At some point, did Tom Cruise decide he wasn’t satisfied with playing death-defying secret agent Ethan Hunt, and that he would attempt to live out the over-the-top adventures of Hunt? Last night in Paris, the actor rappelled down from the roof of the Stade de France as part of the Olympics closing ceremony. The next Summer Olympics will be in Los Angeles in 2028, and so the ceremony’s passing of the torch naturally included some Hollywood spectacle.
I know a lot of conservatives took one look at the obnoxious display of drag queens parodying Leonardo da Vinci’s rendition of the Last Supper in the 2024 Olympic Games opening ceremony and decided they wouldn’t watch the games at all. And no doubt, it was an awful, incendiary, insulting choice. But the Olympics aren’t really about what some avant-garde, Christianity-bashing snot-nosed punk decides to put in the opening ceremony. It’s not like anybody in Team USA had any say in what was featured in that opening display.
After the embarrassments of Sochi and the corrupt debacle of Beijing, it was a relief to see the Olympics in a non-autocratic country, and clearly the athletes fed off the crowds, no longer kept away as a Covid precaution. Paris is in a better time zone for U.S. viewers, and the ratings for NBC rebounded.
The U.S. won the most medals by far, Simone Biles solidified her status as the greatest gymnast ever, Katie Ledecky crushed it in every swimming event imaginable, Steph Curry ended the golden dreams of the French basketball team with a stunning three-pointer, and Brittney Griner wept as “The Star-Spangled Banner” was played. Somewhere along the line, Snoop Dogg turned into America’s fun-loving, effusive, joyful grandfatherly mascot.
Oh, and the Russians were mostly kept out.
Back when the Paris games began, our Jack Butler wrote, “The Olympic Games are a proving ground for the capabilities of mankind. The journey of each athlete to the starting line, diving board, or gym mat has entailed undulations of trial and error, success and failure, euphoria and sadness.”
The Paris games were great, they were fun, and once the opening ceremonies ended, the sheer joy of accomplishment on display was wholesome and inspiring. Lord knows the International Olympic Committee has earned its share of fair criticism, but sometimes it’s just enjoyable to watch people achieving something amazing, and enjoying every moment.