Deutsche Welle, 23 February 2014
The Sochi
Winter Games have wrapped up with the closing ceremony held in the Fisht
Olympic Stadium. The next Winter Games are to be held in Pyeongchang, South
Korea in 2018.
The Games
ended on Sunday night as they do at every Games, be they summer or winter, with
the Olympic Flame being extinguished. This time, it was a larger-than-life
mechanical bear that "blew out" the flame towards the end of a
glitzy, emotional closing ceremony.
At the
start of the ceremony, which ran for well over two hours, the organizers of the
Sochi Games proved that they were capable of a little self-depreciating humor.
As around
700 dancers formed the five Olympic rings on the floor of the Fisht Stadium,
they delayed forming the fifth one, in a nod to a malfunction during the
opening ceremony, in which the same top right ring failed to illuminate.
The packed
house cheered as the spectators realized what was happening, as the dancers
representing that ring remained in a smaller, filled circle. They then roared
their approval a few second later when the dancers spread apart to form the
fully-shaped ring.
Over the
next couple of hours the spectators in the stadium as well as those watching on
television around the world saw a closing ceremony filled with pageantry and
protocol.
Russian
culture
Among those
who performed at the ceremony were dancers from the Bolshoi and the Mariinsky
ballet companies, two of the world's oldest.
At another
point the faces of famous Russian authors were projected onto huge screens, and
a pile of books transformed into a swirling, loose pages.
Hundreds of
athletes who had not yet left Sochi also entered the stadium, led by the
winners of Russia's record 13 gold medals, who carried the country's white,
blue and red flag, which was raised alongside the Olympic flag.
Lavish
praise from the IOC president
Russian
President Vladimir Putin was among those watching from the stands, as the
president of the International Olympic Committee, Germany's Thomas Bach,
delivered lavish praise of the Games.
"Russia
delivered all what it had promised," Bach said. "What took decades in
other parts of the world was achieved here in just seven years," he added.
"I
would like to thank the President of the Russian Federation, Mr. Vladimir
Putin, for his personal commitment to the extraordinary success of these
Olympic Winter Games," Bach concluded.
Also during
the ceremony, the Olympic flag was lowered and handed to the host of the next
Winter Games, South Korea.
"I
declare the 22nd Olympic Winter Games closed. In accordance with tradition, I
call upon the youth of the world to assemble four years from now in PyeongChang
to celebrate with us the 23rd Olympic Winter Games," Bach said.
pfd/rc (AFP, Reuters, dpa, AP)
 |
Russian
President Vladimir Putin (C) toasts a glass of champagne with Prime
Minister
Dmitry Medvedev (L) and figure skating coach Tatiana Tarasova (R) in
the
presidential lounge at the Fisht Olympic Stadium on February 23, 2014
(Pool/AFP, David Goldman)
|
Related Article:
 |
Table of
gold, silver and bronze medals
per country (AFP)
|
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