According to tradition, Bach closed the July 23-August 8 Games in the presence of Japanese crown prince Akishino and invited the youth of the world to the Games of the 33rd Olympiad in Paris 2024.

"In these difficult times you give the world the most precious of gifts: hope," Bach said in his closing speech during the more than two-hour ceremony.

"For the first time since the pandemic began, the entire world came together. Sport returned to centre stage. Billions of people around the globe were united by emotion, sharing moments of joy and inspiration.

"This gives us hope. This gives us faith in the future," Bach said, speaking of "Games of hope, solidarity and peace".

Bach thanked the Japanese organisers and the thousands of volunteers, saying: "You, the Japanese people, can be extremely proud of what you have achieved."

Athletes from more than 60 of the 206 nations and teams competing at the Games were no longer present for the ceremony, according to the IOC - mainly because coronavirus rules made athletes leave within 48 hours after their competition.

Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo received the Olympic flag in the Tokyo stadium, a giant flag was displayed at the Eiffel Tower while French astronaut Thomas Pesquet played the final chords of the national anthem on a saxophone from the International Space Station.

In Tokyo, athletes got a surreal glimpse of everyday Tokyo life on Sunday when the closing ceremony was briefly transformed into a park with grass, buskers and BMX riders in a valediction after weeks spent under the regime of a pandemic Games.

Performers danced, skipped and played soccer, mingling and waving to athletes, who gathered closely together on the grass.

Organisers said the scene was meant so they could "experience Tokyo", a poignant nod to the fact that many spent their time at the Games cooped up in rooms or competing in venues.

It was a duly odd closing to a Games that were upended by the pandemic and then transformed by the drama of politics, sport and personal turmoil.

The Tokyo Olympics were originally intended to show Japan's recovery from a devastating earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis in 2011.

After being postponed for a year, organisers said the Games would serve as a symbol of the world's triumph over the pandemic.

Held without spectators and with COVID-19 variants resurgent, the Games fell short of triumph and the financial windfall Japan first sought.

Instead, the host nation is saddled with a $15 billion ($A20.5 billion) bill, double what it initially expected, and with no tourist boom to offset it.

- with DPA

Australian Associated Press