OLYMPICS/Team Taiwan stands tall at spectacular Paris closing ceremony

Paris/Taipei, Aug. 12 (CNA) Taiwanese athletes Yang Chun-han (楊俊瀚) and Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) carried the Team Taiwan Olympic flag during the Paris 2024 closing ceremony on Sunday, marking the conclusion of the country's solid performance in the major international sporting competition.

Yang and Lin were joined by other athletes and coaches from Team Taiwan and teams from across the globe as they walked around the ram-packed Stade de France at the event celebrating the official end of Paris 2024.

The eye-catching ceremony at the approximately 80,000-seat-capacity stadium was filled with fireworks and dazzling light effects. It also featured a wide range of striking performances by dancers, acrobats and musicians -- including French indie-rock band Phoenix, popular American singer-songwriter Billie Eilish and rap legend Snoop Dogg.

At one point during the show, Hollywood megastar Tom Cruise ostentatiously descended from the roof of the massive arena before receiving the Olympic flag from American gymnast Simone Biles and riding out of the stadium with it on a motorcycle.

The dramatic stunt, reminiscent of actions performed by the actor in the popular movie franchise Mission Impossible, symbolized that the next Summer Olympic Games in 2028 will take place in Los Angeles.

Shortly before, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo passed the flag to International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach, who gave it to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass in a handover ritual.

"We know that the Olympic Games cannot create peace but the Olympic Games can create a culture of peace that inspires the world," the IOC president said in a speech at the event.

Speaking in French, Bach added, "Thank you Paris, thank you France!"

In this year's competition, athletes from the United States took home the highest number of medals -- 126 in total, including 40 gold, 44 silver and 42 bronze.

China came second in the gold medal ranking, with 91 medals overall including 40 gold, 27 silver and 24 bronze. Japan ranked third with 45 medals including 20 gold, 12 silver and 13 bronze.

Taiwan performed impressively at the Games, ranking 35th out of the 206 teams competing. Participating under the name "Chinese Taipei," Taiwan gained more medals than Austria (which ranked 36th), the Philippines (37th) and Indonesia (39th).

Team Taiwan won seven medals in Paris with two gold and five bronze.

Badminton players Lee Yang (李洋) and Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) secured Team Taiwan's first gold medal in Paris when they defeated the world No. 1 duo from China, Liang Weikeng (梁偉鏗) and Wang Chang (王昶), in a challenging 76-minute contest on Aug. 4.

Lin won Taiwan's second gold at this year's event on Saturday after she defeated Julia Szeremeta of Poland by a 5-0 unanimous decision in the women's boxing featherweight division.

Taiwan's five bronze medals were won by Chen Nien-chin (陳念琴) and Wu Shih-yi (吳詩儀) in boxing, Kuo Hsing-chun (郭婞淳) in weightlifting, Lee Meng-yuan (李孟遠) in shooting and Tang Chia-hung (唐嘉鴻) in artistic gymnastics.

The seven medals earned by Taiwan this year were fewer than the 12 (two gold, four silver and six bronze) won in Tokyo 2020, but more than the three (one gold and two bronze) clinched in Rio 2016.

Competing in 16 contests this year, Team Taiwan comprised 60 athletes, including 23 who made their Olympic debut.

As evidenced by the large crowds attending public livestreams of contests such as Lin's boxing match at New Taipei City Hall on Saturday, Taiwanese athletes are returning home to a nation proud of their achievements.