After nineteen days of breathtaking competition that featured the world's best athletes, brilliant sporting journalism, over a thousand medals and a grateful, if tired local population, it was now time to close the curtains of the Games of the XV Olympiad. This time the closing ceremony would be held at the Agri Cricket Ground in Agri -- the venue of the athletics competition, and where the finishing line of the marathon was held earlier that day.
A montage of the Olympics' greatest moments were projected on the grounds of the ACG with many iconic moments showcased. Some of the highlights included:
- the men's surfing event where the two previous gold medallists, Summer Conlin from Vilita and Putu Oka Sulaksana from Pemecutan battled it out for gold
- Kostantinos Avgerinou winning the first ever medal for A Kea, in the shooting
- The Banijan royal family generating sell-out crowds at the 3x3 men's basketball
- Estelle Roberts fighting through 7 rounds of competition to win gold in the individual épée
- Quebec and Shingoryeo and the Hannasean Federation winning gold in their respective favourite team events
- A team of spirits competing for the Abovian Union winning a medal in the rowing
- Eline Maats smashing the 1,500m freestyle swimming record on her way to the gold medal
- Brookstation's men's medley swimming team winning the country's sole gold medal at the Games
- Sargossa winning both of the 400m hurdle events
- West Phoenician pair Aimee Hunt and Anck-su-namun Moon's almost perfect technical and free routines netting them a gold in the artistic swimming
- Estella Aguilar from Scornerse winning gold in three different events across different sports
- Foger Rederer surprisingly defeating home-town favourite, multiple grand-slam winner and clay court specialist Andrew Simmons in the gold medal match
- Bollonich getting their handball medal after a frustrating near-miss at the most recent Handball World Cup
- Thessalonika bat Omer salvaging Ioudaian athletics with a victory in the hurdles
- The Licentian Isles and Graintfjall winning most of their medals on the water, from sailing to rowing
- Diarcesia's women's martial arts athletes (Jennifer Exley and Margaret Churchill) defending their Olympic championships
- Dogman getting bronze in the freestyle event, still wearing his costume
- Andrey Lobakov from Waisnor making his country proud at the Greco-Roman wrestling
- The Krytenian dominance at the velodrome
- Lucy Jacobs' perfect laser-run in the modern pentathlon which saw her hit so many targets perfectly that she pulled away and beat Liz Patterson-Flowers and Phumla Goniwe by over 13 seconds
- Pelissa Giannapolous' tearful bronze medal match loss where she officially retired from tennis
- Peter P Larry's medal winning performances in the badminton, after his swap from tennis
- Joe Lighthardt from Hopal just ducking ahead and winning the men's 1500 m by just an eighth of a second
- The team from Nuevas Hesperides dominating in the shooting competitions
- The Polkopian women's swimming team dominating their events
- Dinko Krušić breaking an old record in the men's pole vault, setting a massive height of 6.20m, a record unlikely to be broken any time soon
- Robbie Shields from The Licentian Isles and Renata Blondi from Kalosia winning the gold in the marathon just earlier today
After the five minute presentation, it was now time to welcome all of the athletes who made all of these stories possible. With all of the medal events on the day finishing by 2pm, every athlete had the opportunity to make it to Agri for the closing ceremony. First, the nominated closing ceremony flag bearers were welcomed into the arena with booming applause, with some nations choosing surprise medallists as the flag-bearer. That wasn't the case for Electrum, who had announced dual-gold medallist Dominic Musetti, winning the all-around gymnastics and the rings competition, and race walker gold medallist Jynerve Rice, as the joint flag bearers. Once the flag bearers had made their way into the arena, the rest of the athletes were allowed in. All at once a mass of every possible colour made it into the arena, with athletes no longer separated by nation, but rather, clumping into little friendship groups that they had made over the course of the Olympics.
These athletes were all invited to sit in a special stand of the ACG while the closing ceremony started proper. As with the opening ceremony, there would be four segments, this time focusing on the remaining four host cities that did not provide a performance in the opening ceremony.
