The director of the organizing committee, Oh Jang-hwan, stated the event will have a "festival atmosphere to recognize and celebrate the athletes' hard work and achievements at the games." Combining
music,
dance and
art, the ceremony tells the story of "The Next Wave," while emphasizing the "human spirit of perseverance."[3]
The
flag bearers of 92
National Olympic Committees arrived into the stadium. The flag bearers from each participating country entered the stadium informally in single file, ordered by ganada order of the Korean alphabet, and behind them marched all the athletes. Marching alongside the athletes were
Soohorang, the Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic mascot, and
Hodori, mascot of the
1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.[6][7]
First, the Greek flag was raised while its anthem played. The Olympic flag was then lowered and passed by the mayor of Pyeongchang County, Shiim Jae-kook, to IOC President
Thomas Bach, who then handed it over to the mayor of Beijing,
Chen Jining. This was then followed by the raising of the
flag of China, and the playing of its anthem.[2] The flag was raised again in
Tokyo,
Japan for the
2020 Summer Olympics on 23 July 2021 for the
opening ceremony.[a]
See You in Beijing 2022
Beijing, the host city of the
2022 Winter Olympic Games, presented a special performance See You in Beijing in 2022 directed by Chinese film director
Zhang Yimou, who also presented the
2008 Summer Olympics opening and
closing ceremonies. The presentation featured a modern image of China with two
pandas skating and people forming red lines that became a
dragon, as pandas and dragons are national icons for China. The skaters also trail lines to form the emblem of the Games.
China's
Paramount leaderXi Jinping made a cameo appearance by video expressing the welcome message on behalf of the
Chinese people.[1]
Games declared closed
IOC President Thomas Bach formally closed the games, calling them 'The Games of New Horizons'. Soon after, the cauldron was extinguished.[11]
^The opening ceremony of the 2020 Summer Olympics was originally to start on 24 July 2020, but it would be postponed to 2021 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic.