Organizers say the finale will celebrate Brazil, showcase the Rio Games’ best moments, and, of course, feature Tokyo when the Olympic flag is handed to the next host.
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The curtain descended on two weeks of high drama at the Rio Games, marked by the heroics of Olympics legends Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps as Tokyo took up the baton and promised to go one better in 2020.
Nailed it: Japan’s Prime Minister Abe Shinzo appeared at the 2016 Rio Olympics Closing Ceremony (sort of) dressed as Super Mario. He has repeated this astonishing feat at three successive Olympic Games – a unique “Triple-Triple”.
Team USA got the most gold medals, with 46.
Just a few hours earlier, the U.S. basketball squad won the last gold of the Games, boosting their country’s place on top of the medals table.
The 2016 Rio Olympics featured a total of 207 nations, including Kosovo and South Sudan who made their debut to the Summer Games.
She also became the first wrestler in Olympic history to win four gold medals, and afterwards dedicated it on the memory of her late mother.
The empty seats around the Maracanã also reminded people why these Olympics will never be remembered among the great Games.
She won Puerto Rico’s first Olympic gold medal and melted hearts across the globe.
Rio received around 5,00,000 visitors during the Olympic Games. The one to have the honor to receive the flag is Yuriko Koike, Tokyo’s newly elected governor. Others consider swimmer Fu Yuanhui’s instant popularity a sign of a demographic shift in Olympic viewing, as younger generations focus more on personalities than results.
The 31-year-old’s efforts helped the USA top the medal table with 121, their most successful “away” Games.
It was their first men’s Olympic football gold medal.
Based on the findings taken from the three previous Olympic host cities Athens, Beijing and London, Brazil’s Ministry of Tourism expects a six percent increase in the number of visitors to the country over the next year.
He pointed to the issue of succession in many sports but stressed that, while Rio was the first Olympics for more than 70% of Team China members, 13 first-timers struck gold. The 20-year-old lit up – and cracked up – the whole nation with her exuberant and at times hilarious answers during post-competition interviews on state television.
Neymar also set a new record for fastest goal scored at the Olympics, when he scored after just 14 seconds in the semi-final game against Honduras.
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For those packed into the Maracana, added joy was Brazil’s gold victory in soccer against Germany.
