The final medal events of Day 16 and the Closing Ceremony form the final catch-up post of the current blog.
Medals
Closing Ceremony
The Closing Ceremony began alike its predecessor with the dignitaries being seated including Thomas Back (IOC) and Xi Jinping (President of China). The staging opened with a cheery childlike celebration below the huge Olympic Snowflake which ended with the BEIJING 2022 logo appearing atop the Olympic Rings.
The stage then became a sheet of ice featuring twelve giant skates each representing a sign of the zodiac and creating a spiralling snowflake combining the air and stage floor. The flag bearers entered the arena with GB represented by Men's Curling Silver Skip Bruce Mouat.
Athletes then began to parade into the arena accompanied by classical music and after parading into centre stage, the procession moved into the stands. Highlights of the games themselves then played showing triumph and joy.
Next up, the final medal ceremonies with the Cross Country Skiing Women's 30km mass start free with Kerttu Niskanen (FIN) claiming BRONZE, Jessie Diggins (USA) scooping SILVER and Therese Johaug (NOR) winning GOLD. The Men's 50km mass start free followed with Simen Hegstad Krueger (NOR) taking BRONZE, Ivan Yakimushkin (ROC) collecting SILVER behind team-mate Alexander Bolshunov who won GOLD.
Applause filled the arena to thank a group of six Games volunteers before welcoming the newest addition to the IOC Athletes Commission in Martin Foucault (FRA). Each of the volunteers were presented with a Chinese Lantern to symbolise all of the work and effort put in by the mass of volunteers across the last 16 days.
The stage lit up with to showcase a huge group and a pillar of light that transformed the snowflake into spring before a montage of the action and the national anthem of Greece and the Olympic anthem with the latter sung by a choir.
Ahead of the next Winter Olympics, the transition from Beijing to Milano Cortina took place with Thomas Bach presenting the Olympic flag to the representatives from Italy before the playing of the Italian national anthem. The Italian flag was then raised with a globe being pushed across a figurative sheet of thin ice to reval the message - 'Duality, Together'.
A montage of the landscapes in Milan and Cortina played before the meeting of both in the form of dance with Milan (Orange) and Cortina (Pink) combining to then reveal the emblem for the 2026 games. The flags of the 91 countries were brought into the arena before the speeches to thank the athletes and everyone involved in the games.
before Thomas Bach declared the 24th Winter Olympic games closed. Centre stage saw the Olympic Rings form and raise to meet the Flame Snowflake and pass through while the flagbearers congregated around in a circle as the Olympic flame was extinguished.
A huge firework display above the arena included the message of 'One World, One Family' and officially ended the ceremony with the invitation to reconvene in 1440 days as the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony.
Of course as this blog covers both Summer and Winter games for both the Olympic and Paralympics, the posting will resume with the upcoming Paralympics from March 4th.
