2010 Games End With Wink, Smile

Vancouver ended its time hosting the 2010 Olympic games on a light-hearted note, with a closing ceremony that featured floating moose, dancing Mounties and gigantic cut-out hockey players wearing the gold medals Team Canada had won hours before.

Photos: Closing Ceremony

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Winter Olympics Closing Ceremony Diary: Journal reporters analyze the ceremony

The upbeat ending was in stark contrast to the grim beginning of these games, which were marred by protests, the death of a Georgian luger, and then by unseasonably warm weather that left organizers postponing events and trucking in snow on Cypress Mountain.

``You took on a stubborn mountain with all your might,'' said Vancouver Organizing Committee CEO John Furlong, lauding the games' blue-garbed staff in a speech during the ceremony. ``The final result: Blue Jackets 1; Cypress Mountain weather zero.''

During the closing ceremony, Vancouver passed the baton to Sochi, Russia, which will host the 2014 winter games.

Write to Phred Dvorak at phred.dvorak@wsj.com

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