The two Koreas marched behind their own flags and Russia looked forward to a quick end to its ban over mass doping as the curtain fell on the engrossing Pyeongchang Winter Olympics on Sunday. At a colourful and cold closing ceremony, Ivanka Trump sat near a blacklisted North Korean general…
The two Koreas marched behind their own flags and Russia looked forward to a quick end to its ban over mass doping as the curtain fell on the engrossing Pyeongchang Winter Olympics on Sunday.
At a colourful and cold closing ceremony, Ivanka Trump sat near a blacklisted North Korean general but unlike at the Games’ opening, the North and South Korean athletes entered separately, waving their national flags.
Russia’s flag was absent after the International Olympic Committee voted to extend its ban over doping — but Russian officials said they expected to return to the fold within days.
U. S. President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka was just a few seats away from North Korea’s Kim Yong Chol, who is accused of masterminding attacks on South Korea and is blacklisted by Seoul.
As the ceremony got underway, South Korea’s presidential Blue House relayed that Chol’s delegation had said North Korea was « very willing » to hold talks with America.
It was the latest conciliatory move by North Korea during the Games, where Kim Jong Un’s sister attended the opening ceremony and the two Koreas formed their first joint Olympic team, in women’s ice hockey.
After a successful drone display — following an aborted attempt at the opening ceremony, where recorded images were broadcast instead — International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach handed out medals from the final day.
Topless Tongan cross-country skier Pita Taufatofua made a cameo appearance, greased in his trademark coconut oil, before Bach declared the Games — one of the coldest on record — closed.
