Olympics viewers have same complaint about Tom Cruise stunt during closing ceremony

Olympics viewers all had the same complaint during the Closing Ceremony on Sunday (11 August) evening.

The 2024 Paris Olympic Games kicked off on 26th July and drew to a close on Sunday 11th August.

Paris concluded their turn hosting the games with a huge Closing Ceremony, featuring heaps of spectacular performances.

But viewers were left a little underwhelmed by one part of the evening specifically.

The next Olympic Games will be hosted by Los Angeles in 2028. And to mark the French capital handing over to the USA, Hollywood star Tom Cruise arrived on stage in a rather unique way.

Cruise slid down a wire rope from the roof of the Stade de France, where he landed on stage to collect the Olympic flag from the mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, and Team USA gymnast Simone Biles.

A movie of Cruise was then played, in which he flew over the Atlantic Ocean, skydived out of a plane and raised the flag over the Hollywood sign.

It was rumoured that Cruise could be arriving in an unusual and exciting way, but fans were left a little underwhelmed by the 'stunt'.

One wrote on X: "Um, is this Tom Cruise's big stunt?"

While another said: "Tom cruise entrance was underwhelming."

And a third added: "That Tom Cruise thing was underwhelming to be honest."

It's not the first time that Cruise has been involved in the Olympic Games.

Back in 2004, the actor carried the torch through Los Angeles during a worldwide relay event.

Speaking earlier this week, he said: “It’s awesome.

"Great stories, great athletes.

"It’s incredible what they have to do, the sense of accomplishment.”

Elsewhere in this year's Closing Ceremony, viewers were left scratching their heads after spending hours trying to work out the meaning behind the ceremony's stage design.

Many confessed they were baffled over what they were looking at, while others questioned what it could be.

Some floated the idea that it could have been a 'geometric cat' while another person suggested a horse and even 'slices of pie'.

However, after staring at it for long enough, viewers finally worked out what they were looking at.

"Is this stage designed loosely like a world map?" One person asked.

While another said: "Took me a good 15 minutes to work out that stage is the world map."

And a third said: "'OH! It's a map!' the entire living room says at the same time after debating if it was a horse, chess pieces, a Star Trek Diorama or slices of pie competing in the fencing."

And a fourth added: "Just realised that the central stage is the world map, not a geometric cat."

Olympics 2024 highlights

Anthony Ammirati's penis costs him his medal

The 21-year-old French pole vaulter attempted to clear the 5.70 metres on 3 August when his knee - along with his private parts - got in the way, shattering his Olympic dreams.

Iconic shooter Yusuf Dikec wins silver medal with 'no equipment'

Turkey's Yusuf Dikec took a laid back approach when he was spotted looking incredibly relaxed with one hand in his pocket and without any shooting gear on.

It all paid off though as he took home the silver along with his partner Sevval Ilayda Tarhan.

Noah Lyles' 100m victory

Setting a new personal best, Lyles came out on top at the finish line by a margin of just 0.005 seconds, with a final time of 9.784.

The final also marked the fastest race of all time, with all eight athletes crossing the finish line in under 10 seconds.

George Mills and Hugo Hay's 5000m bust up

Chaos erupted when a total of five athletes found themselves face down on the track after an incident left several runners stumbling on top of each other, including Team GB's George Mills and French runner Hugo Hay.

Mills looked as though he had some harsh words for Hay after the tumble which he admitted he was 'probably not allowed to say'.

Snoop Dogg in general

Snoop went viral after he rocked up to the dressage team Grand Prix Special fully kitted out in breeches, a dressage tailcoat and hard hat alongside pal Martha Stewart. Iconic.

Ana Carolina Vieira gets sent home for breaking athletes' village rules with boyfriend

Ana Carolina Vieira was sent home after she and her boyfriend Gabriel Santos - also a swimmer competing in the Olympics - left the village without permission, which is against the Olympic Village rules.

Team GB star becomes first ever Olympian to win medal in both male and female events

Coxswain Henry Fieldman made history when he won bronze at the women's crews event off the back of his bronze win in Tokyo on the men's team.

Fieldman was able to achieve the feat because of a rule change back in 2017 that allows coxes of either gender to steer the eights.

The River Seine drama

While Canada’s Tyler Mislawchuk vomited after swimming in the river, Belgian triathlete Jolien Vermeylen admitted she 'felt and saw things that we shouldn’t think about too much'.

It came after health concerns were raised over the pollution levels in the river, with the country splashing out a cool £1.18 billion on cleaning it up in time for the games.

Freddie Crittenden jogs for entire race on purpose

The Team USA star purposely put on a leisurely performance in his first heat of the Men's 110m hurdles and ended up being the last one to make it across the finish line with a time of 18.27 seconds.

The athlete said it was a calculated move to avoid aggravating a sore muscle in his leg and due to the introduction of repechage rounds, he knew that he'd have another chance at glory.

'Slow pool' accusations

The pool at the Paris La Défense Arena is 2.15 metres deep which is short of the minimum of 2.5 metres that World Aquatics recommends for an Olympic competition, prompting backlash from viewers.

As a result of the difference in depth, an issue called 'slow' swimming is created where the water is more volatile when dispersed than in a deeper pool.

Imane Khelif's opponent quits boxing match 46 seconds in

The Algerian boxer faced Italy's Angela Carini in the round of 16 match on 1 August when Carini - who has since apologised - decided to abandon the match after 46 seconds.

Khelif - who was born and raised a girl - was disqualified from last year’s Women’s World Boxing Championships in New Delhi amid claims from the International Boxing Association that she was not able to meet their unspecified eligibility criteria.

Khelif has since been at the centre of a gender row, and has urged people to 'refrain from bullying all athletes' amid abuse online.

In the end, she silenced her critics in the best way possible: with a gold medal in the welterweight division.

Luana Alonso 'kicked out' of Olympic Village

The Paraguayan swimmer was said to have been asked to leave the village amid accusations of creating an 'inappropriate environment', according to a statement from her team.

Alonso - who also announced her retirement from the sport - has since denied the claims and urged people to 'stop spreading false information'.

Gold medal winner Thomas Ceccon spotted sleeping in park amid village complaints

The athlete, who won gold in the men's 100m backstroke, was spotted taking a nap outside by Saudi rower Husein Alireza who posted it to his Instagram account, tagging the spot as a location within the official Olympic Village.

Speaking about his accommodation, Ceccon said: "It's hard to sleep both at night and in the afternoon. Usually, when I'm at home, I always sleep in the afternoon. Here I really struggle between the heat and the noise."

Steven van de Velde booed while making his Olympic debut

The convicted child rapist was booed as he competed in the preliminary phase of the beach volleyball men’s tournament at the start of the games last month.

In 2016, Van de Velde was sentenced to four years in prison after admitting three counts of rape against a 12-year-old girl in August 2014, with many furious that he has been allowed to compete in the Olympics.

George Mills squares up to opponent

The men's 5,000 metres heats erupted into chaos on Wednesday (7 August), with Team GB's George Mills accusing France's Hugo Hay of pushing him.

The two athletes even shared a tense exchange at the finish line.

Four runners ended up on the floor in the tumble, with three of them put through to the final.

But Mills ultimately didn't end up with a medal, finishing 21st in the final with a time of 13:32:32.

Jordan Chiles stripped of medal

It was a heartbreaking Olympics for Team USA gymnast Jordan Chiles.

After she'd walked away with a bronze medal on the women's floor exercise gymnastics, a court ruled that a Team USA inquiry that secured her podium finish came four seconds too late.

As such, Romania's Ana Barbosu was reinstated in third, with Chiles potentially having to hand back her medal.