Tokyo Olympics LIVE: Games brought to an end in closing ceremony as Paris 2024 welcomes handover
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Your support makes all the difference.As the Tokyo Olympics comes to an end, the 16th and final day of the Games has not been without its drama. With two late golds, Team GB have now equalled their medal tally of 65 from the home Games of London 2012, and the USA have overtaken China at the top of the table.
Cyclist Jason Kenny won Team GB’s first gold of the day with an extraordinary performance in the keirin final. He started at the front and saw a gap, tearing away with more than three laps to go – and the chasing pack simply couldn’t keep up. It makes him the most decorated Briton in Olympic history, with an unmatched seven gold medals.
Hopes were also high for Laura Kenny, who was looking to wrap up her Games with a second gold in Tokyo in the women’s omnium. The reigning champion was initially leading the race before she suffered an early blow after being involved in a huge crash in the opening scratch race. She was able to ride on but unable to climb back up the leaderboard, with Team USA’s Jennifer Valente eventually claiming gold.
In the boxing, Lauren Price has also taken gold for Team GB in her women’s middleweight final against China’s Li Qian at the Kokugikan Arena. It denies China the opportunity to match Team USA on 39 golds – with the Americans winning both the women’s basketball and volleyball today.
Earlier, Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge won the final athletics event of Tokyo 2020 with a commanding performance in the men’s marathon in Sapporo, winning his second straight gold medal after the Rio marathon and cementing his place among the all-time greats of the sport.
Follow all the latest news, results and medals below.
Tokyo 2020: Closing ceremony underway at Olympic Stadium
Thomas Bach continues: “No one has ever organised a postponed Olympics before - and you did so in unprecedented times. Thank you to the organising committee.
“Thank you too to the National Olympic Committees and the international federations. We did this together.
“And now I have to mark the end of this most challenging Olympic journey. I declare the Games of the 32nd Olympiad closed!”
Tokyo 2020: Closing ceremony underway at Olympic Stadium
Thomas Bach, president of the IOC: “You, the athletes, inspired us with the unifying power of sport. This is all the more remarkable in the most testing of times, during a pandemic.
“For the first time since the pandemic began, the world came together. Millions of people across the world were brought together by emotion. This gives us hope for the future.
“But your achievements would not have been possible without our hosts. You, the Japanese people, can be extremely proud of what you have achieved. Thank you Tokyo, thank you Japan.”
Bach says Tokyo 2020 have been the Games of solidarity, peace and hope.
Tokyo 2020: Closing ceremony underway at Olympic Stadium
It’s time for the closing speeches.
Seiko Hashimoto: “Tonight the curtain falls on a Games of excitement and inspiration, provided by the athletes.
“These Games took place in the midst of a pandemic, and I would like to express my gratitude to the medical services, everyone who has contributed to the Games and our hosts, the people of Japan.”
Tokyo 2020: Closing ceremony underway at Olympic Stadium
It’s a party atmosphere in Paris as the city welcomes the Olympic Games. Tokyo athletes such as judo gold medallist Teddy Riner are in attendance at the handover event underneath the Eiffel Tower.
There is then a spectacular display as fighter jets paint the sky red, white and blue.
Tokyo 2020: Closing ceremony underway at Olympic Stadium
La Marseillaise greets the handover of the Olympic Games, and there’s a special saxophone solo from astronaut Thomas Pesquet on the International Space Station.
Tokyo 2020: Closing ceremony underway at Olympic Stadium
Yuriko Koike passes the Olympic flag to Thomas Bach, who hands it over to Anne Hidalgo.
And there it is! The Olympic Games has been passed on to Paris.
Tokyo 2020: Closing ceremony underway at Olympic Stadium
It’s time for the official Olympic flag handover now. The flag will be lowered from its place in the Olympic Stadium and handed over to the mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo.
Mayor of Tokyo Yuriko Koike, and IOC president Thomas Bach are also on stage.
Team GB’s ‘trailblazers’ produce ‘miracle of Tokyo’ with 65 medals and zero Covid cases
Team GB returned no positive Covid cases and matched their London 2012 medal tally in Tokyo in what officials rightly labelled ‘the greatest achievement in British Olympic history.’
It sits above staging a home Games three years after World War II, resisting government calls to boycott Moscow 1980 and delivering medals from millions of public pounds in 2012.
There is no Tokyo medal table equivalent for Covid tests but Team GB would be top, administering 20,000 tests in 40 days in Japan with not one single confirmed positive.
“It’s been against all odds and it’s been the miracle of Tokyo,” said Chef de Mission Mark England.
Tom Harle files his last report from Tokyo:
Team GB’s ‘trailblazers’ produce ‘miracle of Tokyo’ with 65 medals and zero Covid cases
A stunning summer of achievements for the entire travelling party of Great Britain’s Olympic team
Tokyo 2020: Closing ceremony underway at Olympic Stadium
We’re now embarking on a virtual tour of Japan, with videos of displays from different parts of the country.
These moments of celebration for Japan will be their last as hosts of the Olympics before it is passed onto Paris.
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