Olympic Closing Ceremony 2016: Critical Schedule Info for Rio Games Spectacle

After 16 days of elite sporting competition, the 2016 Rio Olympics will draw to an end on Sunday with the closing ceremony.

Like the colourful opening ceremony, the showpiece will take place in the Maracana Stadium. The ceremony will celebrate the Games' best moments before extinguishing the Olympic flame and passing on the flag to Tokyo, who will host the next competition in four years' time.

Read on for a closer look at what to expect from the ceremony, but first here is the schedule information you need to catch the action:

Date: Sunday, August 21

Time: 7 p.m. ET/8 p.m. local time/midnight BST (Monday, Aug. 22)

Venue: Maracana Stadium, Rio de Janeiro

Here is a look at the medal table, which at the conclusion of the Games will have seen 306 events across 28 sports:

Details on the ceremony have not been made available by the organisers, but like the opening ceremony, it's sure to be another dazzling display of culture and music.

U.S. President Barack Obama will send a presidential delegation to Rio, led by Gina McCarthy of the Environmental Protection Agency and including Olympic legend Jackie Joyner-Kersee.

Joyner-Kersee won three gold medals, a silver and two bronzes at the Los Angeles, Seoul and Barcelona Olympics in the heptathlon and long jump.

DON EMMERT/Getty Images

As in the opener, each nation will present a flag-bearer for the proceedings, though in the case of the closing ceremony, the bearers are chosen by their peers.

After a successful Games once again, there will be no shortage of candidates to wave the star-spangled banner for Team USA. In London, relay silver medallist Bryshon Nellum bore the flag, four years after being shot three times in his legs.

Flying the flag in the closing ceremony could be a final honour handed to Michael Phelps in his last Olympics.

Matt Slocum/Associated Press

However, having carried the flag in the opener, it may instead be given to fellow swimmer Simone Manuel, gymnastics sensation Simone Biles, Allyson Felix—who became the most decorated woman in U.S. athletics at the Olympics ahead of Joyner-Kersee after winning her seventh track medal—or a whole host of others.

Likewise for Great Britain, for whom four-time sailing gold medallist Sir Ben Ainslie was the flag-bearer in 2012.

This time around, the honour could fall to Mo Farah after he replicated his feat of winning gold in the 10,000 metres—made all the more impressive after falling over, per NBC Olympics:

Farah will also look to defend his 5,000-metre title on Saturday.

For Canada, it would seem there is an obvious choice—Penny Oleksiak. Per Rio 2016, the swimmer won gold in the women's 100-metre freestyle in a dead heat with Manuel:

She also picked up a silver and two bronzes, per Team Canada:

OverDrive's Bryan Hayes and 680News' Momin Qureshi believe Oleksiak is a shoo-in to receive the honour on Sunday:

Per Doug Smith of the Toronto Star, the 16-year-old would relish the opportunity if it comes along: "I think getting to represent your whole country at the Olympic Games would be awesome and to walk out holding the Canadian flag, I would love to do that."

Whoever is elected to represent their country in the parade of athletes, the ceremony is sure to present a fitting send-off to a successful Games ahead of the long four-year wait for Tokyo.