The games were formally closed by International Olympic Committee President
Jacques Rogge calling them "magnificent". This again departed from former IOC President
Juan Antonio Samaranch's tradition of declaring each games "best ever" and continued Rogge's tradition of assigning each games their own identity in his comments.
Medal ceremony During the closing ceremony, in the Olympic Stadium, medals were presented for Cross country skiing at the
cross-country skiing men's 50 km free event, one of the last events held at the Games. In a new practice for Winter Olympics closing ceremonies, the medals for this long race were awarded during the ceremony similar to the way the medals for the men's marathon are awarded during the closing ceremonies of Summer Olympic Games.
Giorgio Di Centa of Italy, the host nation, won the race and was presented with the gold medal.
Eugeni Dementiev of
Russia was awarded silver, with
Austria's Mikhail Botvinov claiming the bronze. The medal presenter was former Olympian and current IOC member
Manuela Di Centa, sister of the gold medalist.
Carnevale The main theme, to coincide with Italy's popular masked festival, was
Carnevale. The show, directed by
Daniele Finzi Pasca, who is known internationally for his theatre performances based on the circus world, included six of the original costumes from the film
I clowns by
Federico Fellini, on lease from the Italian national film museum. Life-sized
Piedmontese tarot cards marching in drill formation signifying all the Luck, Fortune and Life of the Athletes performed to honor every individuals personal story in coming to Torino. The formal moments of the ceremony alternated with artistic moments inspired by the creativity of
Viareggio Carnival artists, of travelling shows and of the typical Italian "feste in piazza". The original music was composed, arranged and orchestrated by Italian producer
Michele Centonze in collaboration with
Stefano Nanni,
Giuseppe Gambino and
Serenella Occhipinti (a.k.a.
Sara 6).
Fiat 500s and
Vespas drove through the center of the stadium to symbolize the crowded streets of the center of the Italian cities.
Wind machine A wind machine was shown with flying acrobats performing an aerial ballet. This was a
vertical wind tunnel that blew the acrobats up into mid-air. The machine was custom-built by Aerodium Canada and
Aerodium Latvia for use in the closing ceremony. It is very similar to machines used for
indoor skydiving facilities.
Parade of the athletes The athletes entered the arena without strict order, following a tradition started 50 years earlier at the
1956 Summer Games. They had reportedly been given light-up red clown noses to wear, but few athletes were seen wearing the noses.
Intruders During the final speech by
Valentino Castellani, chairman of the Torino 2006 Olympic Organising Committee, a Spanish-identified intruder ran onto the stage and interrupted Castellani's speech. The intruder shouted "the passion live[s] in Torino" and broke off one of the two microphones on the podium before security officials removed him. Castellani continued his speech with only a minor pause. The intruder's T-shirt displayed the logo of
GoldenPalace.com, an online gambling website. A young Polish nude
streaker named Justine also tried to enter the arena during the ceremony, holding a handmade banner coloured in the
Italian tricolour reading
Mi consenta ("allow me"), potentially a reference to
Silvio Berlusconi. She had a drawing by a Roman artist on her exposed skin, supposedly tattooed on. She was removed before she could enter the floor of the stadium and released outside; only after she performed the protest again outside Stadio Olimpico was she brought into the police.
Come Play with Us in Vancouver 2010/Venez jouer avec nous en Vancouver 2010 In accordance with the
Olympic Charter which governs the Closing Ceremony, IOC President
Jacques Rogge called on the youth of the world to assemble in Vancouver, in four years, for the
next Winter Olympics. Canadian opera star
Ben Heppner, himself born in
British Columbia, the host province of the next Winter Olympics, sang
O Canada to begin the Canadian segment of the ceremonies and mark the beginning of the countdown to the Vancouver Olympic Games in 2010. Heppner sang a version of
O Canada which is presented in a combination of Canada's two official languages, English and French, which are also the official languages of the IOC. Then came the "Oslo Ceremony" (so called because the original Olympic flag, which was used for transfer of the Winter Games, was first used at the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo), which is the transfer of the
Olympic Flag from the mayor of Turin,
Sergio Chiamparino, to Jacques Rogge, and then to the mayor of Vancouver,
Sam Sullivan. The flag was kept in the
Vancouver City Hall during the next four years. With music playing, Chiamparino ran up the steps to the stage, waved the flag the symbolic eight times, handed it to Rogge, who then handed it to Sullivan. Because Sullivan is a
quadriplegic who uses a
wheelchair and has limited use of his arms and hands, the flag was placed in a specially designed flag holder on his chair. Sullivan then spun his chair back and forth eight times to make the flag wave in the air. The assembled crowd roared in approval and rose to their feet in response. This culminated this part of the program. The Olympic flag was next raised again at the
next Summer Olympic games in Beijing;
opening ceremony there took place on 8 August 2008. The show included a Vancouver-based specially-cast dance corps together with the latest concepts in boarding, skating and skiing. The Montreal-based members of the cast are multi-talented acrobatic performers drawn from
Quebec's acclaimed
École nationale de cirque (
National Circus School), and Les sept doigts de la main, energetically supported by the renowned
Cirque du Soleil. In addition, Canadian singer
Avril Lavigne performed her song, "Who Knows." In Ottawa, Prime Minister
Stephen Harper, himself from Calgary, the host city of the
1988 Winter Olympics, said in a statement that the Olympic flame had begun its journey to Vancouver.
Exit of the Olympic Flag After the Olympic flag was lowered, Piccoli Cantori di Torino sung
Va, pensiero while the flag was exiting the stadium.
The siege of Turin After Va, pensiero was sung, there was a segment featuring the
siege of Turin to commemorate the 300th anniversary.
Musical finale Andrea Bocelli performed his song "
Because We Believe (Ama Credi E Vai)" before the flame was extinguished; on stage with Andrea appeared 500 Italian brides in white carrying lighted lilies and formed "the Dove of Peace" a formation choreographed by
Doug Jack and symbolically "flew" across the stage as the flame took its final moments. The skier
Isolde Kostner acted as the last bride to stay on the stage and when she looked at the cauldron, the Olympic fire had their last moments alive. After the end of the fire last breathed, the Italian singer
Elisa comes out from the middle of the show cast (she had already sung at the closing ceremony of the
2002 Winter Olympics) and performed their hit song "
Luce (Tramonti a nord est)", and Puerto Rican
Ricky Martin performed "
I Don't Care" and "
The Cup of Life". ==Anthems==