Closing ceremony

Almost 5,000 athletes attended the Games, making it the biggest Games. New Caledonia topped the medal table with 76 gold medals. 

The closing ceremony began with many of the athletes, some wearing their medals, walking a lap of Apia Park Stadium athletics track, past the flaming cauldron, which had seen five days of action this week.

It ended with fire dancing and fireworks, including an illuminated "tofa soifua Pacific" message of farewell to the departing teams.

The colourful ceremony, lasting almost three hours, celebrated Brazil's arts and was held in a wet Maracana.

Among the highlights were Tokyo's impressive showcase and a vibrant carnival parade.

"These were a marvellous Olympics, in a marvellous city," said International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach.

"Over the last 16 days a united Brazil inspired the world, in difficult times for all of us, with its irresistible joy for life."

The closing ceremony starts at 8 p.m. local time, which is one hour ahead of Eastern Time. Because of NBC's time delay, it's airing at 8 p.m. ET and progressively later across the U.S.

We're updating this post with scenes from the event, so please refresh to see what's happening in Rio. We got a late start due to technical issues, so we're filling in some blanks from the official guide to the ceremony.