The Olympics this year were special, in their own kind of way. From Sochi, to Putin, to #sochiproblems, it will be a memorable event for everyone who tuned in.

The closing ceremonies were again, very interesting. The Olympic committee for Russia decided to continue with their theme of moving large representable objects across the stage by lifts and telling the many historic stories of Russia. The theme that they were fulfilling was “Reflections of Russia.” This closing program highlighted key points of Russian culture, through a European perspective. It was directed by Daniele Finzi Pasca. The creative director was Konstantin Ernst and the executive producer was Andrei Nasonovskiy.

As the closing ceremonies continued, they featured many inspiring aspects of Russian culture, such as pianist Denis Matsuev performing Rachmaninoff’s “Piano Concerto No. 2,” ballet dancers demonstrating the ballet cultures of Moscow, and a Literature chapter that included a photo montage emerging from under the stage. As the interesting depictions of Russia’s culture continued throughout the night, there was many analysts going over the events that had taken place throughout the Winter Olympics.

Many of the countries participating gave their best attempts with medal placing, with some countries having surprising upsets and others having disappointing let downs. With these outcomes, there were many changes between who was leading the medal count and especially during the final day there was a sweep by the host country, which secured Russia the final top spot. Russia had an amazing last day of performances in the Ice Skating category and took home a majority of the gold medals, besides the gold medal that the U.S.A team snagged in the category of “Ice Dancing.”

Detroit natives Meryl Davis and Charlie White pulled through for team U.S.A by preforming a stunning dance and scoring an outrageous score to take away the gold medal, which redeemed their last Olympic performance that only won them the silver. Russian athletes made their host county proud by winning the most medals (33) and the most gold medals (13). Coming up just behind Russia was Team USA with 28 total and Norway with 11 gold medals.

As the Winter Olympic closing ceremony came towards the end of the performance, there were nice advertisement spots given to the upcoming Summer Olympics and the next Winter Olympics. As the closing ceremonies came to an end, which to say the least was the most interesting part, was the three mascots, the Polar Bear, Leopard and Rabbit. There is an interesting background story to these mascots, as they held a part in the last Russia Olympics, with the Polar Bear being the main mascot to end their last Olympic run in the summer of 1980, and he ended it again this time around by shedding a tear in 2014.

As the Olympic flag was lowered, it was passed to the mayor of Sochi to the president of the International Olympic commit, who then passed it to Seok-Rae Lee, who is the mayor of Pyeongchang, South Korea. This is where the next Winter Olympics will be held in 2018. With the Winter Olympics finally being closed, the crowd and many nations looked forward to the next round of competition.

It was a great competition for many, but many athletes were already starting to plan for the next round of competition in 2018 and for some, calling it quits. For now, Russia did well during the games, from beginning to close. They even made fun of themselves during the closing ceremony by reenacting the malfunctioning of one of the Olympic rings. This showed that Russia actually has a sense of humor, which for some, was in question. As we look forward to the upcoming summer games and the next Winter Olympics, we will see who returns for revenge and who may jump to the top as new talent. Who knows, supposedly Michael Phelps is planning a comeback, but for now, we reminisce on the insights we got from a Russian insight and plan for a future domination of the podiums by Team U.S.A.