The Beijing Winter Olympics reached its final stop on Sunday at the National Stadium with a stunning closing ceremony.
Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the event at the Bird's Nest stadium, with his nation having hosted the Winter Games successfully during the pandemic and with some of the strictest healthy and safety measures.
There were concerns of an outbreak during the Olympics, but a multi-layered bubble kept coronavirus cases to a minimum with only 463 positive cases reported among thousands of visitors inside the bubble, which was set up on January 23 ahead of the February 4 opening date.
China exceeded expectations with nine gold medals, finishing third, while winter sports heavyweights Norway won a record 16.
The star of the Games was Eileen Gu. The 18-year-old San Francisco-born freestyle skier grabbed two golds and a silver for hosts China, further cementing her popularity as a world-class athlete, model and future superstar, even though her success raised questions about her decision to represent China and not the US, where she developed as an athlete.
There was plenty of drama elsewhere, with the biggest involving 15-year-old Russian skater Kamila Valieva.
Valieva failed a doping test in December but the result was only revealed on February 8, a day after she had helped the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) to win the team event.
However, she was allowed to participate in the singles but finished fourth in dramatic fashion. Valieva - the pre-tournament favourite for women's singles gold - fell several times on the ice in the finals, prompting a harsh reaction from her coach that IOC chief Thomas Bach later said he found "chilling".
Earlier, Finland's men's ice hockey team saved the best for last as they defeated ROC 2-1 to claim the final gold medal on offer at the Beijing Games.
Ville Pokka and Hannes Bjorninen scored while Harri Sateri was rock solid in net when called upon, facing 17 shots as the Finns capped an unbeaten run to gold by overcoming the defending champions.
"This means a lot, we made history today, it feels great," said Finnish forward Markus Granlund. "It was [an] early game, [the] fans probably woke up early, it's a big thing for Finland."
