From the opening ceremony with a malfunctioning ring, to police officers singing Get Lucky, the Sochi Winter Olympics have been a games to remember.But tonight marks the end for the highly controversial games, which are also the most expensive in Olympic history.Showing that the country has a sense of humour, dancers during the opening section of the show mocked the moment a ring failed to open during the opening ceremony.The joke was followed by an opulent show of ballet, circus performances and classical music, an ode to the country's rich literary history - before the Olympic flame was finally extinguished.Flushed with pride, having won the more medals than any country, performers cluttered the Fischt Stadium to celebrate 17 days of sport-driven global unity with a farewell show that handed off the Winter Games to their next host, Pyeongchang in South Korea. Russia's athletes topped the Sochi medals table, with a record 13 golds and 33 total, though even this was marred with allegations of cheating and unfair judging. It represented a stunning turnaround from the 2010 Vancouver Games. There, a meagre 3 golds and 15 total for Russia seemed proof of its gradual decline as a winter sports power since Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.President Vladimir Putin beamed as Thomas Bach, the International Olympic Committee chairman, said: 'Russia delivered all what it had promised.'Starting at 20.14 local time, a nod to the year that President Vladimir Putin attempted to 'rebuild Russia', performers dropped from the roof in a visually stunning panorama of Russian history and culture.Raucous spectators chanted 'Ro-ssi-ya! Ro-ssi-ya!' before being surrounded by multicolored fireworks.The crowd was in a party mood after the high-security games passed off safely without feared terror attacks. 'This is the new face of Russia - our Russia,' said Dmitry Chernyshenko, head of the Sochi organizing committee. He called the games 'a moment to cherish and pass on to the next generations.'Despite tensions over human rights controversies and diplomatic clashes in the run up to the Games, Thomas Bach used the closing ceremony to deliver an upbeat verdict on the games, his first as International Olympic Committee president.'It's amazing what has happened here,' Bach said a few hours before the ceremony. He recalled that Sochi was an 'old, Stalinist-style sanatorium city' when he visited for the IOC in the 1990s. 'You entered the room and you were looking at the roof so you would not be hit by something falling down,' he said.The arena, a jewel of the all-new Olympic Park by the Black Sea, overlooks the Caucasus Mountains where skiers, snowboarders and sliders competed.It is where the Olympic Flame has been displayed throughout the Games - which has become a favorite backdrop for 'Sochi selfies,' a buzzword born at these games for the fad of athletes and spectators taking DIY souvenir photos of themselves.The audience raised the roof for the Russian team when it paraded in. Even Vladimir Putin was impressed - the Russian president stood and clapped for the group that won more golds (13) and total medals (33) than any other country. Five competitors of the thousands were absent from the festivities having been tossed out after they were caught by what was the most extensive anti-doping program in Winter Olympic history, with the IOC conducting a record 2,453 tests.The most formal part of the entrance was the Russian gold medalists bringing their national flag into the stadium, followed by flag bearers from all 88 countries. The Russian crowd roared loudly for the medal presentation for the men's 50-kilometer cross-country race, an event swept by three Russians.After the awards, the crowds welcomed the newly-elected members of the international committee before four volunteers were handed flowers by the athletes as a thank you.It is the first time a mass volunteering programme has ever been achieved in Russia. The cultural performance ensued, as Russia celebrated itself and its rich gifts to the worlds of music and literature in the ceremony. Performers in smart tails and puffy white wigs performed a ballet of grand pianos, pushing 62 of them around the stadium floor while soloist Denis Matsuev played thunderous bars from Sergei Rachmaninoff's Concerto No.2. There was, of course, also ballet, with dancers from the Bolshoi and the Mariinsky, among the world's oldest ballet companies. The faces of Russian authors through the ages were projected onto enormous screens, and a pile of books transformed into a swirling tornado of loose pages.And with a formidable circus heritage, hundreds of clowns and acrobats flocked into the arena with a Big Top.Within 20 seconds of the illusionists and dancers finishing their clown act, the Big Top disappeared from sight.Officials then emerged, and the Russian flag rose, for the national anthem.Finally, after a rendition of the Olympic anthem, the handover began for South Korea.The Asian nation is set to spend just £7bn on the Games, compared to Russia's double-figure sum, indicating a down-sizing.Afterwards, head of the IOC Thomas Bach emerged with Russia's Olympic president to give a closing speech praising the facilities and volunteers, branding it 'the athlete's games'.Following widespread controversy over diplomatic tensions and homophobia, he then made a plea for speech.Russia's head of Olympics said in English: 'It is a great moment in our history a moment to cherish and pass on to the next generation, a moment which will never be forgotten. This is the new face of Russia, our Russia. And for us these Games are the best ever.'In Russian, he added: 'We did it, we conquered the Olympic summit and these Games will be with us forever.'Thomas Bach then made his plea for peace.He said: 'I appeal to every body implicated in confrontation, oppression or violence, act on this Olympic message of dialogue and peace.'He also praised Russian President Vladimir Putin for 'his personal commitment to the extraordinary success' of the Sochi Games. Then performers flocked into the arena once more to bid farewell to the country's mascot and extinguish the Olympic flame.With a nod to Russia's Olympic past and 900 children carrying small flames, a giant bear huffed and puffed and blew out the flame.The 26-foot bear blew his frosty breath on a flame sitting right in front of him. Moments later, the giant cauldron outside Fisht Olympic Stadium was extinguished, marking the end of the 17-day games. Then a single tear rolled down the bear's left cheek, one of the most touching moments of the closing ceremony.(dailymail.co.uk)ANN.Az