Kale Island Secrets
The artistic performance focused on the abundance of Kale Island. Unlike the rest of Electrum, Kale Island boasts tropical weather that allows it to have an abundance of tropical fruit due to the fertile ground from volcanic ash. The dance troupe paid homage to the rainforests and Lake Mittiyack, which was said to be Margaret's drinking spring. Of course, what many people know about Kale Island is its devotion to Margaret, and while beliefs in the God of Randomness have waned in recent decades, she still plays an important role in the traditions of the area.
Fairleigh-Warburton Geometry
Moving on, the performance moved towards an interpretive dance on Fairleigh-Warburton. The twin cities were once drawn up by Lewis Shandley, who had settled the area after travelling south from the newly established Centralis. Instead of the wild jungles of Kale Island, Fairleigh-Warburton is known for its manicured gardens and lawns that encircle the two twin cities. With Fairleigh to the north, and Warburton to the south, the gardens serve as important meeting points, as well as the ideal locations to place the venues of highest importance such as the Tea Tree Garden. The dancers all had large ribbons connecting to each other, and with every movement, their ribbons formed the same patterns as the road grid pattern that was projected on the ACG stadium. Each dancer held electric billboards which, when they came together, created spectacular patterns reminiscent of the F-W geometry.
Industrious Port Grenville
If the previous performances were interpretive, this was anything but. This segment of the ceremony was choreographed to precision, with the dancers celebrating the industrial nature of Port Grenville. It focused on the mechanisation of the town during the Industrial Revolution with a production line of dancers all with different parts creating different vehicles. At first some cars (hand operated by the dancers) were created, but as the performance slowly progressed there was a transition towards windmills and fanciful mechanic butterflies, illustrating the shift from carbon-dominated manufacturing to green manufacturing. These dancers hand-operated the windmills and butterflies, creating a spectacular steampunky performance.
Agri Passion
This was the part of the ceremony that the Agri crowd had been waiting for. Uncharacteristically on their best behaviour, they had not lit any flares nor booed any of the performances -- this was, of course, to be viewed across the world, and the security perimeter around the stadium had been pretty tight. So it came as a great surprise that 10 simultaneous flares were lit all across the stadium, followed by fireworks. The fireworks lit up a representation of the sun above the stadium which then reflected it back down onto the crops onto projections of the Deltan river system, an area which vitally provides the rest of Electrum its fresh fruit and vegetables. The ceremony highlighted the resilience of the Agri people, who are regularly exposed to flooding, and after the crops on stage were washed away, people rebuilt their iconic blue farms to hearty applause from the crowd.
The ceremony was then continued with the presentations of the two athletics marathon events that were held earlier that day. Widely known as two of the most gruelling, prestigious and prominent events of the Olympics calendar, the two Olympic Champions had the courtesy of receiving their medals in front of the entire multiverse. They would become celebrities for life after today. Robbie Shields from The Licentian Isles and Renata Blondi from Kalosia had given their respective countries the privilege of having their anthem televised at the closing ceremony.
It was now time for the dignitaries' speeches. First up was the Liventian Olympic Council President, who had thanked organisers for hosting the multiverse's greatest show and thanked the athletes for competing fairly and respectfully. The next and final speech would fall to Bid Chairperson and the person in charge for these Olympic Games, Cylene Andrikopolous. She thanked the volunteers who helped run the event with aplomb given the dramatic increase in competitors. She also gave some remarks on how the Terranean Coast games showed the world how a sustainable Olympics could be run, and that this could serve as a blueprint for future Olympic Games to be held over wider regions instead of just one city.
Now would be a special presentation from Britonisea, a final celebration song to send off the athletes and the Games.
ELIANA is a singer-songwriter from Britonisea who won the 52nd World Hit Festival which took place in Monterra, Kalosia. While only the top five are given points at the World Hit Festival, her song was one of Britonisea’s most successful across the board, with ELIANA placing in the top ten in every nation apart from one - a very hard feat in an international song competition.
Before the World Hit Festival, ELIANA was a huge national success, with her rather dramatic introduction video at the song reveal show, BVC: A Hit For The World, summarising some of her previous accolades as a singer - with the pop princess having had four top 10 hits in Britonisea, alongside being a multi-platinum selling artist.
