Norway has once again topped the Winter Olympics medal table, surpassing countries with far larger populations.The Scandinavian country won more gold medals (18) and more total medals (41) than the US, who came second in both categories (12 golds and 33 total medals).Norway’s 18 golds were the most by a country in Winter Olympics history, while their cross-country skiing hero Johannes Høsflot Klæbo accounted for six golds on his own, more than the all but seven other countries at this year’s Games.The achievements of Norway, which has a population of about 5.7m, are all the more remarkable given that they outperformed winter-sports nations with far larger populations such as the US (342m), China (1.

4bn), Germany (84m), Italy (59m) and Canada (40m).The Netherlands, which excels in speed skating, also punched above its weight, finishing with 10 golds – the same as host nation Italy – despite its relatively small population of around 18m.It was also a good Olympics for countries with modest winter sports traditions.Great Britain enjoyed its best ever medal haul at a Winter Olympics with three golds, a silver and a bronze, as did Australia (three golds, two silver and a bronze).I think all that leaves me to do is thank you so very much if you have enjoyed the Winter Olympics with the Guardian over the past couple of weeks.

I will speak for my colleagues and say it is an absolute privilege to bring the highs and lows and all the bits in between to you especially at such a historic Games for Team GB.Thank you for reading and we will see you again in 2030 or maybe tomorrow when you’re checking the latest headlines.Buona Notte!Now the ceremony is over here is some reaction to the USA’s incredible gold in the men’s hockey.That Jack Hughes is different gravy.Here he is! The trickster spirit of the closing ceremony, Rigoletto.

He’s packing the arena away apparently,How cute,Cheers, Rigoletto,And that is all she wrote,Milano-Cortina is officially over.

Saying that I’ve been duped by our singers get up, not spying the slight giveaway of a face tattoo.Not saying opera singers can’t have them but maybe more likely it was an Italian popstar.Achille is belting out Amor.At least I think he is.Back to the classy stuff.

Get your opera glasses out quick if you have them.I’m replicating the effect with my hands curled round my eyes.Molto bene!Ooh Diplo is filming on his phone too proving millionaire DJ/producers are human also! And here we go put your phones in the air for the light show timeeeee.It’s so pretty …They keep cutting to the Italian athletes who are loving it compared to other nations who appear slightly unmoved.Am I detecting per chance that Major Lazer are inexplicably huge in Italy? An incredibly rapid google suggests they have had a No 1 on those shores.

OK IT IS MAJOR LAZER FINALLY! Phew, the party is saved,OH ooooohhhh ohhh oooohhhh ooooh ooooooo,Remember that from forever ago,Yeah they play it in my gym sometimes or they did,And the TNT commentator agrees! “This is music they play at the gym, that is the genre.

” Vindication!!!JJ writes in on the topic of anthem standing or sitting …“I’m watching the closing ceremony and, while the French anthem is feeling a bit indulgent, I’m surprised by how many of the crowd have remained seated as the French anthem is played.I was there at the opening ceremony of London 2012 and everyone stood for “God Save The Queen”Boredom or decline in respect for anthems?”From my perspective it is probably fatigue.That must have been the sixth or seventh that has been played in the stadium tonight and the gravitas surely wears a bit thin.Or they just forget.Oof Gloria Campaner tinkling the ivories now with a certified banger in Ludovico Einaudi’s Experience.

Rigoletto is feeling it.“I now declare the Milano-Cortina Winter Games closed,” says the big boss.Darn.Niccolo Pisilli has just put Roma 3-0 up as Kirsty Coventry finishes her big speech.“Thanks for sharing the best of Italy with the world,” the president of the IOC says.

And for the food, don’t forget the food.Mine’s a polpo and chips.Meanwhile in Jamie Vardy news he has come on as a substitute in Rome with 10 minutes to go as Roma lead Cremonese 2-0.C’mon Jamie, we’re having a party, join us, lead the big Cremonese comeback!I hereby present the IOC with a gold medal in self congratulation.That said it has been a fantastic Games.

Thank you Milano-Cortina.Speech time.Aka get the kettle on!Anthem no.1,765 is the marseillaise as we raise the French flag and look forward to the 2030 Games in the Alps.A solemn, magnficient rendition belted out by an incredible opera singer giving it all its guts and glory.

The modern music and light show are giving it some French edge too.Pretty cool all things considered.Vive l’Olympics Hiver!I feel like I missed a trick with the ceremony for Ebba Anderson’s gold for Sweden in the women’s 50km skiing just now.But Peter has come to our rescue to remind us while some more anthems play …More interpretive dance now with a piece called ‘the water cycle’.Assuming we are celebrating precipitation aka the forming of snow and ice because, hey, without it we wouldn’t be able to skate or ski now would we! Our dancers look to be water droplets coming together in motion to form, dare I say it, ice … maybe? That is how I am interpreting it.

Pat writes on his favourite moment at the Games …“the last few jumps in the men’s big air final.The sheer joy of the medal-winning athletes celebrating each other’s astonishing tricks, the drama as first one skier and then another pulled off an incredible and mind-bending twist and cork and flip and landing to get into gold medal position, and the fabulous enthusiasm and fantastical analogies of Tim and Ed in the BBC commentary booth.It would not have been the same competition with anyone else on comms.”Ah everyone’s favourite song Blue (Da Ba Dee) now is pumping after a montage to celebrate the volunteers.To their credit they are jumping about the stage enjoying their moment despite the dud choice of track.

