Spectacular closing ceremony brings curtains down to 2016 Rio Olympics

Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Aug.22 (ANI): The Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro on Sunday dropped curtains on the Olympics Games in a spectacular carnival-inspired fashion after hosting the world's elite athletes, who competed for 306 medals over the past 19 days. The closing ceremony, which lasted for about three hours, began with a similar kind of a countdown that took place in the opening ceremony, followed by cave-paintings display on Maracana Stadium's floor. The vibrant ceremony also saw Tokyo's impressive showcase and a carnival parade before they were given an official handover to host 2020 Olympic Games. One of the biggest highlights of Rio Olympics' last night was Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe dressing like video game character Super Mario and coming out from a huge green pipe in the stadium. The ceremony then featured the parade of athletes and a dramatic extinguishing of the Olympic flame. As far as medal toppers are concerned, USA dominated the medal table with a tally of 119 (44 gold, 37 silver, 38 bronze) followed by Great Britain (27 gold, 22 silver, 17 bronze) and China (26 gold, 18 silver, 26 bronze) at second and third spot, respectively. Meanwhile, India, which had sent its largest-ever contingent of 119 athletes in the Rio Olympics, made a disappointing 67th-place finish, having ended the campaign with a paltry medal haul of two (a silver and a bronze). The 2016 Rio Olympics featured a total of 207 nations, including Kosovo and South Sudan who made their debut to the Summer Games. (ANI)