The Olympic flag which fluttered over 17 days at the Olympic Stadium in PyeongChang, South Korea was handed over to Chinese organisers on Sunday for the next Winter Games.
The 24th Games will hold in Beijing in 2022 while the 23rd Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, some 180 kilometres east of Seoul, came to an official end on Sunday.
This was after a 17-day run in the South Korean alpine town, with the closing ceremony in the Olympic Stadium in PyeongChang.
When the Olympic flag was lowered and handed over to the organisers of the next Winter Olympics host city during the closing ceremony, it marked the official completion of the Games.
Following the performance by K-pop artist CL, the national flag of Greece, the birthplace of the Olympic Games, was raised.
Then the Olympic flag was lowered to the music of the Olympic Anthem, sung by 11-year-old South Korean vocalist Oh Yeon-joon.
PyeongChang Mayor Sim Jae-guk received the Olympic flag and handed it over to International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach.
The German later passed the flag to Chen Jining, mayor of the 2022 Winter Olympics host city of Beijing.
Chen then waved the Olympic flag as the crowd welcomed the transition of the Winter Olympics from PyeongChang to Beijing.
The Chinese national flag was hoisted as its national anthem was played.
The artistic performance, created by director Zhang Yimou, followed next to celebrate the Olympic flag handover to Beijing.
The eight-minute segment featured 24 actors honoring the past Winter Olympic Games, creating emblem of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and showing welcoming message of Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
PyeongChang was the first of three straight Olympic Games to take place in Asia, with Tokyo hosting the 2020 Summer Olympics and Beijing staging the 2022 Winter Olympics.
The Chinese capital city will become the first city in the world to host both the summer and winter editions of the Olympic Games, having hosted the Summer Games in 2008. (Yonhap/NAN)
