Special Event: Rio Olympics 2016 - closing ceremony

August 21, 2016 4:13 PM

That's a wrap!
posted by cortex (65 comments total)

Going well so far. The singers making the stars on the flag was cool, and the christ statue thing they did was amazing.
posted by marienbad at 4:18 PM on August 21, 2016

Where are you watching it? It's not on NBC yet.
posted by AFABulous at 4:19 PM on August 21, 2016

BBC. I am in the UK.
posted by marienbad at 4:19 PM on August 21, 2016

The sound hasn't been great on CBC, thus far. It is a bit hard to hear the singers.

Saw Penny Oleksiak carry our flag though. Yay, Penny!
posted by jacquilynne at 4:28 PM on August 21, 2016

Mr Cortex sent me here!
posted by Wordshore at 4:31 PM on August 21, 2016

I always like the fact that the atheletes just all come in together for the closing ceremonies.
posted by nubs at 4:31 PM on August 21, 2016

I honestly wish the closing ceremony could start with the athletes already in the stadium. Watching everyone enter (after seeing them already at the opening ceremony) is not particularly good television.

The audio is terrible on the BBC feed too.
posted by zachlipton at 4:34 PM on August 21, 2016 [1 favorite]

I am liking the riot of different colours in this ceremony.
posted by Wordshore at 4:35 PM on August 21, 2016

It was hard to see the dancers through all the rain on the camera lens there. But the dancing is great.
posted by zachlipton at 4:38 PM on August 21, 2016

Rio's weather is charmingly close to Manchester's this evening!
posted by threetwentytwo at 4:41 PM on August 21, 2016

Next time, they should give out medals for fastest entry into the stadium and see how fast they can get them packed in.
posted by jacquilynne at 4:50 PM on August 21, 2016

If they had another parade of nations, we'd be here until 3 in the morning.
posted by Melismata at 4:55 PM on August 21, 2016

Spoiler: there's a lot of empty seats. Again.
posted by marienbad at 5:00 PM on August 21, 2016

I've actually always thought they should send all the athletes in by sport at the closing ceremonies. If nothing else, it would mean the tiny gymnasts actually got to see something without having to sit on someone else.
posted by jacquilynne at 5:04 PM on August 21, 2016 [3 favorites]

This is ... okay. I guess. But dimly remembering how awful the London 2012 closing ceremony seemed e.g. parade of supermodels. Guess am not a fan of Olympic closing ceremonies.
posted by Wordshore at 5:05 PM on August 21, 2016

The one advantage of a closing ceremony for any event not being in the UK is that there is not the utterly predictable wheeling out of Paul McCartney to play Hey Jude on a piano. Never again. Please.
posted by Wordshore at 5:09 PM on August 21, 2016 [4 favorites]

The athlete from Tonga must be cold standing out there in the rain with no shirt.
posted by zachlipton at 5:10 PM on August 21, 2016

Oh, thank god, we've moved on to something else.

Dance choreography inspired by the patterns used by indigenous weavers, no less. Because in the Olympic ceremonies, everything must be symbolic of at least 12 things at once.
posted by jacquilynne at 5:13 PM on August 21, 2016 [1 favorite]

The athlete from Tonga must be cold standing out there in the rain with no shirt

I imagine that there are many volunteers to help him stay warm!
posted by TwoStride at 5:18 PM on August 21, 2016 [3 favorites]

Are they dancing on a giant slab of cheese?
posted by Wordshore at 5:21 PM on August 21, 2016

If they are, we know where they got it from...
posted by marienbad at 5:23 PM on August 21, 2016 [3 favorites]

So far, this kind of feels like an assorted collection of stuff that didn't fit in the opening ceremony rather than a coherent narrative.
posted by zachlipton at 5:24 PM on August 21, 2016 [4 favorites]

Some background on marathon silver medalist Feyisa Lilesa and why he says he was making an X over his head as he crossed the finish line:

“If I go back to Ethiopia, the government will kill me,” Lilesa added. “If not, they will charge me. After that, if they not charge, they will block in the airport in immigration. I want to move to another country and try to go to another country.”

posted by zachlipton at 5:33 PM on August 21, 2016 [4 favorites]

I wonder if it sounds as bad there as it does on the audio feed? Probably not as the commentators haven't said anything about it, as far as I remember.
posted by marienbad at 5:42 PM on August 21, 2016

Umm, how the fuck do you elect to the Athletes Commission an athlete who was banned from competing in the Olympics because her entire program was doped up the wazoo?

