Rio Olympics 2016: Closing Ceremony Turns Maracana into Street Carnival

The Rio Olympics closed with a spectacular carnival-inspired ceremony, and the official handover to 2020 hosts Tokyo.

The Maracana stadium was turned into a street carnival as the ceremony celebrated Brazil’s art, music and dance.

The colorful ceremony lasted almost three hours.

The highlights included human formations of iconic Rio landmarks Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf Mountain.

The Olympic flame was extinguished by a rain shower, which then gave life to a large tree sculpture to symbolize rebirth.

The ceremony featured the symbolic handover of the Olympic flag. Rio mayor Eduardo Paes returned it to IOC President Thomas Bach, before it was passed to Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike.

IOC President Thomas Bach officially closed the Games of the 31st Olympiad after 16 days of competition, featuring 11,303 athletes from 206 nations and a refugee team.

One of the biggest cheers of the night came when Japan’s PM Shinzo Abe appeared dressed as computer game character Super Mario, rising out of a huge green pipe in the stadium.

The closing ceremony, watched by billions around the world, featured the parade of athletes and concluded with a confetti and firework show.