Dame Lisa Carrington and Finn Butcher have been named as New Zealand’s flag bearers for the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics later this morning.
The eight-time gold medal paddler and the inaugural Olympic kayak cross champion would lead Team New Zealand into Stade de France for the ceremony which is scheduled to kick off at 7am on Monday.
Carrington has earned three gold medals for New Zealand this Games, extending her record as the country’s most successful Olympian, while Butcher made history as the first ever men’s kayak cross gold medallist.
With 10 Olympic gold medals, our haul at the Paris Games surpasses the previous record of eight set at the Los Angeles Games in 1984.
Track cyclist Ellesse Andrews added one last gold to New Zealand’s tally at Paris, winning the women’s sprint on the last night of competition at the Olympic velodrome.
The closing ceremony caps off of two weeks of competition and promises to be an exciting ending to what has been a golden Games for New Zealand. It features the athletes’ parade and the handover of the Olympic flag to organisers of the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.
While the ceremony will take place in a more traditional setting than the River Seine setting of the opening ceremony, don’t expect it to be dull.
Organisers said in a recent statement it will include “over a hundred performers, acrobats, dancers and circus artists”.
Thomas Jolly, who organised the opening ceremony, said it was a “very visual, very choreographic, very acrobatic show with an operatic dimension to give a great visual fresco and say goodbye to athletes from all over the world.”
A key function of the closing ceremony is to hand the Olympics over to the next host city, who then introduce themselves with a cultural presentation.
Los Angeles, California will host the 2028 Games, so many of the city’s biggest names are expected to play a part.
Five-time Grammy-winning singer H.E.R. is expected to sing the US national anthem live from the Stade de France as part of the handover.
Rapper Snoop Dogg will play an unconfirmed role in the ceremony and there have been reports that Billie Eilish and the Red Hot Chili Peppers will perform from the City of Angels.
Tom Cruise is also reportedly to perform a stunt involving the handover of the Olympic flag from Paris to Los Angeles.
Several other A-listers have been heavily rumoured to make appearances, but these are unconfirmed or have not been officially announced.
The Los Angeles Olympics will begin on July 14, 2028, and end on July 30, 2028.
