Italy throws farewell party, passes Olympic torch to France - ESPN

VERONA, Italy — The Milan Cortina Olympics ended Sunday with a closing ceremony paying tribute to Italian dance and music inside the ancient Verona Arena, roughly midway between the far-flung mountain, valley and city venues that made these the most spread-out Winter Games in Olympic history.

Some 1,500 Olympians filed into the arena waving small national flags to a rousing medley of Italian pop hits from the 20th century as the crowd sang along, taking their seats in the stone arena in places marked by green, red and white lights for the Italian flag.

As the twin Olympic cauldrons in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo were extinguished, International Olympic Committee president Kirsty Coventry declared the 2026 Games over.

«You delivered a new kind of Winter Games, and you set a new, very high standard for the future,» Coventry said.

A total of 116 medal events have been held in eight Olympic sports across 16 disciplines, including the debut of ski mountaineering this year, over the course of 17 days of competition.

The 2½-hour ceremony opened with a whimsical tribute to Italian lyric opera, with the stage director rousing not only the closing ceremony cast, including Italian singer Achille Lauro, but also long-dormant opera characters tucked away in crates within the amphitheater's tunnels.

On stage, Madama Butterfly in a bright pink and green costume and Aida in golden tiers were unpacked from mirrored crates while 17th century musicians played the joyous "Libiamo ne' lieti calici" from "La Traviata," a nod to the arena's long history as the venue for a summer opera festival.

The opera characters, led by the jester Rigoletto, spilled out into the piazza outside, mixing with the bemused athletes who were flag-bearers for