The 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games held its closing ceremony at the event's village, south of host city Buenos Aires on Thursday. The third edition attracted around 4,000 young athletes from the world and after 13 days of competition, it ended with the flag handed over to Dakar for 2022.
Running from October 6 to 18, athletes aged from 15 to 18 competed in 32 sports and 241 events. A total of 92 countries and regions won 751 medals in total.
Fireworks go off as the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games closed on October 18, 2018. /VCG Photo
In the ceremony, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach presented the Olympic flag to the next host city, Dakar, the capital of Senegal.
“These Youth Olympic Games have exceeded all our expectations. We would not even have dared to dream of such a success,” said Bach in the closing ceremony.
Bach said that the organizers of the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics staged a game with “impressive" and "touching” moment, adding that it was “truly a Youth Olympic Games of a new era”.
China sent a 139-athlete delegation to the Games and finished second with 21 golds, 10 silvers and 9 bronzes. Russia ranked top with 29 golds, 18 silvers and 12 bronzes. Japan sit third with 15 golds, followed by Hungary, Italy and hosts Argentina to round out the top 6.