2018 Winter Olympics closing ceremony


The closing ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics took place at Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium in Pyeongchang, South Korea, on 25 February 2018 at KST.

Ceremony

Opening

The flag bearers of 92 National Olympic Committees arrived into the stadium. The flag bearers from each participating country entered the stadium informally in single file, ordered by ganada order of the Korean alphabet, and behind them marched all the athletes. Marching alongside the athletes were Soohorang, the Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic mascot, and Hodori, mascot of the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.

Concert section

First, the Greek flag was raised while its anthem played. The Olympic flag was then lowered and passed by the mayor of Pyeongchang County, Shim Jae-kook, to IOC President Thomas Bach, who then handed it over to the mayor of Beijing, Chen Jining. This was then followed by the raising of the flag of China, and the playing of its anthem. The flag will be raised again in Tokyo, Japan, for the opening ceremony of the 2020 Summer Olympics on 23 July 2021.

Beijing 2022 performance

Beijing, the host city of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, presented a special performance See You in Beijing in 2022 directed by Chinese film director Zhang Yimou, who also presented the 2008 Summer Olympics opening and closing ceremonies. The presentation featured two pandas skating and people forming red lines that became a dragon, as pandas and dragons are national icons for China. The skaters also trail lines to form the emblem of the Games. China's Paramount leader Xi Jinping made a cameo appearance by video expressing the welcome message on behalf of the Chinese people.

Games declared closed

IOC President Thomas Bach formally closed the games, calling them 'The Games of New Horizons'. Soon after, the cauldron was extinguished.

Dignitaries in attendance

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