An American volunteer in particular is being championed for still helping out at every event since 1956.Stalwart.And the men’s 50km.Norway’s anthem rings around the arena.The great Johannes Høsflot Klæbo atop of the podium just like Norway at the top of medals table.

A medal ceremony for the women’s 50km mass start cross-country skiing now,President of the IOC Kirsty Coventry will present gold to Sweden’s Ebba Andersson,The Swede finished ahead of Norway’s Heidi Weng while the bronze medal was quite the showdown with Switzerland’s Nadja Kaelin coming out on top in a sprint to the line,Ah that’s nice one of the dancers has done a bit of show and tell and brought his trampoline from home,Look mum, I did a flip on the telly!!! This section of the show is called elevation, a tribute to that special effort an athlete has to find to reach the pinnacle.

The interpretive dancers I think are very much elevating as well as they spin and twirl attached to a big rig in the sky.Here comes the EDM (electronic dance music) because what’s a party without a wubwubwubwubwubwub SCRRREEEECH, dross music aside the dancing is rather special if a little freaky.As we wait for the last of athletes to take their seats, I have some mail from a reader.Karl writes … “Thank you to everybody at The Guardian (editors,writers,live bloggers,photographers & readers) for making this coverage of the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics possible.See you in Los Angeles where the 34th Olympics Games begin on Friday July 14 2028.

2 years 4 months 3 weeks and 1 day from today”And my 38th birthday, Karl.Cheers to that!!Jamie Vardy who of course now plays in Italy’s Serie A.Maybe she is a HUGE Cremonese fan.I realise I have strayed into Fast Show territory a little with my mishearing of a foreign language but it really did sound like it.Oh and the Japanese figure skaters who won gold are performing one of their routines as they pass by the stage.

Nice touch,The flags make their exit after a couple of laps of the stage and now it is officially party time, the athletes are coming through to take their seats,It is good to see that even world class athletes are not immune to filming things that are being widely broadcast around the world for posterity,They are human after all,Lots of waving, smiling and even some hands in pockets from a British athlete as he waits his turn to trundle on by.

I swear to god I just the singer in the centre of the stage say, “Oh Jamie Vardy …” I swear.It is flag parade time! First in … Greece, of course! Oooh and is that Ennio Morricone I hear?! Yes it certainly was a Games that saw the good, the bad and the ugly of sport, I think …Matt Weston comes in twirling the Union Flag this way and that.What a legend.Quite a haunting rendition it is too, a slow, sweet almost whispered production until the final flourish you all know and love.A performance that seemed to really savour the final bit of national pride, wishing it wasn’t all finished but safe in the knowledge of a job well done.

And here are our Italian athletes entering the performance.All togged up in all white gear with medals proudly on display, what a moment for them it must be to stand after the powder has settled knowing you did yourself and your country proud.The Italian national anthem is on the way.Forza!Speaking of transitions we have moved into ballet called ‘faces of Italy’.Our dancers prance across a giant video screen showing the faces of regular Italian folk like you or me … only Italian.

Quite beautiful it is too.It is easy to forget how many non-athletes make an Olympic Games specifically the volunteers.People give up their time and presumably their leave at work to help produce all the action we get so excited about.So, thank you volunteers!How Diplo’s Major Lazer figure into all this operatic wonder is anyone’s guess but I am excited to see a transition into club bangers as smooth as Bruce Mouat’s match-winning stone for Team GB against Switzerland in the men’s curling semi-finals.Ah our first sighting of Rigoletto in the rafters looking down on the action.

I’m informed we have tunes (can you call them tunes?) from Madame Butterfly and (naturally) the Marriage of Figaro also.I’m not going to lie I could really do with a little bar that comes up on the bottom of the screen to say what the tune is, like on MTV.Anyway our first number draws to a close with a big blast of pyrotechnics and Rigoletto is thrilled so I am too.Encore!We start with a short film of our players getting ready for the closing ceremony in the bowels of the frankly epic Verona Arena.The venue is the first world heritage sight hosting a closing ceremony which is about as arbitrary as you can get for a stat/nugget but it is still fantastic to use such a beautiful monument for the proceedings.

Looks like we are in for a lot of opera tonight and I am HERE for it … as they say.Here we go, it is ‘beauty in action’ time.C’mon then Italy, blow our socks off!And a final plug for this breathtaking moment.Team GB creating Winter Olympics history with a first gold in mixed skeleton relay.Could this Games be the beginning for a golden era in British sport on snow and ice? Let’s hope and while we are dreaming, how about we bring the mixed skeleton back in four years but let’s add a bobsleigh run from the pair too.

Please!Before we start our long goodbye here is a roundup of a final, magical day at the Games.Three cheers to the USA for a first men’s hockey gold since the Miracle on Ice match in 1980.Wow.Eileen Gu defended her Olympic ski half-pipe title to make it six medals in six events over her Winter Games career.The 22-year-old Gu is already the most decorated freeskier in the short history of the sport at the Olympics