Tokyo—Eliud Kipchoge produced a marathon masterclass and the USA edged China at the top of the Tokyo Olympics medals table as the curtain fell on the biggest sports event since the pandemic on Sunday.
Sunday's closing ceremony took place at a largely vacant Olympic Stadium, rounding off an extraordinary Games conducted mostly without live spectators for a worldwide audience of billions.
After Kipchoge's marathon win for Kenya, the United States scored victories in volleyball, track cycling and basketball to top the medals tally with 39 golds, just one ahead of China.
The 339th and final gold medal went to Serbia's men's water polo team, capping a Games that were in stark danger of cancellation after they became the first postponed Olympics last year.
Thirty-three sports have been contested across 16 days in largely empty stadiums, with fans barred over coronavirus risks and athletes living in strict biosecure conditions.
"Some were already speaking of 'Ghost Games'," Olympics chief Thomas Bach told an International Olympic Committee session on Sunday.
"What we have seen here is that on the contrary the athletes have brought soul to the Olympic Games."
Britain's Olympic chief has told AFP the staging of the Tokyo Games in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic has proved the doubters wrong while a former IOC executive claims it was a "miracle".
The first Olympics ever to be postponed took place a year late and in stadiums where spectators were largely banned by the Japanese authorities.
Yet the competitors produced outstanding performances, seemingly unaffected by the lack of atmosphere, and the highly skepticalJapanese public slowly warmed to the Games happening in their city—even if they were not able to watch in person.
Hugh Robertson, chairman of the British Olympic Association (BOA), said the many who questioned whether they should go ahead had been put in their place.
"The doubters have been proved wrong. The world has gone through an exceptionally difficult 18 months but athletes from across the globe came together and put on a memorable show," he said.
"The Games have been held in the most challenging circumstances imaginable and the organisers have excelled."
The Olympics were plagued by low Japanese support over super-spreader fears but officials maintained that a record haul of 27 gold medals, putting Japan third on the table, has won hearts.
"We believe our athletes' earnest spirit and all-out performance moved people," said Tsuyoshi Fukui, chef de mission for the Japanese team.
Britain finished fourth with 22 golds and the Russian Olympic Committee, the team for Russian athletes after Russia were banned for systematic doping, were fifth with 20.
'Once in a lifetime'
A succession of big names have failed to perform in Japan, where new sports skateboarding, surfing, sport climbing and karate have brought young new stars to the fore.
But marathon world record-holder Kipchoge showed his class, kicking in the closing stages and clocking 2hr 08min 38sec to retain his 2016 title.
"I know there were a lot of people against holding this Olympics due to the coronavirus," said a flag-waving, 47-year-old fan on the marathon route who gave his name as Tsujita.
"But I am glad it took place. This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for everyone."
The marathon, moved north to Sapporo to avoid Tokyo's summer heat, was one of the few events to allow spectators.
Fears of a major outbreak proved unfounded in the mostly vaccinated Olympic contingent and 430 cases were picked up during the Games, including 32 in the Olympic Village.
But athletes had the added pressure of strict 'bubble' conditions including orders to wear masks unless competing, training, eating or sleeping.
Victory celebrations have been low-key, with lonely laps of honour and sparsely attended medal ceremonies. But the emotions of the competitors have been on full view.
Trans athletes, 'twisties'
Superstar gymnast Simone Biles provided the most jaw-dropping moment when she abruptly pulled out of competition over a bout of the "twisties", a disorientating mental block.
Biles, widely acknowledged as the greatest gymnast in history, recovered sufficiently to return for the final event, the beam, claiming a redemptive bronze.
Weightlifter Laurel Hubbard became the first openly transgender woman to compete at the Games and Canada's Quinn became the first openly transgender Olympic medallist, with gold in the women's football.
In other highlights, the US men's team won their fourth consecutive men's basketball crown and US swimmer Caeleb Dressel assumed the mantle of Michael Phelps with five gold medals in the pool.
Among the final events on Sunday, Canadian cyclist Kelsey Mitchell took gold in the women's sprint while Jason Kenny won the men's keirin to become the first Briton to win seven Olympic titles.
The Americans started the day two golds behind China but the women's basketball and volleyball titles and US track cyclist Jennifer Valente's omnium victory put them top of the final table.
Uzbekistan's Bakhodir Jalolov beat US fighter Richard Torrez in the super-heavyweight boxing final, while Britain's Lauren Price and Ireland's Kellie Harrington also boxed their way to gold.
The Olympic flag will now pass to 2024 hosts Paris. But the circus will reconvene in just six months when Beijing, faced with boycott threats and a renewed coronavirus emergency, holds the Winter Games in February.
Michael Payne, the former head of marketing at the IOC, said he believed these unusual Games had provided "optimism and hope for the future".
Payne, who in nearly two decades at the IOC was credited with transforming its finances through sponsorship, said he believed the IOC "held its nerve".
Polls before the Games consistently showed the Japanese people were against hosting them as Covid-19 cases rose to record levels and a state of emergency was declared in Tokyo.
"It was an absolute miracle they happened," said Payne. "A miracle the Japanese pulled it off, a miracle the IOC got all the athletes here and staged a Games in the midst of a pandemic giving optimism and hope for the future." (See full story online at manilastandard.net)
Unique circumstances
Veteran IOC member Gunilla Lindberg, secretary-general of ANOC (Association of National Olympic Committees) and responsible for supporting the 206 national Olympic bodies, admitted that even two weeks before the Games she was unsure whether they would go ahead.
While it was not the first time an Olympics have been affected by health issues —organisers at Rio 2016 grappled with the Zika virus, for example—Lindberg said this "was worse than anything" other Games had had to face.
"They were difficult preparations and nobody knew I would say even two weeks before the Games if it would happen," the Swede, who has worked on 26 Summer and Winter Games, told AFP.
"It exceeded all of our expectations because it was a very tough Spring preparing the teams. (See full story online at manilastandard.net)
"That was because we could not get answers. Why was that not possible? Because nobody knew anything.
"Neither the IOC nor the Japanese had the answers. We thought it would be a real mess."
'Still magical'
Payne says it is debatable whether this is the biggest crisis the IOC has faced in its long history, citing the financial problems the movement experienced in the 1980s, but said: "You look today, and these Games, in spite of the pandemic, have been incredibly successful.
"You've seen incredible sport, you've seen new sports (sport climbing, skateboarding to name two) come into a programme that have been a big hit and the athlete performances have been better than you could have hoped for."
Payne regrets there were no spectators — "the Japanese people were the biggest losers" — because of what he maintained were largely political reasons.
But both Lindberg and Payne believe the Games have proved popular with the Japanese.
"The moment they started winning gold medals, the TV ratings went off the charts," Payne said. "The Japanese embraced the Games in their living rooms.
"It's a pity they couldn't embrace it in the stadiums, but you talk to the volunteers and staff and this was still magical, this was still great."
And Lindberg said the Games' success against the odds had been "good for the Olympic heart."