After her win at the 52nd World Hit Festival, Britonisea hosted the song competition for the seventh time - though this time in a much less showboat-y venue than previous Britonish hostings; B.A.F Bovingdon (an aircraft hangar). Despite the venue, the nation hosted the largest Festival to date, with a surprising but very welcome appearance by none other than the hosts of the Olympic Games, Electrum. ELIANA reprised her song in the Grand Final and so she is hoping that in the Agri Cricket Ground, people will remember her and her song which undoubtedly made her become famous far beyond the shores of her home country.
"TONGUE-TIED"
Written & Composed By: ELIANA, Alice Broker, Remy Tusk, Tom Stardust, William Deans
Original World Hit Festival Performance
Tune: LEON - You and I
Written & Composed By: ELIANA, Alice Broker, Remy Tusk, Tom Stardust, William Deans
Original World Hit Festival Performance
Tune: LEON - You and I
Opportunities such as this one don’t come very often for artists and so she wanted to make sure that her performance was perfect at the closing ceremony. She rather liked the staging that she did at the 52nd World Hit Festival which involved augmented reality and wondered whether the Electrumite organisers would be able to incorporate her vision in such a vast venue. Though, with a little coordination between Britonish and Electrumite technicians, they were able to create something very mesmerising which would be shown throughout the performance. As her performance neared, she stood in the wings of the stadium knowing she was about to go live to over 100 nations across the multiverse - a fact which hadn’t dawned on her until now.
Showtime. Everywhere turned dark, with a lone spotlight focused on one side of the stadium. The audience cheered loudly as ELIANA walked out, wearing a sparkly jumpsuit that glistened amongst the flashing lights from cameras in all corners of the Agri Cricket Ground. ELIANA tried not to smile at the reception from the audience to keep in character and soon started singing the first verse of her song, “Tongue-Tied”;
Sleeping alone, cold pillow sheets,
Nothing to warm me but memories.
Thinking of you as each hour passes,
I know deep down that I’m hurting.
I avoided walking in a room if you were there,
I never gave myself a good chance.
Wish you could've read my mind,
I couldn't quite get the words out...
As we moved onto the second part of that verse, at the line “I avoid walking…”, ELIANA started walking down a long pathway, with the cameras following her. ELIANA looked as though she was doing interpretative movements, with the cameras now moving outwards to show ELIANA dancing by herself surrounded by nothingness. Lights above her created a large path which she stood in the middle of as she freely danced around. People noted at the 52nd World Hit Festival that her dancing seemed as though it was rehearsed yet still worked with the theme and feel of the song. That is exactly what was going on here, and especially as she was nervous, she allowed her body to completely dictate what she was doing on the stage. With the chorus coming, ELIANA stood firmly on the ground, singing the final line of the verse before moving on.
Just before the chorus, there was a wide-angle shot of the whole stadium with a sea of lights from the torches on people’s phones creating a wonderful, dreamy effect. The wide-angle shot had ELIANA and the path in front and behind her lit up with either side of it still being covered by darkness.
I’m tongue-tied,
Looking at you makes me breathless,
You don’t even have to try.
I’m tongue-tied,
I’ll shout it loud from the rooftops.
Tell me the feeling is mutual,
Boy, please don’t hurt me.
I cannot cope with a broken heart.
I am tongue-tied,
I’m tongue-tied.
When the chorus hits, some of the major movements of these Olympic Games appears holographically to her left and her right - as though ELIANA was in the middle of a thoroughfare of city-like billboards. The wide-angle shot remained as on the left we could see Bill Bonnington winning Tumbra’s first-ever Olympic gold medal in the “gruelling” six-hour Men’s Road Race on Day One. ELIANA turned to the left, glancing at the Bill crossing the line and celebrating his victory. ELIANA turned to the right, looking at Filipa Hrentić winning Srednjaci’s first-ever Olympic gold in the Women’s 400m Freestyle. ELIANA looked twirled on the spot before we moved to some of the events of the second day at the Olympic Games - such as Polkopia’s gold by Lana Ažikelyamova, again in swimming - with Pemecutan’s Made Yuliantara’s swimming gold also appearing on the holographs.
