The Olympic flag has been officially passed to France, which will host the next Winter Games in 2030 in the French Alps. Some 1,500 athletes filed into the arena for the closing ceremony that paid tribute to Italian dance and music
The Milan-Cortina Olympics drew to a close on Sunday with a two-hour ceremony at the ancient Verona Arena, roughly midway between the co-host cities of Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo
Organisers passed the Olympic flag to representatives of the French Alps, which will follow the same spread-out model as Milan-Cortina.
Events will be held in the Alps as well as in Nice, on the Mediterranean Sea. Long-track speed skating events will be held outside of France, likely in either in Italy or the Netherlands.
International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry said the Milan-Cortina Games had “delivered a new kind of Winter Games” which had set “a new, very high standard for the future”.
Over 17 days of competition, 116 medal events were held across eight sports in 16 disciplines, including the Olympic debut of ski mountaineering.
Norway topped the final medal count with 18 golds and 41 medals overall.
Biathlete Fillon Maillet wins ninth medal to enter French Olympic legend
France won 23 medals – its most successful Winter Olympics yet –thanks to a clean sweep in the biathlon, and despite some disappointments in alpine skiing and in freestyle skiing and snowboarding.
“We achieved our goal,” Sports Minister Marina Ferrari said on Saturday on French public television.
The objective had been to win 50 percent more medals than in Beijing, where the French delegation won 14. While that goal was achieved, France fell short of breaking into the top five of the medal table, edged out of fifth place by Germany, which won the same number of gold medals, but more silver and bronze.
