GANGNEUNG, South Korea, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- The 2024 Gangwon Winter Youth Olympic Games on Thursday ended with a closing ceremony in South Korea's eastern Gangwon province.
1,802 athletes aged 14 to 18 from 78 countries and regions competed for the past two weeks at the fourth Winter Youth Olympics featuring seven sports, 15 disciplines and 81 events.
Chinese athletes claimed six gold medals, nine silvers and three bronzes, ranking third according to the order by a total number of medals.
The United States topped the medal table with five golds, 11 silvers and five bronzes.
Young athletes from across the globe received a final celebration at the closing ceremony that was held in an open plaza in front of the Gangneung Olympic Park Hockey Center Auxiliary Field under the theme of "Shine again."
The theme encouraged the young athletes to shine again the 'light within themselves,' which they discovered during the competitions, and stride forward into a new tomorrow with the light cherished.
Hailed by volunteers, the Winter Youth Olympic participants from each country entered the closing ceremony venue.
The participating delegations' flags paraded into the plaza in alphabetical order of national or regional names in the Korean language.
During the ceremony, six athletes came to the stage and delivered a bouquet of flowers to six volunteers to express gratitude on behalf of all athletes who competed at the event.
A highlight video of the competitions was shown on the main screen after lowering the Olympic flag to the sound of the Olympic anthem.
The closing ceremony concluded with the Olympic cauldron extinguished. ■
