- LA to host 2028 Olympic Games
- Closing ceremony sees Californian stars perform
- Paris Games seen as big success
While Paris used its most famous landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower and the Palace of Versailles as its star draw, LA is already turning to its home-grown A-list celebrities to impress the crowds.
The closing ceremony began at the gardens overlooking the Louvre museum where the Olympic flame has been on show to the public since the start of the Games before moving to the Stade de France where the world's top athletes have competed over the past week.
The 2-1/2 hour show, which initially sees the delegations parading at the stadium, will include a theatrical sequence entitled "Records", which promises a dream-like immersive journey through time, led by a "Golden Voyager".
His odyssey begins at the origins of the Olympic Games before proceeding to a science-fiction filled dystopian future where the Olympic Games have vanished and must be rediscovered.
Along the way, the voyager will discover the symbols of peace and unity than underpin the values of Olympism.
But it is the musicians and Eilish, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Snoop Dogg, the U.S. rapper who has been contributing to NBC Primetime's coverage of the Games, that will awe fans and television spectators.
Grammy-winning artist H.E.R. will perform the U.S. national anthem live in Paris, while rumours have swirled around Paris that Tom Cruise will perform a stunt worthy of Mission Impossible.
"This is the biggest moment in LA28 history to date, as the Olympic flag passes from Paris to LA," LA28 Chairperson and President Casey Wasserman said in a statement.
A final unnamed star is also expected to perform and a version of Frank Sinatra's "My Way", originally sung by French musical icon Claude Francois, will end the show, perhaps a wink to the world that Paris did it its way.
The two weeks of sporting drama saw China and the United States duke it out for top spot in the medal table right down to the last event.
Echoing the heartache delivered to France by the United States in the men's basketball final, the American women's basketball side handed France a gut-wrenching one-point defeat to earn a 40th gold medal and top spot on the medal table.
Hours before the ceremony got under way, long lines snaked towards the stadium, with fans praising France's handling of the Games and recounting a fortnight of sporting drama and Olympic spirit in packed-out venues at the heart of one of the world's most beautiful cities.
"I think these were Games for the ages," said Adam Osprey, 60, a retired American civil servant who lives in France.
To the surprise of many French, a euphoric Olympic fever gripped the host nation during the Games.
The French had a new golden boy to celebrate with swimmer Leon Marchand emerging as the king of the pool, winning four golds in the opening week, before French judoka Teddy Riner reigned supreme as he claimed his fifth Olympic gold medal.
Simone Biles put her twisties misery of Tokyo behind her, making a long-awaited Olympic return in front of a star-studded crowd. She arrived the world's most decorated gymnast and left with a further four gold medals for her trophy cabinet.
Breaking made its Olympic debut - to some derision on social media - whilst 3x3 basketball, sports climbing, skateboarding and surfing made their second appearances.
The IOC will be relieved that no major scandals erupted, although it did have to grapple with some controversies.
A simmering doping row involving Chinese athletes hung over the Olympic swimming meet where the United States faced the biggest challenge to their reign in decades.
A storm around gender eligibility hit the women's boxing competition, revealing the toxic relations between the IOC and a widely discredited International Boxing Association. Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting, the two athletes involved, will be flagbearers for Algeria and Taiwan.
Meanwhile, a $1.5 billion clean-up of the Seine rewarded Paris with the optics of triathlon and marathon swimmers competing in the river through central Paris, without a wave of illness ensuing - even if bacteria levels forced some training to be cancelled.
But for all the sporting triumph and drama, the biggest star of the show for many was the City of Light itself and the fabulous backdrop it lent to much of the competition.
"They've got a high bar to reach. A lot of work to do," said James Rutledge, 59, a former banker wearing a Team USA t-shirt outside the Stade de France. "Hollywood next? That's something to play with."
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who will be the first Black woman mayor to receive the Olympic flag, acknowledged Paris had set a high bar but expressed confidence that her city would prove itself a worthy successor.
"It will be a challenge but it will be a challenge we can step up to," Bass told reporters this week. "I think our Games will really show the diversity and the international character of our city."
