PyeongChang 2018 draws to conclusion with celebration of future, spirit of adventure
The competition wrapped up on Sunday with the host South Korea having set its Winter Olympics medals record with 17 -- five gold, eight silver and four bronze medals, good for seventh place.
Norway led all countries with 39 medals, including 14 gold medals. Germany also captured 14 gold medals but had eight fewer medals in total than Norway.
North Korea, represented by its Winter Olympics record 22 athletes, didn't win any medal, though it was hailed in some quarters as delivering the message of peace by its mere presence here.
Held under the slogan, "Passion, Connected," PyeongChang 2018 was the first Winter Olympics in South Korea and the largest ever, with 2,920 athletes representing 92 nations. There were a record 102 gold medals at 12 venues in PyeongChang and its neighboring cities of Gangneung and Jeongseon.
Athletes and officials gathered at PyeongChang Olympic Stadium for one last big party. PyeongChang's organizers said the closing ceremony, put together by executive creative director Song Seung-whan, was titled "The Next Wave." It referred to the sense of adventure that compels people to challenge themselves to reach greater heights, PyeongChang said.
The ceremony mixed traditional Korean imagery with modern aesthetics while also presenting its future vision of Korea through K-pop productions. And unlike at the opening ceremony, the athletes all marched into the stadium in no particular order. Compared to the Parade of Nations at the opening ceremony, the Parade of Athletes at the closing ceremony was designed to symbolize all competitors coming together as one nation.
And since there was no formal parade for participating countries, South Korea and North Korea didn't have an official joint march behind one flag as they did at the opening ceremony. Speed skater Lee Seung-hoon, the inaugural men's mass start champion, was the flagbearer for South Korea, and figure skater Kim Ju-sik had the honor for North Korea.
But athletes from the two Koreas mingled as they entered the stadium, and they presented three different flags: South Korean athletes waving their national flag, the Taegeukgi, and North Koreans carrying both their national flag and the Korean Unification Flag, which was used during the opening ceremony.
The athletes also donned their own national team uniforms, with the South in white and the North in red.
Lee became Asia's all-time leader in Olympic speed skating medals with five, by taking the mass start gold and team pursuit silver here. Kim teamed up with Ryom Tae-ok to finish 13th in the pairs, the North's highest position in its Olympic figure skating history.
President Moon Jae-in watched the ceremony in the VIP box together with Ivanka Trump, the U.S. president's daughter, Kim Yong-chol, a senior official of North Korea's ruling Worker's Party, and Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong.
PyeongChang handed over the Olympic Flag to Beijing, host of the next Winter Games in 2022. It will be the first time that two consecutive Winter Games will be staged in Asia. Beijing, the first city to host both the Summer and Winter Olympics, put on an eight-minute cultural presentation directed by renowned filmmaker Zhang Yimou.
After Beijing's show, Lee Hee-beom, head of the PyeongChang Organizing Committee for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games (POCOG), took the stage to share his thoughts on the event, which he said brought the world together "in peace and harmony."
"In PyeongChang, the world became one," he said. "Transcending the differences of race, religion, nation and gender, we smiled together, cried together, and shared friendship together. Even though we are now saying goodbye to each other, PyeongChang 2018 will be long remembered with beautiful and unforgettable memories."
In his closing speech, Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), credited the PyeongChang Games for having opened up "new horizons," thanks to new events, new digital technology and record numbers of athletes and participation nations.
""We are embracing these new horizons," Bach said. "We offer our hand to everybody to join forces in this faith in the future."
At the end of the ceremony, PyeongChang Olympic Stadium turned into a huge outdoor club with an electronic dance music (EMD) thumping through the chilly night. South Korea's own DJ Raiden and Dutch EDM star Martin Garrix helped bring the night to a wild finish.
