WINTER OLYMPICS – PYEONGCHANG 2018 – THE CLOSING CEREMONY FIREWORKS

WINTER OLYMPICS – PYEONGCHANG 2018 – THE CLOSING CEREMONY FIREWORKS

Saturday 25th February 2018 saw the Winter Olympic Games 2018 come to a spectacular close.

As someone who has caught most of the sporting attempts of the athletes closely over the last couple of weeks, unlike in times past, when the games were merely a simple interruption to your usual viewing schedule, I have found myself captivated.

The Olympic Games are of course for the participants who are at the pinnacle of their career and in some cases, this will be their last ever Olympic title attempt. There have been some surprises along the way, which is often the case for the games bring out both the very best in some and the anxiety and misfortune of others. The success of the games was fortunately not marred by Political wrangling which was kept well away from the sporting stage this time around.

The Pyeongchang 2018 games were everything we hoped that they would be with the chance to see some of the greatest exponents of winter pursuits taking to the snow and ice on skis, boards, skates and tea trays (aka Skeleton Bobsleigh) as well as the only ice-bound event not to use skates; curling, where they where special shoes which have a slippery surface for one foot and a non-slip on the other.

The closing ceremony was a colourful, poignant and beautifully choreographed affair with a smattering of K-Pop hysteria. The most anticipated act had to be EXO; a boyband (huge number of members) with upwards of 4 million fans, who took centre stage much to the delight of the screaming girls alongside C L who is a musician and a lot like the Korean version of Lady Gaga and finally a 13-year old; Yang Tae-huan, who can play the guitar like a boss! He gave a spectacular performance of a piece from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (winter) to the delight of the crowd. A brilliant musician.

GB won 5 medals in all with a gold from ladies skeleton bob; the fantastic Lizzy Yarnold and 4 bronze medals but as a non-snow country, that was really very accomplished and our most successful medal haul from a Winter Olympic event. Norway came out on the top of the medals table with a staggering 14 gold, 14 silver and 11 bronze medals.

Beijing will host the games in 2022 and will become the only city to ever host both the summer and winter Olympics. After all the entertainment, as the ceremony came to a close, the ceremonial passing of the Olympic flame to the next hosts was delightful as China debuted a pair of luminescent Giant Panda dancing whilst roller skating before taking to the air.

The closing fireworks were, of course, MASSIVE and a bright and colourful close to a brilliant Olympic Games.