Rio Olympics Closing Ceremony Time 2016: Details for Extinguishing of the Flame
The 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro will come to an end with the traditional closing ceremony on Sunday, as the cauldron will be extinguished and the Olympic duties will be passed on to the Japanese delegation.
As always, the closing ceremony will honour the Olympic tradition, starting all the way back in ancient Greece, with the Greek, Brazilian and Japanese anthems all scheduled to be played.
A host of international stars and recording artists are also expected to perform, and most of the nations will be sending special guests to Rio to attend the closing ceremony.
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Here's a look at the TV schedule for the final Olympic event of 2016:
| Midnight BST | BBC One (UK) |
| 7 p.m. ET | NBC Sports (U.S.) |
While the opening ceremony of the Olympics is usually a massive event that's left mostly to the imagination of the organisers, the closing ceremony has more traditional elements that will be on display on Sunday.
The torch will be handed over to the Japanese delegation before the Olympic flame is extinguished, and the flags will be lowered to signal the end of the Games as well. Closing speeches will take place, and the winner of the men's marathon will also be honoured―the medal ceremony happens to coincide with the closing ceremony.
Four years ago, London trotted out a host of major stars, including the Spice Girls, Adele, One Direction, the Rolling Stones and Elton John, and in all likelihood, Brazil will follow suit. Few names have been revealed, but per journalist Jacquelin Magnay, information is starting to become available:
The bigger stars will arguably be part of the delegations. As reported by NBC Sports' Nicholas Mendola, Pele, the Brazilian football star who was unable to attend the opening ceremony due to illness, has confirmed he'll do everything possible to make it to the event.
Former NBA star Jason Collins has also been selected to be part of the American delegation:
And then there are the athletes themselves. Two of the biggest stars of these Games, Usain Bolt of Jamaica and Michael Phelps of the United States, have both confirmed these were their last Olympics, so they won't want to miss the closing ceremony for the world.
In the case of Phelps, there are some doubts over whether the swimmer will actually retire, as he dominated most of the events he took part in and will be just 35 years old by the time the 2020 Olympics kick off.
Per Jeff Kassouf of FourFourTwo, even his team-mates have their doubts:
For now, his mind seems made up, and Phelps will soak in every second of the closing ceremony. In all likelihood, so will the thousands of other athletes set to attend the ceremony, as they can finally blow off some steam after four years of hard work and several weeks of competing at the highest level.
And once the Olympic flame goes out, it will be Tokyo's turn to start their preparations―the next edition of the Olympics is only four years away, after all.
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