As we move to "I cannot cope with a broken heart" the lights in the stadium went from complete darkness to an Olympic golden colour, which was particularly visible on the ground she walked on, her dress still making her the centre of attraction, with the darkness of the stadium making her pop even more. In order to further create the themes of the performance, the cameras had a bokeh effect, with colours and shapes appearing behind ELIANA as she sang the end of the chorus. During this moment, it looked as though ELIANA was rather broken as she remembered her own personal connection with the lyrics in the song.
Lost in your smile, it’s you and I,
Just us two in our own universe.
Your voice, so heavenly like
A gentle breeze on a hot summer’s day.
When I’m with you, I’m flying high on cloud nine,
You lift me up, and then I’m hit with reality.
D’you like me like I like you?
I wonder if you notice me,
Do you notice me?
At the beginning of the new verse, “Lost in your smile”, there was a closer shot of ELIANA, but the holographic billboards were still appearing on her left and right. Behind her, amongst the flashing lights of the paparazzi, you could see some more iconic scenes from these Games - including Marcelino Brown and Estella Aguilar winning gold in the mixed team archery, a gold medal for Scornerse. The top of the stadium slightly turned orange as some of the lights panned upwards towards the sky. ELIANA hugs herself, closing her eyes as she sings, “Your voice, so heavenly”, thinking about the man of her dreams - the person behind this song. Meanwhile to her left, we could see Konstantin Kirichenko from Waisnor lifting his way to victory in the Weightlifting Men’s 81kg while on the right, Kalosian duo, Bernardu Franku and Luiž Palažu, splashing into the pool for the Men’s Synchronised 3m Springboard - with the pair of them celebrating boisterously as the news came through that they had become the Olympic Champions.
When ELIANA moves onto the line “When I’m with you, I’m flying high on cloud nine”, the arena floor had been filled with low-flying dry ice - adding to the atmosphere. We could see Andrew Borg from Malta Comino Gozo winning the country’s only medal at the Olympic Games - celebrating his triumph in the highly popular Men’s 100m Freestyle race. We then saw scenes of the fencing - a sport which the likes of Quebec & Shingoryeo and Lisander dominate - with scenes of Astrid Villeneuve-Lessard, Danielle Hyun-Morey and Yang Se-Jin’s win in the Women’s Team Foil appearing in the background. ELIANA asked the audience “D’you like me like I do?”, with the very handsome Leading Seaman Bryan kissing an Electrumite official as he picks up his bronze medal he won in the Men’s Windsurfer event.
I’m tongue-tied,
Looking at you makes me breathless,
You don’t even have to try.
I’m tongue-tied,
I’ll shout it loud from the rooftops.
Tell me the feeling is mutual,
Boy, please don’t hurt me.
I cannot cope with a broken heart.
I am tongue-tied,
I’m tongue-tied.
Moving on to the chorus of the song again, the lights in the arena slowly brightened up a tad with ELIANA’s dramatic dance movements continuing. The audience cheered as the powerful and catchy chorus comes in with a similar wide-angle shot of the thoroughfare of billboards now being in clear shot. We could see scenes from the Somer Urban Park, where Euran Eden Johnson won a “shock” gold in the Cycling Men’s BMX to ELIANA’s right. Along the back of the thoroughfare, we could see Graciano Rios from Diarcesia winning the gold in the Judo Men’s 100kg - before celebrating with all of those who won a medal on the podium. To ELIANA’s left, Daita Shrane from the Vilitan Union winning the Men’s Singles of Badminton before the scenes faded away, now focusing on the iconic Men’s coxed eights medal race, with The Licentian Isles pulling away from the rest of the field to clinch a victory the Licentians were very proud of.
