Olympic Closing Ceremony: Date, history, how to watch & more

After an action-packed fortnight of stunning sport, the Olympics in Paris is set to end with the closing ceremony at the Stade de France on Sunday evening.

Olympic Closing Ceremony Date and Time

The Olympic Closing Ceremony is set to take place from 20:00-22:30 BST on Sunday 11th August, 2024.

Olympic Closing Ceremony Venue

The Olympic Closing Ceremony is being held at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis on the outskirts of Paris. The venue has hosted athletics and rugby sevens during the Olympics already.

The Stade de France was built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, which France hosted. The hosts beat Brazil 3-0 in the final that year as Zinedine Zidane headed home a first-half brace.

The stadium has hosted many major sporting events and concerts since, including three UEFA Champions League Finals in 2000, 2006 and 2022, and the Rugby World Cup Finals in 1999, 2007 and 2023.

It has a seating capacity of more than 81,000 for football and rugby matches.

Olympic Closing Ceremony How to watch

The Olympic Closing Ceremony will be live on BBC One, the BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app, with coverage set to begin from 19:00 BST.

What is the final event before the Olympic Closing Ceremony?

The women's basketball gold-medal match at Bercy Arena will be the final event at the Olympics and is scheduled to begin at 14:30 BST on Sunday.

What to expect at the Olympic Closing Ceremony

During the Olympic Closing Ceremony there will be a parade of athletes that took part in the Olympics this summer as well as a section dedicated to thanking the 45,000 volunteers that helped make the events possible. The medal ceremony for the women's marathon will also take place.

The extinguishing of the Olympic flame, which will be brought from Tuileries where the cauldron has been on display and visited by tens of thousands of fans, will also take place as Paris hands over to the next hosts - Los Angeles in 2028.

Although exact details of the ceremony are being kept tight-lipped, there are rumours that film star Tom Cruise will be taking part by abseiling down the stadium during the show. Snoop Dogg is also expected to perform during the ceremony.

The proclamation of the end of the Olympics will be made by the President of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach.

With temperatures set to peak at 33C in the French capital on Sunday, the closing ceremony is expected to be hot and humid, in stark contrast to the opening ceremony which was rain-soaked as thousands of athletes sailed along the River Seine on 85 boats and barges passing lively performers located on bridges in a unique twist.

Olympic Closing Ceremony director

The artistic director is Thomas Jolly, who has said the show was called 'Records', and it promises to take the audience on a science-fiction dream-like immersive journey through time.

The closing ceremony will feature performers, dancers and circus artists taking part alongside famous headlining acts, both French and American.