Tom Cruise was greeted with loud cheers after he dove onto the stage of the Paris Olympics in spectacular fashion.
The adrenaline junkie is at it again. Age hasn’t diminished Tom Cruise’s insatiable need for speed as the 62-year-old jumped off the roof of Strate De France, one of the largest stadiums, on Sunday, Aug 11, 2024, and landed on stage during the Paris Olympics Closing Ceremony.
Tom Cruise, who reportedly approached the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and proposed performing a stunt as part of the ceremony, was greeted with loud cheers from the awestruck crowd after he landed on stage and got right into the second act of his stunning performance.
Earlier in the ceremony, just before Cruise took the stage, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo handed over the Olympic flag to L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and Simone Biles. After Cruise dove onto the stage in a stunt straight out of a Mission Impossible movie, he was welcomed by Los Angeles Mayor Karen, who handed the actor the flag—a symbolic gesture for passing the baton from Paris to L.A.
Taking the flag from Mayor Bass, Tom Cruise jumped on a nearby motorbike, rode out of the stadium and drove into a plane just in time for a pre-recorded video of the actor flying from Paris to L.A. to kick in.
Cruise was seen skydiving out of a plane and landing by the iconic Hollywood sign on the hilltops overlooking the city to mark the host of the next Olympics.
As we all know, this is not the first time Cruise has performed a death-defying stunt. The action star with a penchant for dancing with danger has performed his own stunts on many of his biggest films, including Top Gun Maverick and Mission Impossible. One of them even landed him in a hospital with a brutal injury, but this didn’t deter the actor from getting his adrenaline fix. Here are five of his jaw-dropping stunts.
1. When Tom Cruise Held On To A Plane in Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation
The wild scene in Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation, where Tom Cruise was seen hanging onto the outside of an Airbus plane in Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation (2015), was not performed by a stunt coordinator but by the actor himself. According to Tom Cruise, he nearly shattered his rib after a pebble hit him when the plane was moving too fast (Via Esquire Australia).
2. Scaling The Tallest Building, Burj Khalifa, In Dubai For Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol
Tom Cruise has got nothing on Spider-Man. As a mere mortal, he scaled the world’s tallest building as a stunt for Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol. He couldn’t have a stunt double with all the glory of being the first man to achieve the death-defying feat.
3. Jumping across from one high-rise building to another in Mission Impossible Fallout
Tom Cruise suffered a brutal injury after jumping across a huge gap from one high-rise building to another. While he nailed the jump, his foot slipped and hit the wall, resulting in a broken ankle. Despite the injury, Cruise completed the shot but was immediately taken to a hospital and was laid off for six weeks while the injury healed.
4. Driving a motorcycle off a massive cliff
For Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One, Tom Cruise drove a bike off a cliff without a safe harness before base-jumping off the motorcycle, skydiving, and landing on the ground. The stunt was heavily promoted, and we’re still picking our jaws off the floor.
5. Halo Jump Mission Impossible Fallout
We’re still stunned that Cruise came out of the 2015 movie shoot alive (and we’re glad he did), given the number of dangerous stunts he pulled. For the film, Cruise performed an actual HALO (high altitude, low opening) jump despite the dangers of hypoxia.
Given his recent stunt in Paris, it’s evident that Tom Cruise has no plans to slow down.
