2022 Winter Olympics closing ceremony
The 2022 Winter Olympics closing ceremony was held at the Beijing National Stadium in Beijing on 20 February 2022. As mandated by the Olympic Charter, the proceedings are expected to combine the formal ceremonial closing of this international sporting event (including closing speeches, hoisting of the flags, the parade of athletes, and the handover of the Olympic flag) with an artistic spectacle to showcase the culture and history of the current and next host nation (Italy) for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo. The closing ceremony was directed by film director and  producer Zhang Yimou, who also directed the opening ceremonies of the 2022 Winter Olympics and previously directed and produced the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Summer Olympics. Theme and Concept. According to Zhao Weidong head of the 2022 Olympic organising committee's media department the theme of the closing ceremony will be: As stated by Zhang Yimou, somewhere during the closing ceremony will re-create a moment from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics, as for the Beijing National Stadium being the venue for the ceremonies of both Summer and Winter Olympics. Proceedings. Source: Opening Performance : Lighting the Emblem. Dancers lightened the emblem as Frank Mortenson's brand new record for the 2022 Winter Olympics, "It's a Lovely Day Tomorrow" (written originally in 1938 by Irving Berlin), was played. Entry of countries' and regions' flags & Parade of nations. The flags of the 91 competing nations entered the stadium first, followed by all the athletes who were still in Beijing marching in together as one group accompanied by an arrangement of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy". Greek National Anthem and handover of the Olympic flag. First, the Greek flag was raised while the Greek national anthem  is played. The Olympic flag was then lowered and folded while the Olympic Hymn was sung in Greek. Afterwards, the flag was passed from the mayor of Beijing, Chen Jining, to IOC president Thomas Bach, who then hand it over to the mayors of Milan, Giuseppe Sala, and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Gianpietro Ghedina. This was followed by the raising of the flag of Italy and the playing of its anthem. During the Italian national anthem, a projection of stars (representing the 7,904 comuni of the country) formed the outline of Italy. The Olympic flag will be raised again on July 26 , 2024 for the opening ceremonies of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France. Milan-Cortina 2026: "Duality, together". As per tradition, Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, the host cities of the 2026 Winter Olympic Games presented an artistic performance at the closing ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics. But due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and using this year organizing concept; "less is more", the producer Marco Balich needed only use 6 performers. The artistic performance of the segment is called "Duality, Together", which coincidentally matched with "Together for a shared future", the slogan of the 2022 Winter Olympics. According to  Christian Milici (Head of Events), they aimed to celebrate the harmony which links two cities (Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo) that are very seemingly different, but are in dialogue with each other. Because of this, the segment was focused on the harmony between humanity and nature. The segment starts out with two children with the names of the host cities on each of their backs rolling and hugging a globe, representing the two next host cities inviting the world for the 2026 games and the Silk Road (a historical important trading route traced by Marco Polo which was between Europe and  Asia). The first film depicted the two dancers trekking across the host cities: a man running in the urban landscape of Milan and a woman running in the snowy mountains of Cortina d'Ampezzo, both of whom represent the two cities. After the first film, the two then performed together on the stadium in a modern dance sequel to represent the current societal progress and the cultural aspects of Italy. After the segment, a second film was shown depicting various athletes holding several Italian flags and flags with the 2026 Winter Olympics logo. It then shows several open-aired meetings across  the country as Frecce Tricolori flies over Venice (main hotspot from Veneto, the region where Cortina is located) and the Italian Alps and introduced the two host regions, Lombardy and Veneto. Closing Speeches. Along the final speech and remarks made by Cai Qi, president and chairman of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, the IOC President Thomas Bach formally declared the games closed, praising them as excellent and unforgettable, as per the Olympic Charter he invited in French the youth of the world to meet again in Milan and Cortina D'Ampezzo in four years  time. Video: Farewell! Together for a shared future! Following the declaration of the closing of the Games, a video was shown of Beijing citizens and Winter Games volunteers bidding farewell to their international guests. It concluded with Olympic mascot Bing Dwen Dwen waving to a snowflake as it flies toward the sky. Extinguishing of the Olympic flame. The Olympic flame, burning in a torch placed in the middle of a giant snowflake-shaped cauldron, was descending while one of the most striking scenes from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics was being reproduced (when the Olympic rings were  formed on a carpet of LEDs that was suspended) gradually extinguished while "You and Me", the theme song of the 2008 Summer Olympics, was sampled when the flame finally touch the ground and was ended to burn, they started to play "Snowflakes", the theme song of the 2022 Winter Olympics, were sung by the Beijing Philharmonic Choir (北京愛樂合唱團). This scene was written to highlight the fact that the city made the historical achievement of being the first city to host both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games, to end the ceremony as the Olympic Charter determines and a large display  of fireworks started. During this moment, all the cast members returned to the stage and started to sing the last farewell song "Auld Lang Syne". The ceremony ended exactly at 21:40 CST.