Rio bids farewell to athletes in colourful closing, Japan PM makes entry as Super Mario

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach declared the Games closed to mark the official end of the 16-day sporting spectacle competed among more than 11,000 athletes from 205 countries in 42 disciplines.

“I declare the Games of the 31st Olympiad closed. In accordance with tradition, I call upon the youth of the world to assemble in four years time in Tokyo, Japan to celebrate the Games of the 32nd Olympiad,” Bach said to the huge applause of the packed gathering at the iconic Maracana Stadium on Sunday night. 

This was after the Olympic flag was lowered and handed over to the representative of Tokyo 2020, the next host of the Games. Bach handed over the flag to female Governor of Tokyo Yuriko Koike. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made a dramatic entry in a high-tech show, a trademark of the far eastern country, during a short but impressive performance titled ‘See You in Tokyo’.

The athletes braved harsh winter winds, accompanied by torrential showers, and enjoyed the festive atmosphere after intense competition in their respective events ended.

Torrential showers continued unabated but it did not matter to the athletes who sported translucent raincoats with several of them singing, dancing and taking selfies during the nearly three-hour-long closing ceremony. The athletes entered the pitch with Greece coming first according to tradition. Led by Sakshi Malik, the first Indian woman wrestler to win an Olympic medal whose bronze opened the medal count of two including a silver, the country’s contingent also braved the rains as she stood tall waving the tri-colour. 

The honour of bearing the Indian flag came to Sakshi as silver medalist shuttler P V Sindhu had left on Sunday as about 50 Indians, including the men’s and women’s hockey teams, the wrestlers and boxer duo of Shiva Thapa and Manoj Kumar, participated in the athletes’ parade.

Host country Brazil were at 13th position with 7 Gold, 6 Silver and 6 Bronze. 

A day after a frenzied Brazil celebrated its maiden gold in men’s football with a win over Germany at the same iconic venue, the closing ceremony added colour and glitz and cheered the likes of Neymar and Usain Bolt when they were displayed on giant screen during a video of Rio 2016’s defining moments.

Accompanied by fireworks, the countdown to the start of the 13-segment show honoured ‘father of aviation’ Santos Dumont, creator of first controllable aircraft with an engine as he announced the “party to begin”. Projections of watch gears were put on the field of play, signifying the countdown for the show.

Welcoming the spectators to the Maracana, a projection from the point of view of a bird flying over the host city of Rio de Janeiro was shown as the city’s landmark points —Christ the Reedemer, Sugarloaf —were seen and it reached the climax with the formation of five Olympic rings. 

Music took over the field as icon of Rio’s samba Martinho da Silva, accompanied by his three daughters, dished out a soul-stirring performance of ‘Carinhoso’, one of the all-time Brazilian popular songs.

Brazilian National Anthem was then sung by 27 children, representing country’s 26 states plus the Federal District, accompanied by a powerful percussion band.