Pyeongchang Olympics Come to a Close

The Olympic flame went out in Pyeongchang on Sunday night as the 23rd Winter Olympic Games came to a close.

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The winter sports festival attracted about a million spectators to the venues since it opened on Feb. 9 and ended with a promise to meet again in Beijing in four years.

It was the biggest winter Olympics in history with 2,920 athletes from 92 countries competing for 102 gold medals. Neither gale-force winds nor severe cold prevented them from giving their best.

Korea finished seventh with five gold, eight silver, and four bronze medals. Although it failed to achieve its goal of ending in fourth place, Korea expanded its horizons in winter sports and laid the groundwork for further growth thanks to athletes' stellar performance in the sledding, snowboarding and curling events.

Norway won the most medals for the second time after the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014.

At the closing ceremony, President Moon Jae-in shook hands with guests including Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee, while first lady Kim Jung-sook sat beside U.S. President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka. In the back row sat Kim Yong-chol, the director of North Korea's United Front Department, two seats from Ivanka Trump.

Highlights included the formation of the unified Korean women's ice-hockey team, and the march of South and North Korean athletes under a unification flag during the opening ceremony delivered a powerful message of peace to the whole world, Bach said.

The closing ceremony was a gala show mixing traditional Korean and modern arts, with K-pop boy band EXO and singer CL giving cheerful performances.