Reporter | Joe Tudi
At 7:00 p.m. Beijing time on August 8, 2021, the closing ceremony of the Tokyo Olympic Games was held at the National Stadium, and the 17-day 32nd Summer Olympic Games officially came to an end.
The theme of the closing ceremony is "Worlds we share", and the common concept of the opening and closing ceremony is "Moving Forward".
At the beginning of the closing ceremony, a short video reviewed the scene of the Tokyo Olympic Games, and the camera was transferred to the main torch stand to the venue. Judo athletes, break dancers, swimmers, medical security experts, gymnasts, etc. held the Japanese flag and held a flag-raising ceremony.
Then, the flags of the delegations and the athletes entered. In this Olympic Games, the Chinese delegation won 38 gold, 32 silver and 18 bronze medals, with a total of 88 medals.
The Chinese delegation, led by track and field athlete Su Bingtian as the flag bearer of the closing ceremony, set a new Asian record in the men's 100m semifinals with a time of 9.83 seconds and advanced to the final with the first semifinals, becoming the first athlete in China to qualify for the men's 100m final of the Olympic Games.
After the entrance ceremony, the lights in the venue are extinguished, and the dots of starlight converge in the air to form the shape of the "Five Rings of Light".
Athletes gather on the large lawn, singers and bands sing and perform, actors reproduce scenes of daily entertainment, and the stadium becomes a joyful park. Japanese female singer Mile sang the French song "Love の讃歌".
Since the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, the men's marathon medal ceremony has been held at the closing ceremony. At today's award ceremony, IOC President Tomacher Bach and IAAF President Sebastian Koo presented awards to the top three athletes in the men's and women's marathons, the first time in Olympic history that awards were given to male and female athletes at the closing ceremony.
Then, a video and live performance showcased the traditional songs and dances of four regions of Japan.
Three years later, in 2024, the 33rd Summer Olympics will come to Paris, France.
As is customary, the Paris Organising Committee, as the host of the next Olympic Games, presented a performance showing its own culture at the end of the closing ceremony of the Tokyo Olympic Games.
As the Olympic flag was lowered from the flagpole, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike handed the flag to IOC President Bach, who handed it to the host, The Mayor of Paris, Hidalgo.
Finally, the biggest suspense of the closing ceremony "Paris 8 minutes" was finally revealed: "Athletes as the core" is the concept of the Paris Olympic Games, the film picture comes to various famous landmarks in the city, the air show team crosses the sky over Paris, and the musicians play the French national anthem "Marseillaise" at Notre Dame Cathedral and other places, in which the French astronauts completed the interpretation of the last paragraph of "Marseille" on the International Space Station.
Seiko Hashimoto, President of the Tokyo Organising Committee for the Olympic Games, said: "Although many competitions unfortunately did not have a live audience, the athletes in Japan welcomed the athletes with flowers planted by Japanese elementary school students. Bouquets of different flowers represent the unity of people all over the world, and we are all inspired by the meaning of the flowers blooming. ”
As the song falls, the eyes of the audience converge on the main torchbearer, accompanied by the dancers' dance movements, blue lights shroud the torch, and in the breathless prayers of the people, the sacred torch slowly turns, and finally closes, and the flame of the Tokyo Olympics is extinguished.
Finally, the words "ARIGATO" (Japanese "thank you") are typed out on the big screen.
See you in Paris in 2024!