Tom Cruise is reportedly set to perform a breathtaking stunt to conclude the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The 62-year-old Hollywood icon is preparing to not only wrap up the current games but also herald the transition to the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
According to , Cruise will rappel from the top of the Stade de France in Paris, descending onto the stadium field with the official Olympic flag. This dramatic conclusion will symbolise the handover of the Olympic Games from Paris to Los Angeles.
In addition to the live stunt, a pre-recorded clip featuring Cruise will be shown at the ceremony. Filmed in March, the video depicts Cruise traveling from France to California by plane and then skydiving down to the iconic Hollywood sign with the Olympic flag and then handing the flag over to a group of Olympians.
Cruise, known for his daredevil stunts in films like Top Gun and the Mission: Impossible series, has been among the famous faces watching the games in Paris.
Sources indicate that although Cruise filmed the Hollywood segment earlier this year, his descent was discreet enough that onlookers did not connect it to the Olympic-themed project.
While the final details of Cruise’s Paris stunt are still under wraps, there is a possibility that a stunt double might step in for logistical and safety reasons.
Insiders credit Cruise with proposing the idea to the International Olympic Committee, aiming to create a series of stunts to bridge the Paris and Los Angeles games.
The highly secretive closing ceremony, scheduled for August 11, will also feature Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass receiving the Olympic flag from Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, as reported by Deadline.
The 2028 Summer Olympics, chaired by Casey Wasserman, will take place in Los Angeles from July 14 to 30. This marks the third time the city will host the Olympics, having previously done so in 1932 and 1984.
Cruise’s involvement in Olympic ceremonies is not new. Two decades ago, he participated in the torch relay for the 2004 Athens Olympics, carrying the torch through Los Angeles. His upcoming performance at the Paris Olympics is yet another testament to his enduring legacy in both the entertainment and sports worlds.
In some ways, this stunt isn’t particularly remarkable for Cruise, who is known for taking part in death defying action sequences in the films he stars in.
Throughout the Mission Impossible series, Cruise has undertaken increasingly perilous stunts, often pushing the boundaries of what is considered safe in filmmaking. In Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011), he famously scaled the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the world’s tallest building, performing the heart-stopping climb without the use of a stunt double.
In Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018), Cruise continued to raise the bar by performing a High Altitude Low Opening (HALO) jump, a parachute jump typically reserved for military operations.
After extensive training, he executed the jump from 25,000 feet.