Tokyo: Curtains are down on the sporting mega-event Tokyo Olympics 2020 after weathering Covid -19 pandemic, a tsunami, an earthquake and blistering heat. Total 206 National Olympic Committees took part in the 16-day events in Tokyo.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC)  revealed that the event is inspired by the motto “Worlds We Share,” which represents “the idea that each of us inhabits their own world.” As the Covid-19 infections reached 5,000 this week in the capital Tokyo, no audience is allowed inside the 68,000-person capacity stadium for the event.

According to reports, many athletes have already travelled back to their home countries after the completion of their events. Athletes were required to leave Japan within 48 hours of “the completion of their competition or when they are eliminated (whichever is sooner) due to close to 400 games-related infections. 

Read: Tokyo Olympics: Abhinav Bindra applauds gold medallist Neeraj Chopra

On the last day of the event, the final gold medal of the Tokyo Olympics went to Serbia in the men's water polo champions after defeating Greece 13–10. Earlier, Hungary beat Spain for bronze.

Olympic Games mascot: 

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games mascot is styled with the Ai (indigo blue) Ichimatsu pattern from the Tokyo 2020 Games emblem, a tribute to the respected tradition and modern innovation of Japanese culture. MIRAITOWA has a personality inspired by the Japanese proverb, “learn from the past and develop new ideas”. 

As a gesture of bonhomie, the Tokyo2020 Twitter handle shared star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra's picture before the closing ceremony. This is the first time that India has won seven medals at the Olympics. With 126 athletes, India had sent its biggest-ever contingent to Tokyo Olympics. Read here Team India profile

The Olympic Flag was lowered to the strains of the Olympic Anthem and handed from Governor of Tokyo, KOIKE Yuriko, to IOC President Thomas Bach. The IOC president passed it on to the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, signifying the handover to Paris 2024.

President Bach said, "I declare the Games of the 32nd Olympiad closed. In accordance with tradition, I call upon the youth of the world to assemble in Paris, France, in three years' time to celebrate the Games of the 33rd Olympiad".