Winter Olympics: Closing ceremony live

And we’re off! The stunning Verona Arena is ready and starts in a fashion familiar to it, with an operatic performance getting things going in front of an audience mostly wrapped up in disposable ponchos. 

As mentioned earlier, there was a distinctly European feel to the top of the medal table. Aside from the US in 2nd and Japan in 10th, the rest of the top 10 on the table were European nations.

While we wait for the ceremony to begin, it might be a good time to look at our stories on how big a difference hosting has made for the Italians and the German ski jumper who overcame a fear of heights to win gold.

Even at this late stage, there have been a couple of significant news lines from the Games’ final weekend. On Saturday, the IOC cleared FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who is also an IOC member, saying he had not broken the Olympic Charter’s neutrality requirement by donning a red MAGA-style USA hat at the first meeting of Donald Trump’s Board of Peace earlier in the week.

IOC chief Kirsty Coventry said she didn’t even know Infantino was an IOC member when pressed ahead of the decision during a press conference where she admitted she “wasn’t aware” of a number of issues which face her organization.

Then, on Sunday, ahead of the closing ceremony, protesters took the streets of Verona to object to having had the Games in their region. Hundreds of people marched through Verona just hours before the ceremony was set to start to protest against housing costs and environmental concerns linked to the Winter Games.

The “Olympics? No thanks” rally was organised by university groups and others that oppose hosting an event they say disrupts forests, pours concrete onto fragile land and deepens social inequality.

While there have been countless sporting achievements, there have also been plenty of moments during this Games where the spotlight was away from the events.

Perhaps the biggest was the IOC decision to ban Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych from wearing a helmet that featured images of Ukrainian athletes killed during Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Heraskevych told DW moments after his disqualification was announced that: “If (the) IOC reacts in a way with common sense, we will not have this terrible scandal now. And then there is much less politics in this competition and also much more attention (being paid) to the athletes in the competition now.”

The new boss of the IOC, Kirsty Coventry had tears down her eyes when announcing the decision, admitting that it was ” a message of memory and no one is disagreeing with that” but confirming it broke IOC rules.

There were also protests against the presence of American ICE agents, a British skier urinating a profanity against Donald Trump in the snow and the decision, announced during these Games, that Russian athletes can compete under their national flag at the upcoming Paralympics.

Organizers the IOC have promised to tell the story of Italy through a “tapestry of music, art, and storytelling,” adding that the ceremony will  showcase “not only athletic excellence, but also Italian cultural identity and innovation.”

Performers include Italian singer and rapper Achille Lauro, award-winning Roman actress Benedetta Porcaroli and Italian DJ Gabry Ponte.

As with the opening ceremony earlier this month, each nation — with a handful of exceptions — will have chosen athletes to be their flagbearers. In Germany’s case this will be Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt. The pair became the country’s most successful Winter Olympians by each winning a seventh gold in luge.

Hello and welcome to DW’s live blog of the 2026 Winter Olympics closing ceremony.

After 17 days of skiing, sliding, jumping and curling, the USA defeated neighbors Canada to win the last of 116 gold medals at Milan-Cortina. That left the US second on the medal table, six behind Norway whose Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo won six on his own, becoming the most successful Winter Olympian of all time in the process.

With the sport over, it will soon be time for the curtain to officially come down on the Games. The closing ceremony will take place at the Verona Olympic Arena, a beautifully preserved ancient amphitheater built in 30AD and is scheduled to start at 20:30 CET and run for somewhere approaching three hours.