SINGING, dancing and jubilation was on every corner inside the Tokyo Olympic Stadium on Sunday night.

After 16 days of thrilling and touching sport moments, a “special” Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games was brought to a close Sunday, displaying solidarity from the entire Olympic family against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Smiles, tears, sweat and blood were left on the track in athletes’ striving for sporting excellence, while the togetherness showcased by Olympic members towards the pandemic will remain fresh and vivid for a long time.

“The Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 are the Olympic Games of hope, solidarity and peace,” said International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach at the closing ceremony.

“These were unprecedented Olympic Games. It took us, the IOC and our Japanese partners and friends, an equally unprecedented effort to make them happen. We did it together,” he added.

Athletes sweated on their preparations despite the postponement of the Tokyo Olympic Games by one year due to the pandemic. Once stepping into action, they gave all out for Olympic glory as usual.

Olympic golds in 339 events went to 65 countries and regions, and 93 delegations medaled at the Games. The Philippines, Qatar and Bermuda all won the first gold medals in their respective Olympic Games history.

The United States topped the medal table with 39 gold, 41 silver and 33 bronze medals.

Featuring 431 athletes, China tallied 38 golds, 32 silvers and 12 bronzes, equaling its gold count at London 2012 for the best performance competing in an overseas Games.

Chinese Olympians once again dominated in weightlifting, diving and table tennis, missing out on only one gold apiece. Along with shooting, badminton and gymnastics, the six sports combined for 28 gold medals.

Chinese team captain Ma Long, 32, became the most decorated table tennis player in Olympic history with five gold medals.

At 37, men’s 81kg weightlifting gold medalist Lyu Xiaojun broke the record as the oldest Olympic champion in the sport.

“Generation Z” athletes started to come under spotlight, as 14-year-old Quan Hong-chan, the youngest member of the Chinese sports delegation, collected full marks in three out of five dives en route to her triumph in the women’s 10m platform event.

However, the Olympics are not all about winning medals and shattering records, but is also a process of making your dream come true.

Uzbek gymnast Oksana Chusovitina, 46, didn’t earn a spot in the vault final in her eighth Olympic appearance, but she earned thunderous applause in a standing ovation from judges, volunteers, media workers and others.

At 12 years and 204 days, Hend Zaza, from war-torn Syria, became the youngest competitor at Tokyo 2020.

In a difficult time brought on by the pandemic, solidarity is called for by the entire world, and sport is no exception.

Before the Tokyo Olympic Games opened, the IOC unanimously approved adding “together” into the previous Olympic motto of “faster, higher, stronger” at the 138th IOC session, marking the first revision toward the Olympic motto in over 120 years.

Three years later, the Olympic Games will return to Paris, exactly one century after the French capital last played host to the Games.

At Sunday’s closing ceremony, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike handed the Olympic flag to Bach, who in turn entrusted it to Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo.

For the first time ever, the Olympic closing ceremony featured live and spectacular celebrations from the next host city, as the people of Paris and France embrace their role as hosts of the 2024 Olympics.

(Xinhua)