From our Olympics correspondent in Paris – Paris passed the Olympic torch to Los Angeles in a cryptic and sometimes chaotic closing ceremony in the Stade de France Sunday night, with hundreds of athletes unexpectedly mobbing the stage during a performance by French indie rock band Phoenix. American action star Tom Cruise rappelled in from the top of the stadium to set the flag off on its journey to Los Angeles, making it clear that the 2028 Games will be leaning heavily into Hollywood glamour.
Seen under the last rays of the summer sun, the stage set up for the closing ceremony of the Paris Olympics in the Stade de France looked like nothing so much as some fragile thing that had fallen from a great height, its raw edges spilling across the stadium grounds seemingly at random.
