Sunday, February 20, 2022

Day 17 - Closing Ceremony


















NBC's coverage started at 7pm eastern time with Beijing gold. That lasted an hour and fifteen minutes. NBC's coverage of the closing ceremony started about 8:45pm and ended about 10:10pm. Terry Gannon, Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir co-hosted. Mike Tirico's commentary and athlete interviews led up to 10:30pm when NBC signed off. 

The closing ceremony started off children dancing with snowflakes, the theme from the opening ceremony. LED lights formed "Beijing 2022 and the Olympic Rings then the IOC President and Chinese President was introduced followed by the national anthem of China. The next segment there was Children with Lanterns and reference to the 12 Chinese Zodiac signs. A symbolic "knot" was formed to signal message of togetherness.

The parade of nations was next. Elana Meyers Taylor was the USA flagbearer for the closing ceremony. The next segment involved LED Willow Twigs. The twigs turned green signaling the transition from winter to a new spring, also a theme from the opening ceremony. Next, the national anthem of Greece was played, followed by the singing of the Olympic anthem by Chinese Children. Next, the Olympic flag was seen being carried out of the stadium.

The next segment was about the next host - Milano-Cortina, Italy 2026. Videos of cities and mountains showcase the Italian co-hosts landscape and showed the balance between mankind and nature.  IOC President Thomas Bach declared the games closed followed by the extinguishing of the Olympic flame. Fireworks showed the Olympic rings and the words "One World One Family". Andrea Joyce interviewed members of Team USA Figure Skating and then Mike Tirico's commentary about the ups and downs of the games was given in the backdrop of singing on the floor of the stadium and then continued that commentary in the NBC studios as coverage ended at 10:30pm.

Photos credit: Getty Images, UPI and other media sources. For blog use only.

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