I mean, I know there's no evidence that Isinbayeva was doping herself, but WTF?
posted by jacquilynne at 5:45 PM on August 21, 2016

Isn't it dangerous to play that keyboard in the rain?
posted by Melismata at 5:46 PM on August 21, 2016 [1 favorite]

Who were the other athletes onstage with the Tongan flag bearer? Useless NBC commentators didn't tell us (Mary Carillo has been pretty good about that stuff so far but missed this one).
posted by everybody had matching towels at 5:50 PM on August 21, 2016

Ok an hour and a half in and this is the first thing that's actually fun. That was great.
posted by zachlipton at 5:54 PM on August 21, 2016

The Prime Minister of Japan, making the best entrance to an Olympic stadium since the Queen jumped out of a helicopter in 2012.
posted by Wordshore at 5:55 PM on August 21, 2016 [7 favorites]

Yeah that was well cool.
posted by marienbad at 5:56 PM on August 21, 2016

Is it just me or has there been too little Carillo on this year's Olympics and way too much Seacrest?

It's not even like he's Al Trautwig-levels of annoying, but he's ... dull and NBC keeps trying to push him as their next ... something Costas? Seth Meyer's replacement?
posted by julen at 5:56 PM on August 21, 2016 [2 favorites]

They appear to be having some difficulty removing the Mario warp pipe from the stage.
posted by zachlipton at 6:02 PM on August 21, 2016

They appear to be having some difficulty removing the Mario warp pipe from the stage.

Well, there is several thousand miles of it attached below the stage...
posted by Wordshore at 6:05 PM on August 21, 2016 [5 favorites]

The head of the organizing committee just announced that Brazilians are all eunuchs.

It's probably a good idea for someone to check these multi-lingual speeches for pronunciation.
posted by jacquilynne at 6:07 PM on August 21, 2016

Can he really read that script in this wind?
posted by Wordshore at 6:09 PM on August 21, 2016 [1 favorite]

The bobbin lace tribute was awesome, textile history ftw! Although the projected pattern on the floor was clearly not bobbin lace, which isn't radially symmetrical; it looked tatted. But STILL COOL, with bonus lace nitpicking. And it grew just like a doily does when you make it, so thumbs up, choreographer who knows a lot about lace!
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:09 PM on August 21, 2016 [2 favorites]

He's trying.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 6:09 PM on August 21, 2016

I meant to say...

Can he really read that script in this wind?

He's trying.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 6:12 PM on August 21, 2016

Video clip on twitter of that entrance by the Prime Minister of Japan.
posted by Wordshore at 6:16 PM on August 21, 2016 [1 favorite]

At no point in this ceremony has Thomas Bach managed to smile or otherwise show any indication that he's pleased to be here instead of whatever he normally does, which I presume involves trying hard to ensure he is never put in a place where he could be reminded that he presides over one of the most corrupt organizations in the world.
posted by zachlipton at 6:16 PM on August 21, 2016 [3 favorites]

It hasn't quite got the energy of the opening ceremony.
posted by marienbad at 6:21 PM on August 21, 2016

Dancing shrubbery and bacteria scale models?
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 6:35 PM on August 21, 2016 [1 favorite]

The Canadian hosts just compared the Carnaval parade of destaques to a Victoria's Secret fashion show. Where exactly do they think the Victoria's Secret people have been stealing that shit from?
posted by jacquilynne at 6:38 PM on August 21, 2016 [5 favorites]

It looks like the float has broke down and is being pushed.

Edit: okay they are flowers on the back, its not people stood behind it
posted by marienbad at 6:39 PM on August 21, 2016

Well, that's that. It's been a pleasure Olympicing with you all.
posted by zachlipton at 6:46 PM on August 21, 2016

Why don't the performers look like they're getting wet? I would look like a drowned rat in that storm.
posted by AFABulous at 6:55 PM on August 21, 2016

I'm kind of sad it's over.
posted by PearlRose at 6:57 PM on August 21, 2016 [6 favorites]

I'm far from being an Olympic cynic, depite the graft, corruption, doping and all. I truly enjoy watching them, and despite the corruption and crass commercialism, there are people who bust their asses to get there for little or no glory, despite sacrificing years to train for it. If you finish in the top 10 of the marathon or shot put or anything else? That's pretty goddamn good.

But a truly honest closing statement would have been:

"Now, the Rio 2016 organizing committee will turn its attention to royally screwing over the Paralympics, and the athletes who have trained and sacrificed to come here, because the organizing committee managed to kick the can just far enough down the road to pull off the Olympics by the skin of their teeth."
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 7:40 PM on August 21, 2016 [1 favorite]

I loved the Tokyo presentation. You were expecting, what, kimonos, samurai, pagodas, tea ceremonies? Unh-uh. Here's The Matrix + Anime + Nintendo, set to a mid-century jazz score.
posted by dnash at 7:52 PM on August 21, 2016 [11 favorites]

I was pleased that the BBC commentators, wrapping up their discussion of the Games, discussed the dire situation with the Paralympics and the chronic under-funding of WADA and pretty bluntly said that the IOC and rich nations have to step up and fix this.
posted by zachlipton at 7:52 PM on August 21, 2016 [3 favorites]

A good reminder that so much of the culture of the world's fifth-largest nation (by area and population) is unfamiliar to us: I ought to know more about Brazil than I do, and I'm spurred on to learn more. And I think Tokyo made it clear that it's treating 2020 as the future, which may also be a nod to the redevelopment around the venues.

