Well, it's official. The Olympics are over.
What will we remember? Many things to be sure. We will remember Russia's Adelina Sotnikova taking the figure skating gold from South Korea's beloved Yuna Kim, and we will remember America's hopes dashed in the hockey rink.
But what is it that will haunt our dreams? One scary bear, that's what.
The most memorable of the Sochi Olympics mascots, the giant bear, closed the farewell ceremony by blowing out the Olympic flame and shedding a single tear.
Despite the nightmarish bear, Russia succeeded in showing its softer side at the closing ceremony. The colors were lighter. Hundreds of dancers wore shimmery costumes.
You'll recall the big snafu of the opening ceremony when the "fifth snowflake" failed to open and thus failed to complete the enormous set of Olympic rings.
At the closing ceremony, AFP reports, "They began to form the five rings," but again, "only four circles appeared."
After laughs and loud applause from the audience, the fifth ring eventually opened, and the mood was immediately more playful than an opening spectacle which had sought to portray Russia as a strong nation with nothing to fear.
Nothing to fear except the bear.
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