As the sun set on Sunday and the last rays of sunlight faded between the balconies and buildings of the French capital, the Paris 2024 Olympic Games was brought to a close.

A closing ceremony at the Stade de France on Sunday night brought together some of the 10,500 participating athletes who paraded through the stadium where numerous athletics and rugby events had been held over the last two weeks.

Athletes including Léon Marchand, Noah Lyles, Armand Duplantis, Beatrice Chebet, Katie Ledecky, and Simone Biles, among many, basked in the moment having lit up the City of Lights leaving their legacies in the history of Paris.

Nearly 850 medals were won, 42 records broken (10 world records and 32 Olympic records) and thousands of people from 222 countries gathered across 39 venues for this historic edition of the Olympic Games. 

The event attracted millions of visitors to Paris and the Parc des Nations in La Villette, plus billions more via television and social media.

Initially greeted with protests and scepticism, the people of Paris eventually embraced the Games, recognising them for what they are - the most important sporting and multicultural event on the planet, and a once-in-a-lifetime experience for those lucky enough to be there.

With stadium capacity limited and tickets for the Closing Ceremony sold out, the public had to resort to various strategies to be part of one of Europe's most important popular events in the last decade.

The Fan Zone was a prime location to experience the event for those unable to enter the stadium.

The celebrations began on cue at 21:00 kicking off a closing ceremony that will also go down in the history of the Games.

The start did not initially arouse much enthusiasm, especially among the thousands of people who had gathered early on at the Hôtel de Ville's La Terrasse des Jeux, a strategic location with a good atmosphere and two giant screens set up to enjoy the final evening of the Games.

As the minutes ticked by, however, the crowd began to liven up, especially when famous songs such as Freddy Mercury's "We Are the Champions" began to play, shyly sung along by the residents who made up the majority of the crowd, just 50 metres from the iconic River Seine.

The highlight came when the official broadcast showed a highlight video of the Olympic Games. It was almost perfect in its blend of content, emotion and summary of the Games. 

The various athletes who appeared on the screen were applauded by an increasingly euphoric audience. In addition to the applause for the French athletes, there was a standing ovation for Novak Djokovic, who once again moved everyone with a close-up of the Paris 2024 final, his hand visibly shaking as he knelt on the clay of Roland Garros.

The bars were sparsely populated for this climactic moment. Those not broadcasting the official event were practically empty or had far fewer people than on a typical Sunday.

The streets were empty, not before the start of the Closing Ceremony, not during the ceremony and not after the end of the third Olympic Games in France. It almost felt like a Sunday morning, when pedestrians are rare in the beautiful streets around the Hôtel de Ville de Paris, Notre Dame Cathedral or the Trocadero area.

A special moment was undoubtedly Tony Estanguet's speech, which received the most ovations on the warm Paris night.

His speech stirred French pride, expressed gratitude for a job well done and drew on how Paris had appeared in the eyes of the world.

In stark contrast, Thomas Bach's speech went virtually unnoticed in the Fan Zone in the centre of Paris. In fact, people took the opportunity during his speech to grab drinks and snacks or take the opportunity to use the toilets.

The legends of funk rock took centre stage in Paris, acting as a bridge between the 33rd and 34th Olympic Games of the modern era, which will be held from Friday 14 July to Sunday 30 July 2028.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers put on a show returning to the international stage in the best possible way while Tom Cruise, whose participation in the Closing Ceremony had been leaked, added a Hollywood touch to the ceremony produced by Thomas Jolly.

This time, the French actor and director organised everything meticulously, avoiding the controversies of 26 July and avoiding any controversies.

It was on 16 September 2015 when the International Olympic Committee was first presented with the idea of a new French Olympic Games 100 years on from the last to be held in Paris in 1914 and it was on 11 August 2024 that this historic edition then came to a close, nearly nine years later.

Paris was confirmed as the host city in 2017 after Los Angeles agreed to postpone its Games until 2028. Since then, and until the early hours of Monday 12 August, much work has been done to reflect the essence of Paris and the convictions of its people - grandiosity.

Now we must bid farewell to Paris with great gratitude for all it has done and turn our eyes to the future at the next games in Los Angeles in 2028, where the dreams of hundreds of thousands of people will now be focused.