Boy band Big bang are playing their hit 'Hands up', the first of three songs they will play tonight. They seem to be doing a dance move that involves running around their National Flag.Īnd another journalist, a male one this time, is out of his seat in front of me, moving cautiously to the beat as if he is almost ashamed to do so.Ģ1:18 More K-Pop to celebrate the end of the Games. One group of athletes, I think the Cambodians, are particularly enjoying this.

Are they going to sign off with a big bang I wonder? Oh wait, they've switched to English! 'Everybody stand up,' they proclaim.įireworks are going up outside as Big Bang throw some flamboyant dance moves to open their song 'Fantastic baby'. And with it, the Asian Games are over for another four years.Ģ1:24 They are wearing very bizarre gold jackets as they jabber away to the crowd in between songs. But, the most poignant aspect, of course, was the presence of the high level North Korean delegation here tonight.Ģ1:30 With a final flurry of fireworks, drum rolls and dance moves, the Closing Ceremony of Incheon 2014 is over. I think there will be criticism for the lack of reference to Incheon itself, something the organisers have admitted they haven't done as well as they could. And it was better than the Commonwealth Games one in Glasgow. It certainly compared favourably with the Closing Ceremonies I have seen in Sochi and Nanjing so far this year. But, from beginning to end, it was a pretty solid effort, I thought.Ī good blend of traditional and modern Korea, with the Jakarta 2018 section a real highlight. And on that note, it is clearly time to shut up shop here on the insidethegames live blog, for a couple of months or so, I imagine.Ģ1:40 Well.what did you think? There were no stand out moments from the Ceremony tonight, like the cheer for the North Koreans or 'Gangnam Style'. That glorious night two days ago, when India were playing Pakistan at hockey at the same time North and South Korea crossed paths in football, were great examples of this.Īnd after tonight, I think we can all look forward to Jakarta 2018 as well.Ģ1:48 I just made the mistake of nipping to the toilet as everyone left, and found myself stuck in a stampede of people heading in the opposite direction here, which wasn't very intelligent. The Games certainly haven't helped foster peace and harmony on the continent in a general sense, but they have helped show, once again, how people can come together through sport. As I wrote in my blog on the Games a few days ago, there has been a unique quirkiness that I haven't seen anywhere else, and have very much enjoyed: from wins via a coin toss, to the top three across the line being disqualified, via the wonders of kabaddi, sepak takraw and bowling. But seemingly every night the sport provided some great story, be it a North Korean world record, or a first ever gold for Cambodia, there always seemed to be something.Īnd that was another strength of these Games.Ģ1:53 There Games maybe haven't perfect, with empty seats, organisational mishaps, and doping, judging and headgear-related controversies. It is great to see 37 of the 45 Asian NOCs represented on the table as well.Ĭheck out our Incheon 2014 live blogs and news section for more coverage, as well as our photo galleries.Ģ1:57 My personal highlights? The baseball, table tennis and cricket, three of the only sports that I managed to see., From a story-wise point of view, I always enjoy a good doping scandal, and Sheikh Ahmad's strong words on cricket earlier were very entertaining to listen to (see our article here). Thanks from me, as well as from my already-departed colleagues Paul Osborne and Duncan Mackay, to everyone who read, tweeted and commented throughout the last 16 days, and I hope you enjoyed the Games like we, when all things are said and done, definitely did.Ģ1:58 I will leave you with the final medals table of Incheon 2014, as China reiterate their continental hegemony, even though the standard is growing, with nations like Kazakhstan and Qatar getting stronger and stronger. The blog will be back up and running soon. All times stated are South KoreanĢ2:00 From Incheon however, it's time to say goodbye as we finish on the insidethegames live blog for a little while.

One hand clapping lillehammer