Watch the closing ceremony of the 2022 Beijing Olympic Winter Games
CBC
After an action-packed 16 days of competition, Beijing 2022 is officially winding down with the closing ceremony at the National Stadium, also known as the "Bird's Nest" for its unique web of 35 kilometres of twisting steel.
You can watch live coverage of the event on Olympic Winter Games Morning by clicking on the video player above, or in the video players below.
After International Olympic Committee head Thomas Bach and China's President Xi Jinping entered the stadium, the closing ceremony got underway in much the same way as the opening ceremony ended: with the lighting of the unconventional Olympic cauldron, which for Beijing was in fact a giant snowflake with the Olympic torch inside.
The snowflake theme that ran throughout the opening ceremony is continuing for the closing ceremony, as children using snowflake-shaped lanterns lit up an emblem on the stadium floor inspired by the Chinese character for "winter."
The lanterns also mark the Chinese tradition of lighting lanterns in the days leading up to and following the fifteenth day of the Lunar New Year, known as the Yuanxiao Festival. The closing ceremony falls on the 20th day of the Lunar New Year.
After the Chinese flag was raised and anthem played, the athletes began parading in to the stadium. Team Canada was led by speed skater Isabelle Weidemann, three-time medallist at these Games, who was unveiled as flag-bearer Sunday morning in Beijing (Saturday evening in. Canada). Weidemann won a medal of each colour – gold, silver and bronze -– as part of a successful Team Canada campaign that saw the country claim a total of 26 medals: four gold, eight silver and 14 bronze.
As the athletes paraded in, a traditional Chinese knot appeared on the floor of the stadium to mark China's connection with the world and the Olympic spirit of togetherness. The knot was rendered with augmented reality (AR) technology and presented in high definition — no physical knot was present.
As the athletes walked in to the sounds of Beethoven's infamous Ode to Joy, giant skates in the shapes of the 12 animals that make up the Chinese zodiac zoomed around the stadium floor.
Short-track speed skater Charles Hamelin, who competed in his fifth and final Games and won gold in the men's relay, said the team is still relishing its win.
"We're still on the roll of partying and having fun with everyone," Hamelin said. "It's something that you get [to do] only one time when you're at the Olympics."
As is custom at the closing ceremony, a medal ceremony for a late event was held. In this case, ross-country skiing medals were awarded for the women's 30 km and men's 50 km mass start free events. At previous Olympics, a medal ceremony was only held for a men's event. But beginning last summer in Tokyo, medals were handed out in a men's and women's event, in an ongoing effort to bring more gender equity to the Games.
Viewers can watch the show via the live stream above, or the live streams below, which will present the closing ceremony in your choice of described video, American Sign Language or Eastern Cree.
WATCH | Beijing 2022 closing ceremony in described video:
WATCH | Beijing 2022 closing ceremony in American Sign Language:
