Closing Ceremony of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2014

Host nation Russia finished on top of the medal table as the 22nd Winter Olympics came to a close in Sochi on Sunday Feb 23,2014 after 17 days of competition. 

2014 Winter Olympics Medal Table

Rank	NOC	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Russia (RUS)*	13	11	9	33
2	Norway (NOR)	11	5	10	26
3	Canada (CAN)	10	10	5	25
4	United States (USA)	9	7	12	28
5	Netherlands (NED)	8	7	9	24
6	Germany (GER)	8	6	5	19
7	Switzerland (SUI)	6	3	2	11
8	Belarus (BLR)	5	0	1	6
9	Austria (AUT)	4	8	5	17
10	France (FRA)	4	4	7	15
11	Poland (POL)	4	1	1	6
12	China (CHN)	3	4	2	9
13	South Korea (KOR)	3	3	2	8
14	Sweden (SWE)	2	7	6	15
15	Czech Republic (CZE)	2	4	2	8
16	Slovenia (SLO)	2	2	4	8
17	Japan (JPN)	1	4	3	8
18	Finland (FIN)	1	3	1	5
19	Great Britain (GBR)	1	1	2	4
20	Ukraine (UKR)	1	0	1	2
21	Slovakia (SVK)	1	0	0	1
22	Italy (ITA)	0	2	6	8
23	Latvia (LAT)	0	2	2	4
24	Australia (AUS)	0	2	1	3
25	Croatia (CRO)	0	1	0	1
26	Kazakhstan (KAZ)	0	0	1	1
Total (26 NOCs)		99	97	99	295

IOC president Thomas Bach officially closed the Games during an extravagant 130-minute ceremony.

The 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games cost £30bn, making Sochi the most expensive Olympics ever, and featured a record 2,800 athletes from 88 countries, with 12 new events added to attract young audiences

Konstantin Ernst, creative director of the Sochi Olympics' opening and closing ceremonies, has promised that the closing event, scheduled for Feb. 23, 2014 will "objectively portray" Russian culture and be a low-key "art house" production, compared with the glitzy opening ceremony two weeks before.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach at the start of the Closing Ceremony of the Sochi Winter Olympics

The athletes flooded into the stadium after the national flags and the medal ceremonies were held for the women's 30km and men's 50km cross country skiing events -- the latter of which resulted in a podium sweep for Russia

Athletes parade into the stadium during the Closing Ceremony of the Sochi Winter Olympics at the Fisht Olympic Stadium on February 23, 2014

Russian flag carried to the Fisht stadium as part of the closing ceremony

Fireworks explode around the Fisht Olympic Stadium at the end of the Closing Ceremony of the Sochi Winter Olympics

Russia celebrated 17 days of sport-driven global unity tonight with a farewell show that hands off the Winter Games to their next host, Pyeongchang in South Korea

 Poking fun at the mishap at Opening Ceremonies, ceremonies producers delay the opening of the fifth Olympic ring during the closing ceremony for the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games at Fisht Olympic Stadium

"Russia delivered all what it had promised," IOC President Thomas Bach said.

Mayor of Sochi Anatoliy Pakhomov (L) and International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach (C) applaud after handing over the Olympic flag to the Mayor of PyeongChang Lee Seok-rae during the Closing Ceremony of the Sochi Winter Olympics at the Fisht Olympic Stadium on February 23, 2014.

Mayor of PyeongChang Lee Seok-rae waves the Olympic flag after it was handed over from the mayor of Sochi.

Raucous spectators chanted "Ro-ssi-ya! Ro-ssi-ya!" (Russia! Russia!) before being surrounded by multicolored fireworks and carried through a visually stunning, sometimes surrealistic panorama of Russian history and culture.

The crowd was in a party mood after the high-security games passed off safely without feared terror attacks

Dancers in shimmering silver costumes formed themselves into four rings and a clump in the center of the stadium.

That was a wink to a technical glitch in the February 7,2014 opening ceremony, when one of the five Olympic rings in a wintry opening scene failed to open. The rings were supposed to join together and erupt in fireworks.

The closing ceremony, a farewell from Russia with love, pageantry and protocol, started at 20:14 local time; a nod to the year that Putin seized upon to remake Russia's image with the Olympics' power to wow and concentrate global attention and massive resources

In a show themed "Reflections of Russia", a Marc Chagall fantasy world of brides and fiddlers, clowns and acrobats, children and animals came to life in a scene inspired by one of his paintings

Twelve studios then showcased some of the country's most treasured novelists, poets and playwrights at their writing desks -- the likes of Chekhov, Dostoyevsky and Solzhenitsyn.

   

A performance to Russian culture during the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics Closing Ceremony at Fisht Olympic Stadium.

The Russian flag is waved from the stands during Closing Ceremony of the Sochi Winter Olympics at the Fisht Olympic Stadium.

Olympic hostesses wave the flags of participating nations during the Closing Ceremony of the Sochi Winter Olympics at the Fisht Olympic Stadium

Russian pianist Denis Matsuev (center L) performs during the closing ceremony for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, February 23, 2014.

 The Sochi 2014 mascots – the Leopard, the Hare, and the Polar Bear – drifted dreamily into the stadium as a maze of mirrors sprang up around them

 A segment devoted to the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, is performed during the 2014 Winter Olympics Closing Ceremony at Fisht Stadium in Sochi, Russia, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2014

Olympic Games mascots extinguish Olympic flame in a small cauldron in the stadium during the closing ceremony for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, February 23, 2014.

Goodbye to the Sochi Olympics - IOC President Thomas Bach(centre)with Mayor of Sochi Anatoly Pakhomov  and mayor of Pyeongchang Lee Seok-rai