Sochi’s was the biggest Winter Olympics closing ceremony ever staged, according to organisers, a fitting send-off for a Games estimated to have cost £30 billion to stage – far more than any other Games Winter or Summer.

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach gave Russia a resounding vote of confidence in his closing address.

“Tonight we can say: Russia delivered all what it had promised,” he said. “What took decades in other parts of the world was achieved here in Sochi in just seven years.”

Addressing the army of volunteers who helped guide athletes, reporters and visitors to their destinations, he said:

“Through you, everybody with an open mind could see the face of a new Russia: efficient and friendly, patriotic and open to the world. We arrived with great respect for the rich and varied history of Russia. We leave as friends of the Russian people.”

After Bach formally declared the Sochi Games closed, three giant mascots of the Games – a bear, a snow leopard and a hare – appeared and the bear blew out the Olympic flame.

A thousand children from the Pan-Russian Choir performed in a rousing finale symbolising the arrival spring, before choreographed fireworks exploded from the roof of the stadium. (AP/Telegraph)

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