Watch Tom Cruise Jump Into Stade de France During Olympics Closing Ceremony

Tom Cruise made his entrance to the 2024 Olympics closing ceremony in Paris by dropping into the Stade de France via rope. The Top Gun star rappelled down to take possession of the Olympic flag from Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Simone Biles. He then closed out by hopping on a motorcycle for a filmed bit.

The stunt was teased near the start of the Olympics, with Cruise filming in LA around the iconic Hollywood sign. The act and Hollywood locale are the official handoff from the Olympics in Paris to the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

Cruise’s fascination with doing his own stunts and taking on the physical challenges of his roles with his day-to-day life. Rappelling into the stadium might be the easiest thing for him to do, after hanging on the side of an airplane, flying fighter jets and HALO jumping. All while acting, too.

“I had this doll, and you throw it up in the air and a parachute comes down. I played with this thing, and I’d throw it off a tree, and I was like, ‘I really want to do this,’” Cruise recounted at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival (h/t US Weekly). “I remember taking the sheets off my bed, and I would tie a rope … and I climbed up to the eave, and I got up to the roof. I looked and my mother was in the kitchen – she had four kids – and I jumped off the roof.”

Cruise’s bit in Hollywood led to the flag ending in the possession of skateboarder Jagger Eaton in Los Angeles. He then brought it to Venice Beach for a closing performance by Red Hot Chili Peppers, Billie Eilish, and Olympic MVP Snoop Dogg.