The closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics celebrates athletes, 1 Italian art in an ancient Roman amphitheater

I The Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina ended on Sunday with the closing ceremony inside the Verona Arena, an ancient Roman amphitheater that sits almost halfway between the distant mountains, valleys and cityscapes that have made the winter games the most widespread in Olympic history.

The 2½-hour event celebrated Italian music and dance, both classical and modern, headlined by world-renowned ballet dancer Roberto Bolle and renowned Italian singer Achille Lauro and DJ Gabry Ponte.

Some 1,500 Olympians, a little more than half of those who competed in the Games, entered the first-century monument to gladiator fights and hunting exotic animals.

They came en masse behind flag bearers from 92 participating countries, including biathlete Lisa Vittozzi and sprinter David Ghiotto representing Italy, as well as a hockey player. Hilary Knight and a snow dancer Evan Bates of the United States – all gold medalists.

The United States took over the greatest of all The best Winter Olympics team ever 2026 Milano Cortina Games232 the players competition, and broke Team USA’s record for most gold medals in a single Winter Games. The US was one of only two countries to compete in all 16 sports, along with host Italy, according to the US Olympic & Paralympic Committee.

“These games showcased the best of Team USA: resilience, unity and the pursuit of excellence,” USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland said in a statement. “Our athletes delivered a truly historic performance, earning a Team USA-record 12 gold medals and creating moments that will inspire the next generation … That momentum now drives us forward as we look forward to Los Angeles in 2028, where we are excited to build on this legacy and welcome the world to our home soil.”

About 12,000 spectators joined the athletes and officials in the closing ceremony. It was more intimate than the opening ceremony, which featured Mariah Carey and Andrea Bocelli inside Milan’s San Siro football stadium, which was attended by more than 60,000 people.

The event celebrated the Italian lyric opera, which has been recognized by the UN cultural organization UNESCO as a world heritage, but also pays tribute to the Italian classics of the time. Both opera and dance are at home in the stone amphitheater, which each summer hosts a famous opera festival with lavish productions and a gala dance performance entitled Roberto Bolle and Friends.

Part of the ceremony included a sad remembrance of the athletes who died, although the memorial, complete with a picture of a butterfly, did not identify any athletes.

Ahead of the 2026 Winter Games, the International Olympic Committee kept Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych out of the competition after refusing a last-minute request from the IOC not to use a helmet. he honors the athletes killed in the Russian war in his country. The helmet is against the rules for making political statements in the Olympic stadium, according to the IOC.

“No one, especially me, disagrees with the messages, the powerful message, the message of remembrance, of memory,” IOC President Kirsty Coventry. he told reporters at the time, according to Reuters news agency. The challenge was to find a solution on the playing field.”

This was the first Games for Coventry, a two-time Olympic swimming champion, who presided over the event along with Italian Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni.

One of the key moments of the event is when the Olympic flag is handed over to the next country to host the Winter Games, France, and its flag is raised alongside those of Italy and Greece.

The Milan Cortina Games covered an area of 8,500 square kilometers, from skiing in Milan to biathlon in Anterselva on the Austrian border, snowboarding and men’s downhill in Valtellina on the Swiss border, skiing in Val di Fiemme north of Verona and women’s downhill, curling and skating Cor-Ampetinazod sports in co-Ampetinazod.

It is a model that will remain in future Games, to avoid the cost of building new structures. The 2030 Winter Games in the French Alps will host events in the Alps and Nice, on the Mediterranean Sea, while speedskating will be held abroad at a location to be decided.

The closing ceremony ended with the Olympic flame being extinguished in two never-before-seen cauldrons in Milan and Cortina, which will be watched via video link. A small parade will take the place of fireworks, which are not allowed in Verona, to protect the animals from being disturbed.

There have been 116 medal events held across eight Olympic sports in 16 disciplines, including the start of ski mountaineering this year, over 17 days of competition.

Winter Olympics

The opening ceremony of the Milan Cortina Paralympics will take place again at the Verona Arena, on March 6, and the games will continue until March 15.