Tokyo took center stage as Rio de Janeiro handed over the Olympic flag to the 2020 host city at a rain-lashed but joyous closing ceremony for the Rio Games on Sunday.
Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike, wearing a light-colored kimono, took the flag from Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes and International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, before Tokyo 2020 organizers gave an eight-minute presentation that saw Prime Minister Shinzo Abe emerge from a large green pipe in homage to Nintendo character Mario.
"Super Mario was amazing," Otavio Camargo, a Brazilian volunteer watching the show at a wet and sparsely attended Maracana Stadium, told The Japan Times.
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