The Olympic flag that fluttered over 17 days at the Olympic Stadium in PyeongChang, South Korea, was handed over to Chinese organizers on Sunday for the next Winter Games in Beijing in 2022.
The 23rd Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, some 180 kilometers east of Seoul, came to an official end after a 17-day run in the South Korean alpine town, with the closing ceremony in the Olympic Stadium in PyeongChang. When the Olympic flag is lowered and handed over to the organizers of the next Winter Olympics host city during the closing ceremony, it marks the official completion of the games.
Then the Olympic flag was lowered to the music of the Olympic Anthem, sung by 11-year-old South Korean vocalist Oh Yeon-joon.
PyeongChang Mayor Sim Jae-guk received the Olympic flag and handed it over to International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach, who later passed the flag to Chen Jining, mayor of the 2022 Winter Olympics host city, Beijing.
Chen then waved the Olympic flag as the crowd welcomed the transition of the Winter Olympics from PyeongChang to Beijing.
The Chinese national flag was hoisted as its national anthem was played.
The artistic performance, created by director Zhang Yimou, followed next to celebrate the Olympic flag handover to Beijing.
The eight-minute segment featured 24 actors honoring the past Winter Olympic Games, creating emblem of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and showing welcoming message of Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
PyeongChang was the first of three straight Olympic Games to take place in Asia. Tokyo will host the 2020 Summer Olympics, while Beijing stage the 2022 Winter Olympics.
The Chinese capital city will become the first city in the world to host both the summer and winter editions of the Olympic Games. Beijing hosted the Summer Games in 2008.
(Yonhap)
