Tokyo Steals The Show In Rio Games Closing Ceremony
Japan’s Prime Minister stole the show at the Rio Games closing ceremony tonight, when he showed up via warp pipe as Super Mario to commemorate Rio passing the torch to Tokyo ahead of the 2020 Summer Games.
NBC’s coverage of the Rio Olympics closing ceremony was a celebration of Brazilian dance, music, and lace making, commercial breaks, American medal counting, and a celebration of NBC’s stubborn clinging to time shifting. The ceremony started at 8 PM local time, which was one hour ahead of 8 PM ET in the United States when NBC began broadcasting the ceremony. So, as with a surprising amount of the competition given the hemisphere in which the Games were played, anyone who got their closing-ceremony news via Twitter or other means was laps ahead of NBC viewers.
After an opening in which people dressed as colorful birds marched around the venue making tableau of various area landmarks:
Can't believe we're here already! 😍😍😍 #Olympics #Rio2016 #ClosingCeremony. pic.twitter.com/HMXx4a18kr
— Olympic Channel (@olympicchannel) August 21, 2016
A choir of 27 children took center stage in the arena for a very Gilbert and Sullivan performance of Brazil’s national anthem. Brazilian music, from the traditional to contemporary, played a big role, including a very Brazilian torch-extinguishing ceremony.
With music mercifully drowning out much of the chatter of NBC on-air talent in the early goings-on of the ceremony, Olympic athletes who had competed for more than two weeks in Rio poured, slo-mo, into the venue. Among those highlights: just over two weeks after Michael Phelps carried the American flag into the Opening Ceremony, leading Team USA into the Parade of Nations, tonight gymnast Simone Biles carried the flag in the Closing Ceremony. Biles, who won five Olympic medals in Rio, is only the second gymnast ever to serve as the U.S. flag bearer, and the first ever female gymnast.
But, truth be told, maybe even more exciting to some on social: Tongan flag bearer Pita Taufatofua was back, looking even more oiled up than in the opening ceremony – no small feat given that it rained during that portion of the closing clambake.
Pita! #TGA One more time! #ClosingCeremony pic.twitter.com/zwdXb4NwRM
— Olympic Channel (@olympicchannel) August 22, 2016
The men’s marathon runners were awarded their medals during the closing ceremony in one of its quieter moments:
The men's marathon medalists received their medals at the #ClosingCeremony. pic.twitter.com/k39K439wC4
— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) August 22, 2016
Crowd-pleasing segments included a dance by red clay dolls and a segment on the tradition of lace-making by slaves:
Now THAT was spectacular! #ClosingCeremony pic.twitter.com/ypIX64zf18
— Marcy Murninghan (@MarcyMurninghan) August 22, 2016
But the buzziest moment of the evening came when animated characters drilled a path for Mario to zip from Tokyo to Marcana Stadium in warp time, to commemorate Tokyo getting the next Summer Games. Mario revealed himself to be Tokyo’s Prime Minister Sinzo Abe, and a Twitter storm erupted.
That was just a glimpse, see you in Tokyo in 2020! #RiotoTokyo pic.twitter.com/JJtVPX5Zis
— Tokyo 2020 (@Tokyo2020) August 22, 2016
This was so cool! #Tokoyo2020 #RiotoTokyo pic.twitter.com/vkj6lKiEjN
— INNA YUH GREEN&GOLD (@lamzyco) August 22, 2016
Prime Minister of Japan enters the #ClosingCeremony through a warp pipe dressed as Mario.#RiotoTokyo pic.twitter.com/JaDkAonaK7
— Good Morning America (@GMA) August 22, 2016
When the Japanese Prime Minister comes dressed as Super Mario, we know #Tokyo2020 is going to be epic!#RiotoTokyo pic.twitter.com/Q5RpnZDRHq
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) August 22, 2016
And this year’s trophy for best of the many, many, many Olympics-themed closing-ceremony ads: HULU’s now-you-can-get-back-to-your-shows spot.
The Rio Games closing ceremony ended musically:
OK, so um yeah, that was actually quite beautiful #ClosingCeremony pic.twitter.com/6J2v6sMlO8
— Dawse (@DawsePaul) August 22, 2016
Brazil’s interim President Michel Temer, famously booed at the opening ceremony, did not attend the event. You know who else stayed home?
Ryan Lochte.
The night before NBC’s broadcast of the closing ceremony, a freshly un-blonded Lochte appeared on the network to tell NBC News’ Matt Lauer that he takes “full responsibility” for “over-exaggerating” his early-morning incident outside a Rio gas station last Sunday. But, when Matt asked Lochte, who’d high-tailed it out of Rio not long after his run-in with a gas station security guard, if, as he originally “over-exaggerated,” he was robbed at gunpoint, or was actually negotiating how to cover the cost of vandalizing the station, Lochte said he did not know. He also insisted he was still “intoxicated” when he gave that interview to NBC’s Billy Bush, claiming he’d been robbed by a guy who put a gun to his head.
NBC showed remarkable restraint during the closing ceremony itself, making no on-air pitch for the remainder of Lauer’s second interview with Lochte, in which Lauer spanked the 32-year-old for having, as NBC News’ Al Roker has described it, lied to Bush, and to Lauer in an earlier interview about the incident.
Related stories
Rio Olympics Closing Ceremony Ratings Lose Almost 50% Of London 2012 Viewers
Ryan Lochte's Potty-gate Interview With Matt Lauer Continues On 'Today'
Olympics Ratings Fall To Rio Low As Ryan Lochte Says Sorry Again
Get more from Deadline.com: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Newsletter