Philip Button, chief business officer at Golden Boy Promotions said: “We are excited to partner with Riyadh Season to promote Latino Night and further expand Golden Boy’s business globally.”

Ben Shalom, founder and CEO of BOXXER, said: “Riyadh Season continues to deliver the very best matches at the top of the sport, and we are delighted to be working with His Excellency Turki Alalshikh and Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions to present another epic fight as co-promoters of this huge cruiserweight world title unification battle. Gilberto Ramirez is a great champion, but Chris Billam-Smith will be coming full of confidence and ready to unify the division.”

Ramirez, WBA cruiserweight world champion, said: “I’m excited to make this fight happen with Chris Billam-Smith. It’s been a long time coming, and I’m looking forward to becoming the unified champion in this division. I’ve always said this was my division (cruiserweight), and I’m happy for the opportunity to showcase my skills at this level on a global stage in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It’s truly an honor to be a Mexican warrior and to showcase what true Mexican boxing is all about while bringing my culture to a global audience. Additionally, I hope to be the bridge between Mexico and Saudi Arabia, making both sides proud. I would like to give a special thanks to my team, 3 Point Management, Golden Boy Promotions, Riyadh Season, the WBA, WBO, and everyone else involved in making this happen.”

Alalshikh has also confirmed that “Latino Night” will be broadcast for free globally. Further details of where to watch this card will follow.

Riyadh Season brings together world-class art, music, food, theater and a wide array of a diverse set of events to the capital of Saudi Arabia for an unparalleled winter entertainment experience.


IOC move on election rules puts up legal hurdles to Coe running for top Olympic job

IOC move on election rules puts up legal hurdles to Coe running for top Olympic job
Updated 11 September 2024
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IOC move on election rules puts up legal hurdles to Coe running for top Olympic job

IOC move on election rules puts up legal hurdles to Coe running for top Olympic job
  • The Olympic governing body has set a deadline of Sunday to enter the race
  • A letter was sent by the International Olympic Committee’s ethics commission

GENEVA: In a move by the IOC that apparently could block Sebastian Coe as an expected presidential candidate, the Olympic governing body has clarified its complex election rules before a deadline Sunday to enter the race.
A letter seen Wednesday by the Associated Press was sent by the International Olympic Committee’s ethics commission to the 111 members, including Coe and several more likely candidates in the contest to succeed Thomas Bach next year.
Details in the two-page letter dated Monday specified reasons why the likes of Coe, the 67-year-old president of track governing body World Athletics, would seem ineligible to complete a full first IOC mandate of eight years.
The winning candidate must be a member of the IOC on election day, scheduled for March in Greece, “and during the entire duration of their term as IOC President,” the letter stated.
Coe’s IOC membership is conditional on being president of World Athletics, a role he must leave in 2027 on completing the maximum 12 years in office.
Another expected candidate, IOC vice president Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr., who turns 65 in November, also could have legal issues with the standard age limit of 70 for members defined in the Olympic Charter rules book.
The charter “makes no exceptions for the president, who is an IOC member under the same conditions as all the other members,” stated ethics commission chairman Ban Ki Moon, the former United Nations secretary general, who signed the Sept. 9 letter.
Coe is widely considered a most qualified candidate to next lead the IOC. A two-time Olympic champion in the men’s 1,500 meters, he was later an elected lawmaker in Britain’s parliament, led the 2012 London Olympics organizing committee and has presided at World Athletics for nine years.
The legal hurdles are stacking up just days before the IOC-set deadline for candidates to send a letter of intent to Bach, who will leave as president next year after reaching his 12-year term limit.
Kirsty Coventry, an Olympic gold medalist swimmer who is sports minister of Zimbabwe, and David Lappartient, the French president of cycling’s governing body, have had support from Bach in recent years.
Other candidates could include two of the four IOC vice presidents — Nicole Hoevertsz of Aruba and Spaniard Samaranch, whose father was IOC president for 21 years until leaving in 2001.
Prince Feisal al Hussein of Jordan is a potential candidate who could be the first president in the IOC’s 130-year history from Asia or Africa.