The 2024 Summer Olympics are officially over and Tom Cruise put them in the rearview mirror with a stunt that could have doubled as an ad for next year’s Mission: Impossible sequel. And he didn’t even break a leg this time.
It shouldn’t necessarily come as a surprise that the movie obsessive would be the one to do the hand-off between the 2024 games and the 2028 event in Los Angeles. No one still living embodies Hollywood quite like Cruise, and if anyone was going to jump down from the stadium rafters for a hokey publicity stunt it was going to be the guy who regularly mugs the camera outside theaters to keep the dream of the double-feature matinee alive.
After tumbling down from the Stade de France catwalk and taking the stage to officiate the passing of the Olympic torch between Paris and L.A., Cruise put the Olympic flag on a motorcycle and took off into the night. A pre-filmed segment then followed showing Cruise arriving by plane into the U.S. before eventually being spotted by a transformed Hollywood hills sign. The closing ceremony wrapped up with a concert on Venice Beach featuring the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Billie Eilish, Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre. “Can’t Stop” and “Drop It Like It’s Hot” were played, both of which are now 20 years old.
Prior to the hand-off ceremony, Cruise was spotted at other matches throughout the Summer Olympics, most noticeably the women’s soccer final where, sporting big, dark aviators, he enthusiastically joined the thunderous applause when Mallory Swanson cemented the U.S. national team’s victory with a beautiful goal in the 57th minute. It was Cruise who got the applause last night, however, with an outpouring of appreciation for his rollercoaster ride to becoming the last major movie star in the world.
The 2024 Summer Olympics themselves felt at points like an unusual return to the days of everyone tuning into and reacting to the same blockbuster movie, TV show, or sporting event, the type of thing Cruise now seems to have made it his life’s mission to preserve.