Closing Ceremony

Olympics Closing Ceremony Reverberates Themes of 2022 Opening Ceremony

Four key features were seen throughout both the opening and closing ceremonies

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The 2022 Winter Olympics kicked off with an opening ceremony on Feb. 4 that took place in the “Bird’s Nest” -- Beijing National Stadium -- that was first built for the 2008 Summer Games.

The 2022 opening ceremony was a wintery snowflake-themed show that emphasized youth and “ordinary people.” The overarching theme of "one world, one family" permeated throughout the ceremonies from beginning to end.

There were four key features that were seen in the opening ceremony that continued throughout today's closing ceremony:

The two-time Olympic Stadium

Beijing is the first city in the world to host both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games.

As athletes gathered once again in the Bird's Nest, the closing ceremony will celebrate the one-of-a-kind venue -- the only stadium in the world that has hosted the opening and closing ceremonies of the Summer and Olympic Winter Games.

Citizens enter the "Birds Nest" National Stadium to watch the closing ceremony of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games, Feb. 20, 2022 in Beijing, China.
Costfoto/Future Publishing via Getty Images
Citizens enter the "Birds Nest" National Stadium to watch the closing ceremony of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games, Feb. 20, 2022 in Beijing, China.

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The two-time Olympic Director

Chinese film director Zhang Yimou became the world's first director to helm opening and closing ceremonies at two different Olympic games.

Fortunate for Yimou, both Olympics took place in the same city -- Beijing, home of the Summer Olympics in 2008 and the Winter Olympics this year.

The giant "ice" surface

The center stage, which is comprised of 11,600 square meters of HD LED screen, is being utilized in both the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2022 Olympics.

In the closing ceremony, the floor will display visual trails of “the weeping willow” that symbolizes a "bidding farewell."

Richard Heathcote/Getty Images
Flag bearers make their way into the Beijing National Stadium during the 2022 Winter Olympics Closing Ceremony, Feb. 20, 2022 in Beijing.

Ordinary people

The opening and closing ceremonies are often star-studded performances, but Beijing took a different approach in 2022.

One of the themes throughout the 2022 Winter Games was the importance of the celebrating regular people from the surrounding and nearby cities, not international celebrities.

Children bearing snowflakes wave at the audience during the Closing Ceremony at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, Feb. 20, 2022, in Beijing.
Michael Kappeler/picture alliance via Getty Images
Children bearing snowflakes wave at the audience during the Closing Ceremony at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, Feb. 20, 2022, in Beijing.

As regular people with regular jobs, these hometown entertainers took time to rehearse for their performances that would welcome their own family and friends to this year's Games.

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