How Mission: Impossible prepared Tom Cruise for Paris Olympics closing ceremony stunts

Hollywood star's handover will go down as one of the most spectacular and riveting in the Games' history

Tom Cruise takes the Olympic flag to Los Angeles on a motorbike during the closing ceremony. AP

Tom Cruise had an epic part to play in the conclusion of the Paris Olympics and his entire filmography seems like it was preparing him for that very moment.

During Sunday’s closing ceremony at the Stade de France, Hollywood’s most prolific action star abseiled from the roof to receive the Olympic flag as part of the official handover to Los Angeles, the next host city. He was given the flag by the city's mayor Karen Bass and American gymnast Simone Biles.

Footage then showed Cruise racing across Paris on a motorbike bearing the Olympic flag, passing by the city’s landmarks including the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe. He then drove into a cargo plane, answered a phone call and replied: “I’m on my way.”

And that was just the midway point of the mission. In the video's next segment, Cruise leapt off the cargo plane and parachuted into a clearing near Los Angeles to the energetic charge of Red Hot Chili Peppers’s By The Way. Cruise then sprinted up a hill, to where a heavy-duty toolbox was hidden, before unravelling the fabrics inside and clamping them with carabiners on steel railings. With his work seemingly done, he then sprinted off to a meeting point where he handed off the Olympic flag to American cyclist Kate Courtney.

Tom Cruise receives the Olympic flag from Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass and Simone Biles. AFP

The camera then zoomed out to show Cruise standing in the famed Hollywood sign, revealing that the fabrics he clamped were to modify the landmark to bear the multicoloured Olympics logo. It marked the end of Cruise's involvement in the video, as the Olympic flag made its way across Los Angeles with cameos by several notable US athletes and the Red Hot Chili Peppers themselves.

The handover will go down in Olympic history as one of the most spectacular and riveting. Yet, for Cruise, it was just been another day at the office.

The stunts were very much in line with the feats he has performed in his Mission: Impossible films. After almost three decades of playing Ethan Hunt, Cruise continuously ups the stakes across the franchise’s seven films, performing stunts with increasing danger and awe.

Let’s not forget that this is the man who scaled Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011). In the follow-up Rogue Nation (2015), he held on to the side of an Airbus A400M as it took off and climbed to around 300 metres. In Fallout (2018), he performed a Halo (high-altitude, low open) jump, waiting until the very last minute to open the parachute. For that stunt, Cruise famously completed 106 skydives with the broken ankle he sustained in a previous stunt to nail the scene.

Tom Cruise is lowered on the State de France during the 2024 Summer Olympics closing ceremony. AP

In Dead Reckoning, Cruise perhaps performed his most dangerous stunt to date, which brought together elements from various other feats. He drove off a steep and lofty cliff on a motorcycle before parachuting to safety. Again, he performed the stunt several times to perfect the one used in the film.

So with an oeuvre that will make even the most seasoned Hollywood stuntman envious, Cruise is one of the few industry figures who had the mettle and the experience to give the Olympics handover segment its wow factor.

However, while Sunday’s stunt was a spectacle in its own right, Cruise’s involvement was, much like the plots that Hunt finds himself embroiled in, simply a matter of calling the right man for the job.

Actor Tom Cruise holds the flag during the Paris Olympics closing ceremony. Reuters

A fireworks display during the closing ceremony at Stade de France. Getty images

Cruise was part of the star-studded event. AFP

The actor left the stadium with the Olympic flag on a motorbike. AFP

Dancers perform during the event at Stade de France. Getty Images

American singer Her sang the USA's national anthem. Getty Images

French singer-songwriter Yseult was one of the performers of the night. AFP

International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach, left, and World Athletics president Sebastian Coe presented the medals for the women's marathon. AFP

Athletes arrive for the closing ceremony. PA

French President Emmanuel Macron was also in attendance. EPA

French athletes pass one of their host down the line at the ceremony. Reuters

Women's marathon gold medallist, Sifan Hassan from Netherlands. AFP

Flagbearers parade at the ceremony. AP

Angolan canoeist Benilson Sanda at the ceremony. AFP

French athletes bid farewell to the rest of the world. Reuters

Nigerian athletes at the closing ceremony. AFP

Saudi athletes join in the festivities. EPA

India's flagbearers, shooter Manu Bhaker, right, and field hockey player Sreejesh Parattu Raveendran, at the closing ceremony. Reuters

China's contingent of athletes enters the arena. Reuters

Canada's athletes celebrate. AFP

A huge Stade de France crowd watches as the athletes parade. Reuters

French singer Zaho de Sagazan performs Under the Paris Sky at the ceremony. Getty Images

The athletes gather in the stadium for the closing ceremony. Reuters

The Japanese contingent waves to the crowds. AP

Team Algeria joins the celebrations. Getty Images

French swimmer Leon Marchand carries the Olympic flame. Getty Images

Athletes enter the stadium en masse, instead of being separated by countries for the closing ceremony. AFP

A performance by an orchestra at the event. Reuters

Sharon Van Rouwendaal from the Netherlands won a gold medal for the swimming marathon. AFP

Saudi athletes at the event. AFP

President Macron and his wife Brigitte were among the spectators of the ceremony. PA