Tough job tonight, though, for the ground level camera crew and for the directors up in the control room: the weather clearly made it hard to follow through with some close-up shots that were clearly set up in rehearsal. I'd have loved to have seen it as originally choreographed because there was a lot of detail in those sequences.

I wonder if it sounds as bad there as it does on the audio feed?

The BBC had a commentary-free feed where the audio was pulled straight from the sound board and it was pretty damn good. For some reason, all the national broadcasters seemed stuck with a sound mix where their own commentary had the main channel and the stadium sounded like it you were listening from outside. Ideally, you'd merge the two for the archives, but how many people re-watch an Olympic closing ceremony?

(I have friends who participated in the 2012 opening and closing ceremonies and they said that the sound setup within the stadium was incredible.)

zachlipton: As I've said on the big combined thread, the BBC always seems to have more leeway for candid conversations when they're happening in the small hours back home, which has been quite common over the past few decades. London 2012 had its moments -- public broadcasters with no commercials can have longer conversations -- but it was also on home territory in prime-time, so it was a little more guarded.
posted by holgate at 9:15 PM on August 21, 2016 [1 favorite]

Wait, they just turned the prime minister of Japan into Mario?!
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:27 PM on August 21, 2016 [5 favorites]

Oh my god I have to go to the Olympics in Tokyo now.
posted by rhizome at 9:28 PM on August 21, 2016 [1 favorite]

Yeah, that was an awesome preview.
I'm still wondering why the closing party has people dressed like grass and broccoli? Them acting out a flower/star combo was gorgeous though.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:51 PM on August 21, 2016

The announcers here said it was a tribute to Brazilian landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx.
posted by rhizome at 9:59 PM on August 21, 2016 [1 favorite]

Yeah you could tell there were places where the director was basically calling shots based on what cameras weren't drenched at the moment and it presumably wasn't what they had planned, but the show went on.
posted by zachlipton at 10:05 PM on August 21, 2016

The cameras are totally burning out on color saturation, it must look amazing in person.
posted by rhizome at 10:18 PM on August 21, 2016

Oh please let (from the preview) this be the mascot for Tokyo2020. Am already costing and budgeting attending.
posted by Wordshore at 4:41 AM on August 22, 2016 [1 favorite]

It was hard to see the dancers through all the rain on the camera lens there. But the dancing is great.

I did not watch much but was disdainful of the artsy fuzzy graphic overlay by NBC. I guess it's ok since it was rain on the camera lens.
posted by sammyo at 5:27 AM on August 22, 2016

Unrelated: I love how the bio on Wordshore's twitter says, "all my cheese is legal cheese."

I am also sad now it is over and wish I had watched more of it than I managed, but still, saw some amazing performances and amazing competition.

zachlipton: I know what you mean - with all the governments talk of cutting the beeb's funding, at the end Claire Balding said, "The BBC broadcast 3000 hours of footage and it took a lot of people to make that happen, so you'll see a long list of names in this ending..." Which I took as a slight dig at the government - sorta "When you take away our funding we won't be able to do this." And you can only imagine the howls of outrage there would be from some quarters if this happened, and not just the normal people, the rich and powerful who like to watch the Olympics as well, but can't get there in person. Be careful what you wish for, Tory government....
posted by marienbad at 7:51 AM on August 22, 2016

Does anyone know what the music was during the lace segment? It was nice.
posted by phunniemee at 1:27 PM on August 22, 2016

r/olympics has this partially labeled list of songs from the closing ceremony, which may be helpful in finding it.
posted by everybody had matching towels at 1:45 PM on August 22, 2016 [3 favorites]

I am also sad now it is over and wish I had watched more of it than I managed

It'll all be on the iPlayer for a little while, I think, though again it's weird trying to watch it after the fact.

you can only imagine the howls of outrage there would be from some quarters if this happened, and not just the normal people

The BBC has already lost the rights from 2022 onward to Eurosport as part of a pan-European package that begins on the continent in 2018. This may suck for people used to their national public broadcasters' coverage, though they've sketched out a deal where Eurosport sub-licences back to them.
posted by holgate at 3:18 PM on August 22, 2016

If the Beeber knows what's good for them, they will put effort into doing such a pleasurable job on it to make any NBC-like hinkiness by Eurosport appear as an instant failure.

I'd love to see the Olympics used as more of a global public service and syndicate the raw streams. Furthermore, one of the most/first disappointing things about the Olympics was that I could not go to the Olympic website and buy the national outfits used by the contestants in events. I should be able to buy a Denmark cycling kit, or a Rio street-sweeper's uniform.
posted by rhizome at 4:00 PM on August 22, 2016

Scores of defective Rio Olympic medals fall apart
posted by Etrigan at 12:18 PM on May 21, 2017 [1 favorite]