The Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics have formally ended following the closing ceremony in northern Italy.
It befell at Verona Olympic Enviornment, regardless of not one of the sporting occasions occurring within the metropolis, which is 75 miles from Milan.
After starting with a tribute to basic Italian opera, flagbearers representing the 92 competing nations entered the stadium by giant props from Aida and accompanied by a tribute to Italian movie music.
The ‘Drop of Fireplace’ – the Olympic flame carried in a small glass vessel – was introduced into the traditional area to gentle up the rings earlier than the parade of athletes.
Whereas athletes are supposed to return in all blended collectively, right here they have been nonetheless largely in nationwide teams.
The ultimate medals from Milan-Cortina 2026 have been awarded within the ladies’s and males’s 50km mass begin cross-country snowboarding occasions, earlier than a tribute to the Video games volunteers.
The ceremony completed with performances from fashionable Italian musicians Main Lazer and singer-songwriter Achille Lauro.
In her speech to shut the Video games, Worldwide Olympic Committee (IOC) president Kirsty Coventry stated: “You’ve gotten been unimaginable – each one in every of you. Courageous. Fearless. Filled with coronary heart and keenness. You left all of it on the snow and ice.
“Two unforgettable weeks, residing each second to the fullest. You gave all the things – and also you shared it with all of us.
“That is the true Olympic spirit: competing, embracing, lifting one another up, regardless of the outcome. You confirmed us what excellence, respect, and friendship appear like in a world that typically forgets these values.
“You confirmed us that the Olympic Video games are a spot for everybody. A spot the place sport brings us collectively.”
It ended a Video games which noticed 116 medal occasions, and historic sporting success for a number of of the competing nations – together with Nice Britain.
Workforce GB gained 5 medals, together with three golds, to complete fifteenth within the desk. Britain has by no means beforehand gained multiple gold at a Video games earlier than.
Matt Weston, the male flagbearer, gained two golds in skeleton – the boys’s occasion and the staff competitors with Tabby Stoeker.
The feminine GB flagbearer was Charlotte Bankes, who gained gold within the staff snowboard cross with Huw Nightingale; it was the primary Olympic occasion on snow gained by British athletes.
Workforce GB additionally gained silver within the males’s curling, whereas Zoe Atkin claimed bronze in ladies’s ski halfpipe on the ultimate day.
Brazil’s Lucas Pinheiro Braathen took the boys’s big slalom title to register a primary Winter Olympic gold gained by a South American nation.
