The Tokyo Olympics drew to a close on Sunday, drawing the curtains on an unprecedented Games held in extraordinary circumstances.
Masked athletes marched into a near-empty stadium in Tokyo on Sunday as Japan prepared to close the 16-day event that was delayed and upended by the pandemic.
The Games, held behind closed doors, concluded on an equally sombre note as many of the best-known athletes had already left Tokyo and were not able to attend Sunday's ceremony; participants are supposed to return home 48 hours after their final competition.
The closing ceremony took place with protesters rallying around the National Stadium. Around a hundred protesters carrying signs that read "Olympics kill the poor" and "We don't need the Olympics" gave another reminder of the contentious nature of this Olympic Games. However, they were outnumbered by the crowd that lined the streets.
Even so, fireworks and a montage of the best moments from the Games celebrated the successful hosting of the Olympics, which seemed almost impossible a few months back.
The Tokyo Games were originally intended to show Japan's recovery from a devastating earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis in 2011. After being postponed for a year, organisers said the Games would serve as a symbol of the world's triumph over the pandemic. But without spectators and with Covid-19 variants resurgent, the Games fell short of triumph and the financial windfall Japan had expected.
Watch spectacular fireworks at Tokyo Olympics closing ceremony
