Paris Olympics 2024 closing ceremony live updates: Schedule, time, how to watch and more

We’ve got plenty more emails and reflections on Paris 2024 for you in here, but it feels remiss to not mention that the finale of these games is turning into an absolute classic.

With just a matter of minutes to go at Bercy Arena, it’s blow for blow as France and Team USA battle for gold in the women’s basketball.

Are the U.S. women really going to get undone for the first time since 1992?!

You can follow that one live with us, right here.

Then there is Netherlands, who will finish their Paris 2024 Olympics with 15 golds, seven silver and 12 bronze medals. That is 34 in total and worth sixth in the official IOC medal table.

They finish two medals short of their Olympic best, which came at Tokyo 2020 — although 15 is their best ever gold haul, three more than they managed at Sydney 2000.

So it’s quite right Jose Acuna has written it to hail the country’s achievements over the past fortnight:

📝 “I think the Dutch can be very proud. This is a small country and especially compared with China and the USA.

“I saw today in the medal count that they came sixth out of 84 countries. This is a great result to be proud of.”

Well said, Jose.

Let’s start the emails with this from Mansingh Nepram:

📝 “Paris 2024 is just part one for Noah Lyles. LA 28 is going to be wild.

“As an Indian, my best memory will be Vinesh Phogat beating Yui Susaki of Japan in wrestling.

“And I am excited for cricket in LA 28. Let’s go!”

Great stuff, Mansingh. Thanks for the email. And I can assure you that my colleague Michael Dominski is equally excited about cricket featuring in four years time after it arrive in the U.S. earlier this year.

As Luke mentioned earlier, we want you to be part of the celebration here.

You can share your memories and moments with us, with an email to livebloguk@theathletic.com — and I’ll make sure they are shared in here.

We’ve got a few on the way for you, including our correspondents in France and their choice cuts from the Paris Games, all on the way next.

I may even through in a few of my own, which hopefully you will agree with.

Where do those moments rank on your list? We’d love to hear from you ahead of today’s closing ceremony, before we bring our live coverage of Paris 2024 to a close.

What was your most memorable moment of the Games? Who has been your breakout star? And what are you most looking forward to for LA 2028?

Let us know by emailing livebloguk@theathletic.com.

And then there were the goodbyes, with a number of the biggest stars in sport waving goodbye to the Olympic Games for good in Paris.

The men’s tennis tournament saw some of the most emotional goodbyes, with Rafael Nadal, Sir Andy Murray and possibly even gold medal winner Novak Djokovic competing at their last Games.

As would be expected, it was Murray’s madcap run in the men’s doubles that truly caught the imagination of audiences in France, Britain and the United States. Murray and his partner Dan Evans twice defended multiple match points in entertaining clashes before falling to American third seeds Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul.

This was also a superb Olympics for the French, who not only hosted an unforgettable fortnight in Paris, but also performed incredibly competitively in just about every sport imaginable.

Swimmer Leon Marchand was one of the biggest stars in Paris with his four gold medals and one bronze and the 22-year-old set to carry the French flag into the farewell celebration.

Marchand accomplished something not even the great Michael Phelps managed, winning two gold medals using two very different strokes on the same night, both times racing against the defending champion from the Tokyo Games in the lane next to him.

Local favorite Teddy Riner also delighted the home crowds. The judoka memorably beat Kim Min-jong, of South Korea, in the men's +100kg final. Just one day later he collected his fifth Olympic gold medal, leading France to victory in the mixed team final.

This was an outstanding Olympic Games for the United States with a number of America’s biggest sporting stars enjoying fortnights to remember in Paris.

Simone Biles was possibly the star of the show, overcoming her Tokyo heartbreak — when she had to withdraw from competition because of the debilitating ‘Twisties’ — to claim a hat-trick of gold medals as well as a silver on the floor.

But was there a more memorable individual moment at these Games than track superstar Noah Lyles winning the men’s 100m final? Loudmouth Lyles talked the talk before the final and then walked the walk in emphatic fashion, to pip Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson to gold by just five thousandths of a second, to win one of the most dramatic 100m races in history in 9.79.784.

For all of the United States success, there were also some disappointments, and possibly the most bitter came on the final day of the Games. Earlier today Jordan Chiles was stripped of the bronze medal she won in Monday’s women's floor final.

Because I married into a French-American family, I’ve been experiencing the 2024 Paris Games from two perspectives this month — both as an Olympic tourist and as a temporary Parisian local.

When I landed in Paris two days before the opening ceremony, the streets were eerily silent and locals were irritated and upset about the sometimes severe inconveniences to prepare for the Games. But over the past two weeks, my wife and I have seen the city come alive. We’re enjoying the energy and spectacle of a city transformed…

Mercifully dry.

The opening ceremony took place amidst huge downpours in Paris but the forecast for the closing ceremony is very good.

No rain is forecast and temperatures are expected to peak at 91°F.

Organizers aren’t giving much away when it comes to the artistic section of today’s ceremony. But we do know more about the more formal traditional elements, which are similar at every Games.

There will be a parade of athletes and the medal ceremony for the women’s marathon will also take place. The Netherlands’ Sifan Hassan won gold earlier today in a thrilling sprint finish to claim her third medal of the Paris Olympics.

The 45,000 volunteers who worked during these Games will be thanked before the Olympic flame is extinguished.

Thomas Bach will speak and then there will be a ceremonial handover of the Olympic flag from Anne Hidalgo to Karen Bass, the respective mayors of Paris and Los Angeles.

The organizers have been tight-lipped about exactly what we can look forward to from today’s closing ceremony. But some of the chief architects of the Games have provided some clues over the last fortnight…

Tony Estanguet, the president of the Paris 2024 Organizing Committee, has said that the closing ceremony “will be solemn and emotional, but it will also be a time for celebration!”

“Finally, the pressure will be off, and everyone will be able to take full advantage of the absolutely exceptional show that is being planned under the direction of Thomas Jolly, with the help of all the teams working across the four Paris 2024 ceremonies,” he added in another press appearance earlier this week.

Thomas Jolly was the artistic director for the opening ceremony and will also be in charge of tonight’s festivities. He has said the event will be “very visual, very choreographic, very acrobatic” and will have “an operatic dimension to give a great visual fresco and say goodbye to athletes from all over the world.”

Adam G: “Excellent choices. Almost can't believe Katie hasn't had this honor before, but she absolutely deserves it. And hearing her reaction to it, it's awesome to see it means a lot to her.”

Kaylie M: “Nice choice! It isn’t just about number of medals, it’s also about blazing new trails.”

Bill G: “Choosing Ledecky for the honor has to be one of the easiest decisions ever. She’s absolutely dominating in the pool and sincerely humble out of it. What a great hardworking role model for the young women she’s inspiring.”

Swimmer Katie Ledecky and rower Nick Mead will add one more item to their Olympic resumes before the Paris Games end.

Ledecky and Mead will be the United States’ flag bearers for the closing ceremony at Stade de France, Team USA announced earlier this week.

They are the first duo to share the honor for the U.S. in the closing ceremony. LeBron James and Coco Gauff held the honor in the opening ceremony on a rainy day on the River Seine.