As ELIANA sings “Boy, please don’t hurt me”, the camera moved to a close up of her face as she sang directly to the camera - looking deep into it as though she was pleading to the audience at home not to let her down themselves...and stream her song! As the camera panned out again, we could see Vera Angélica Soto from Nuevas Hesperides winning a gold medal in the Women’s 62kg Freestyle Wrestling and Mary Museveni from Banija stumbling across the line after a very long and torturous Women’s 5,000m final - but my gosh, was the pain worth it in the end.
There’s questions I want answering,
You’re in the spotlight.
Tell me you don’t love me,
As tears, they drown my eyes.
A dagger to the heart,
But I will recover.
I’ll hold in all the emotions,
I'll keep them all to myself...
As we reached the bridge section, a lot calmer, there was an over-the-shoulder shot of ELIANA as she looked up towards the Electrumite sky. There were hazy augmented reality shots of Liventia’s Charlie McColl winning the Women’s 200m gold in Athletics. Staying with the theme of Athletics, we could also see pictures of the Men’s 400m finals, with Lorenzo Venegas and Ezequiel Espinar from Sargossa winning gold and bronze medals with two medals in a sprint final enough to make any athletics-focused nation seeth with jealousy. There were cheers in the audience, particularly from the Britonish fans as Ivor Watkins appeared, with the man doing his tumbles and tricks in the Men’s Floor Exercise in Artistic Gymnastics - a sport which he won two medals in, firsts for Britonisea.
When singing “A dagger to the heart,” an aerial shot of the whole arena was shown, with pictures from all of the Electrumite winning medalists that seemed as though they were projected onto the floor in 3D, with gold medalists such as Declan Burke (Men’s Rhythmic Gymnastics) being shown more largely than other Electrumite medalists. The audience in Electrum cheered loudly as ELIANA moved her body across all these images.
I’m tongue-tied,
Looking at you makes me breathless,
You don’t even have to try.
I’m tongue-tied,
I’ll shout it loud from the rooftops.
Tell me the feeling is mutual,
Boy, please don’t hurt me.
I cannot cope with a broken heart.
I am tongue-tied,
I’m tongue-tied.
The final chorus of the song arrives, with us going back into the Agri Cricket Ground, but the holograms were much more intense this time, with ELIANA now lost in a labyrinth of see-through billboards, showing multiple medal-winning events from nations that hadn’t been shown earlier. Gaius True-Path from West Phoenicia winning in the Men’s Triple Jump, Mytanija’s win in the Women’s Indoor Volleyball, Randy Sanders’ gold medal in the Boxing Men’s Welterweight for Bollonich. Kelssek’s win in the Men’s Water Polo, which sees the team become the Olympic Champions for a record-breaking sixth time. The legendary Foger Rederer’s win in the Men’s Tennis Singles for Adab - their only medal at these Games…and these names are only a few of the hundreds of moments that were being shown simultaneously in the stadium around ELIANA. So many unforgettable moments for a truly unforgettable Olympic Games.
When the song hit its climax, with ELIANA becoming echoey, all these little holographic memories that surrounded her started to flicker away like dying stars in a galaxy. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and after a while, ELIANA was alone on the vast open floor in the Agri Cricket Ground with nothing but memories keeping her company.
(Ooooooh, Ooooooh) Ohhh, why, oh oh!
(Ooooooh, Ooooooh) Ahhh, I’m tongue-tied!
(Ooooooh, Ooooooh)
(Ooooooh, Ooooooh)
At the end of the song, the spotlight which once focused on ELIANA slowly died away, with the audience coming in with a huge roar for the Briton.
It was now time to formally close the Olympic Games. The Tree Torch, powered by biogas, and inspired by The Grearish Union designed logo for these Games, had spent the last two-and-a-half up and down the Terranean Coast. It had travelled by barge from Somer where it was first lit to now at Agri. The very same automatic drones that wowed the crowd at Somer had also made its way here, and formed a life-like cloud shape near the top of the tree. It pulsated a few times while the dancers below were holding glow sticks, seemingly directing the cloud towards the tree. Once the cloud reached the tree, the drones released their water droplets and extinguished the flame, as if it were raining.
Fireworks in all colours blazed the sky to wild applause as the EOC organisers breathed a sigh of relief. This madness was all over.