Getty Javelin thrower Kara Winger is the flag bearer for the U.S. in the 2021 Olympics Closing Ceremony
The 2021 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, are coming to a close this weekend with the final competitions and the Closing Ceremony. Here is what you need to know about the date, time, channel, and what viewers can look forward to.
The Closing Ceremony Airs Live Sunday Morning
The Closing Ceremony for the 2021 Summer Olympics airs live from Japan National Stadium on Sunday, August 8 beginning at 7 a.m. Eastern/4 a.m. Pacific on NBC. If you don’t want to get up that early, it will be re-broadcast in primetime starting at 8 p.m. ET/PT Sunday evening. There will also be a live stream available to watch on Peacock TV and the NBC Sports app.
The theme for the Closing Ceremony is “Worlds We Share,” celebrating the “variety of cultures and backgrounds” that came together for the Olympics to “connect through sport,” according to the Olympics website.
The website reads:
The Games have and will provide us with food for thought about diversity and inclusion as we continue on to the Paralympic Games.
Even if we cannot be together, we can share the same moment, and that is something that we will never forget. It is this salient message which we believe will create a Closing Ceremony that will open the door to a brighter future.
We hope that this ceremony may be a moment for each and every one of us to think about what the future holds.
The Events
Kara Winger has been selected to represent @TeamUSA as the flag bearer for the #TokyoOlympics closing ceremony. 🇺🇸
The Closing Ceremony consists of a parade of nations with flagbearers, much like in the Opening Ceremony. The flags will be lowered during the Closing Ceremony. There will also be artistic performances by Japanese artists and speeches from various dignitaries.
There will also be the lowering of the official Olympic flag, which will then be handed over to Paris in a ceremonial passing of the torch to the next host city. Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike will pass the flag to the president of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, who will then hand the flag over to Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris. The artistic performances will also reflect not only the history of Japan but the culture and history of Paris, France because it is the host for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games.
Kara Winger, a javelin thrower who is the co-captain of the U.S. track and field team and a four-time Olympian, will carry the flag for the United States. Upon her selection, she wrote on Twitter, “Overwhelmed. Incredibly grateful to my peers. Humbled beyond belief. All of the emotions.”
After speeches by the presidents of the Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games and the International Olympic Committee, the Closing Ceremony ends with the extinguishing of the Olympic flame.
There are still a few contests left to be decided before the Closing Ceremony, including the gold medal match in women’s basketball, which sees the U.S. take on Japan in what is sure to be a hotly-contested matchup. As of this writing, the medal count stands at the U.S. in the lead for total medals at 108, but China in first place for gold medals with 38 to the United States’ 36.
The 2021 Summer Olympic Games Closing Ceremony airs live Sunday, August 8 at 7 a.m. ET/4 a.m. PT on NBC; it will be rebroadcast in primetime on Sunday night at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.
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Summer Olympics 2021 Closing Ceremony Schedule