Japanese PM Shinzo Abe wins Olympics closing ceremony with brilliant Super Mario appearance

The Rio 2016 Olympics have been a triumph of sporting excellence with heroes like Laura Trott, Usain Bolt and Mo Farah winning medals for incredible feats of physical endurance and endeavour.

But one man trumped them all on the very last day of the games - and he's not even an athlete. The closing ceremony was held in the athletics stadium last night as the curtain fell on the games after a terrific two weeks of running, jumping, throwing, fighting, rowing, sailing, tennis-ing and all manner of sporting accomplishments. And now the baton is passed on to Tokyo who host the next Olympics in 2020. Traditionally the hosts of the upcoming games take part in the closing ceremony as part of a handover of the Olympic spirit. You may remember a slightly confused-looking David Beckham booting a football over a London bus at the end of the Beijing games in 2008. [caption id="attachment_81022" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Remember this? (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)[/caption]   Well Japan have gone one better than that with their effort at the closing of the Rio Olympics. In a prepared video, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe realises he will be late for the festivities, so switches to his alter ego Super Mario in order to make it on time, using one of Mario's famous green tubes to get to Rio. https://twitter.com/yurixlax/status/767618477297324032 It was a great effort from the politician and it went down very well with the viewers. https://twitter.com/FrickleChip/status/767626316912943104 https://twitter.com/murakamikaze/status/767625844676239361 https://twitter.com/SooooBane/status/767625073511366656 https://twitter.com/corriechen/status/767622839138553856 https://twitter.com/sudestasien/status/767622227944730624 https://twitter.com/susiebubble/status/767622079692869632 But we leave you with this sobering thought... https://twitter.com/JonCudby/status/767622108205711360 Read more from SportsJOE: