Winter Olympics day 16: GB win women’s curling gold before closing ceremony – as it happened

The closing ceremony gets underway. Photograph: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images

2.08pm GMT

With that, I will bid you, and Beijing 2022, farewell. I want to thank Sean Ingle and Bryan Armen Graham who have done such an amazing job of reporting from the ground in Beijing in very difficult circumstances in the “closed loop”.

And I want to thank a myriad of colleagues, many of whose names you don’t see – picture editors, sub editors, production staff, interactive developers, technical staff – who make it all possible for us to cover the Games behind the scenes.

And I want to thank you for reading it all. It is a real honour to be able to cover sporting events like this, and I’ve had such lovely emails from people over the last couple of weeks, so thank you very much.

A scene from the closing ceremony. Photograph: Jeff Roberson/AP

I love the Olympic ideal, but to me it said everything about this edition that of the two medal ceremonies that took place during the closing ceremony, one featured an athlete who has previously missed an Olympics serving a doping ban, and one featured a country whose national anthem is banned due to systematic doping, who appear to have paid no heed to that and gone on to have an athlete involved in the biggest and most unsettling Olympic doping scandal for years.

And the president of the IOC chose to say absolutely nothing in his speech about wanting or needing clean competition for the Olympics to remain credible.

Quentin Fillon Maillet of France in action. Photograph: Michel Cottin/Agence Zoom/Getty Images

All that feels like it has totally overshadowed what has been two weeks of – mostly – fantastic competition and huge sporting achievements. There have been some incredible multi-medal performances from the likes of Johannes Thingnes Bø, Quentin Fillon Maillet, Marte Olsbu Roeiseland, Irene Schouten and Suzanne Schulting, as well as break-out stars like Eileen Gu. Ah well, until Milano Cortina in 2026 I guess.

Eileen Gu, one of the stars of the Games. Photograph: YUTAKA/AFLO SPORT/REX/Shutterstock

Before that the Paralympics start in Beijing with their opening ceremony on Friday 4 March, and you’ll be able to find coverage on our website. Until then take care and stay safe.

1.57pm GMT

Team GB only had one set of gold medallists in the end from Beijing – and here they are in their own words, Eve Muirhead saying they “did it the tough way.”