Winter Olympics, triumphant for Russia, completed

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

On the eve of Sochi, Russian athletes triumphantly completed the XXII Winter Olympic Games. Our team has set a national record for both the total number of medals and the number of gold awards. The organizers of the closing ceremony of the Olympics also did their best. By unanimous opinion, the show was great.

“If we did a blockbuster at the opening ceremony, then the closing will be an arthouse,” Konstantin Ernst promised earlier. He kept his promise.

On 23 February at 20:14, a large-scale performance began at the Fisht stadium. At first, the surface of the arena "turned" into the sea, into the center of which a boat with three children floated out. Actors depicting fish appeared in the "sea", adding various figures, turning into Olympic rings. The organizers of the show could not resist the temptation to beat the episode with the unopened snowflake at the opening ceremony - the fifth ring did not open immediately.

The official part began: Russian President Vladimir Putin and IOC President Thomas Bach were invited to the honorary box of the stadium, and the Russian Olympic champions of the Games brought the Russian national flag. We sang the anthem of Russia, new members of the IOC were introduced.

In total, the Russians won 13 gold, 11 silver and 9 bronze medals.

At the end of the first official part, the entertainment program of the ceremony began. It was directed by the Italian theater director Daniele Finzi Pasca, who tried to present Russian culture as an integral part of the world cultural heritage. To the sounds of the viola, played by Yuri Bashmet, and violins, a flying inverted island appeared over the stadium, depicting the "Village" by Marc Chagall. A grand piano appeared in the center of the stage from the clouds, at which the famous Russian pianist Denis Matsuev performed Rachmaninov's second piano concerto. A whirlwind made of 62 grand pianos swirled around the musician and the children-heroes of the ceremony.

Then the ballet dancers of the Bolshoi and Mariinsky theaters appeared on the stage. Portraits of the classics of Russian literature also appeared. Quotes from the works of Russian writers are heard, manuscripts are flying across the stage … And the performance ends with the emergence of a circus tent.

The second official part begins. The flag of the ancestor of the Olympic Games of Greece was raised and her anthem was sung. Then the IOC anthem was sung, and children from the Krasnodar Territory brought in the Olympic flag for the ceremony of handing over to the capital of the next Winter Games - Pyeongchang.

IOC President Thomas Bach made a speech to the participants of the Games, thanked Russia for organizing the Olympics. “Goodbye,” he said in Russian and declared the XXII Winter Olympic Games in Sochi officially closed. And in parting over the stadium "Fisht" magnificent fireworks flashed.