The Bird's Nest will become become the first city to host a Summer and Winter Olympic Games Closing Ceremony ©Getty Images

Details of what Closing Ceremony director Zhang Yimou plans for tonight are being kept close to the chest, but if Beijing 2008 can be taken as a guide, those in the Bird's Nest can expect something spectacular.

The Ceremony, set to be attended by Chinese President Xi Jinping, will also include the traditional moments of Olympic ritual.

The medals will be presented  for the two mass start cross country races, both held over 30 kilometres due to the uncertainty over weather conditions.

They will be the last Victory Ceremonies of the Games.

The teams will enter the Beijing National Stadium, as the venue is officially known, "without distinction of nationality," an idea first suggested by a anonymous Chinese Australian boy who wrote to organisers of the 1956 Melbourne Games.

He was later revealed as John Ian Wing and his idea has been adopted since then at every Closing Ceremony.

The Closing Ceremony at the end of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing 2008 was memorable for its scale ©Getty Images
The Closing Ceremony at the end of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing 2008 was memorable for its scale ©Getty Images

The Chinese flag is set to be carried by  500 metres speed skating gold medallist Gao Tingyu and aerials gold medallists Xu Mengtao.

Greece's flag will be raised as the national anthem known as the Hymn to Liberty is played to acknowledge the  origins of the Olympic Games.

The Chinese flag is hoisted to the strains of the March of the Volunteers to salute the current hosts.

Finally the Italian flag is hoisted as the anthem Inno di Mameli is played to anticipate Milan Cortina 2026.

The Handover Ceremony is to feature the Mayors of Bejing, Milan and Cortina D’Ampezzo.

This features a Ceremonial flag, donated by the City of Oslo after they hosted the 1952 Winter Olympics and first presented to Cortina D’Ampezzo in 1956, the last time they hosted the Games. 

The flag will be passed from Beijing Mayor Chen Jining to International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach who will then hand it on to Milan’s Giuseppe Sala and Cortina d’Ampezzo’s Gianpietro Ghedina.

A performance segment directed by Marco Balich will follow, to reflect the "duality of city and mountains".

It will feature Milanese-born pop singer Malika Ayane and Italian violinist Giovanni Andrea Zanon who claims his "heart belongs in the Dolomites".  

Cai Qi, head of the Beijing 2022 Organising Committee, and International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach will both make speeches.

The IOC President will conclude with the traditional words.

"I call on the youth of the world, to assemble four years from now in Milan Cortina, there to celebrate the 25th Olympic Winter Games."

Beijing 2022 received the Ceremonial Olympic Flag from IOC President Thomas Bach at the Closing Ceremony in Pyeonchang four years ago ©Getty Images
Beijing 2022 received the Ceremonial Olympic Flag from IOC President Thomas Bach at the Closing Ceremony in Pyeonchang four years ago ©Getty Images

It is traditional for the newly elected IOC Athletes' Commission members to present a gift to representatives of the volunteer force but Sweden's Alpine skier Frida Hansdotter is in Sweden, although Martin Fourcade is present in the Chinese capital. 

The Olympic Flag will be lowered to the strains of the Olympic hymn, signifying that Beijing is no longer Olympic soil.

Then the Flame which has burnt in a snowflake throughout these Games will finally be extinguished.

In 2008, a spectacular display featured aerialists and a representation of the steps leading to boarding an aircraft appeared to symbolise the departure of visitors from the Olympic city.

It seems certain that a similar symbolic moment will be revealed tonight.