The Rio 2016 Olympics was officially declared closed last August 22, 2016.
Rio 2016 was highly anticipated and prepared for by many athletes and the 16-day event did not disappoint. This year's Olympics was opened and closed by very powerful and colorful ceremonies prepared by the host. While the journey of Rio 2016 has been an emotional roller coaster ride for both athletes and sports enthusiasts, the closing marks the beginning of the transition to Tokyo 2020.
We have to wait for another four years before we can watch another Olympic event and Japan just made the waiting even harder. Hosts for the future Olympics are customarily provided a short time to show their plans during closing ceremonies. And Japan surely made the most out of their short teaser time.
At the closing ceremonies, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe surprised everyone watching as he made an appearance, as Super Mario. Super Mario is a famous character from the
The appearance was preluded by a video teaser giving everyone a glimpse of what Tokyo 2020 will be like. Japanese Athletes were shown alongside famous landmarks in Tokyo such as the Shibuya Crossing and cartoon characters from Japan's pop culture such as Hello Kitty, PacMan, Doraemon and Super Mario.
The most noteworthy part of the video is the part when Prime Minister Abe was shown stuck in traffic and worrying that he would not be able to get to Rio 2016 Closing Ceremonies. He then transforms into the famous Italian Plumber in the hit video games, Super Mario. He was helped by Doraemon by bringing out a familiar green pipe which paved the way underground until he was in Rio. In the closing ceremony in Rio, a green pipe appeared and everyone almost lost it when he appeared dressed as Super Mario.
This is perhaps the most epic Olympic teaser yet.
