Olympics 2024: Tom Cruise to play major role in closing ceremony

United States superstar Tom Cruise. Photo / Getty Images

The A-list actor is poised to pull off an impressive performance to close the 2024 Paris Olympics and begin preparations for the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.

Tom Cruise will take part in an epic stunt to close the Paris Olympics.

The Mission: Impossible actor will reportedly play a key role in the Closing Ceremony on August 11 to pass the flag to Los Angeles for the 2028 Games, and has already pre-recorded part of the visual spectacular.

Sources told TMZ that Cruise will abseil down from the top of Stade de France, landing on the stadium field while carrying the official Olympic flag, before the televised broadcast then cuts to a previously recorded film, with the first two minutes depicting the 62-year-old actor’s flight to the United States before skydiving down to the Hollywood sign.

The film will then show Cruise passing the flag on to other Olympians, including a cyclist, a volleyball player and a skateboarder as they travel through the next Games’ host city.

The Los Angeles portion of the stunt was filmed on a Saturday morning in March and insiders admitted they had expected the Top Gun star to be spotted and the information to leak out before now.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, an early plan involved a large party at Will Rogers State Beach that would see the handover of the Olympic flag, but it was scrapped due to police concerns over an extended closure of the Pacific Coast Highway, and challenges relating to obtaining the necessary permits from the California Coastal Commission.

Tom Cruise attends day two of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the artistic gymnastics event with Simone Biles of the United States in action at the Paris Arena. Photo / Getty Images

Logistics for the French half of the stunt are still being arranged and it may be that the Eyes Wide Shut star uses a stunt double for the actual abseil.

Cruise is said to have been the driving force behind the spectacle and approached the International Olympic Committee himself about doing a series of stunts to bring the Paris and Los Angeles Games together.

In 2004, the Vanilla Sky actor helped carry the torch through LA as part of a global relay ahead of the Athens Olympics.