The closing ceremony at Stade de France. Photo: Reuters While the French capital used its most famous landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower and the Palace of Versailles as its star draw, LA is already turning to its home-grown A-list celebrities to impress the crowds on Sunday night (local time). Billie Eilish, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Snoop Dogg were set to perform to thousands of fans.
The ceremony began with French swimming sensation Leon Marchand collecting the Olympic flame in a lantern from the gardens overlooking the Louvre museum, beginning its short journey to the stadium in the Paris outskirts. Moments later flagbearers of each of the 205 Olympic delegations paraded into the stadium, led by French rugby star Antoine Dupont, before thousands more athletes spilled into the arena to rapturous applause and a thumping soundtrack. The two-and-a-half-hour show will include a theatrical sequence entitled "Records", which promises a dream-like immersive journey through time, led by a "Golden Voyager".
His odyssey begins at the origins of the Olympic Games before proceeding to a science-fiction filled dystopian future where the Olympic Games have vanished and must be rediscovered. Along the way, the voyager will discover the symbols of peace and unity than underpin the values of Olympism. But it is the musicians and Eilish, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Snoop Dogg, the US rapper who has been contributing to NBC Primetime's coverage of the Games, that will awe fans and television sp.