When You Can Watch the Olympics Closing Ceremonies

The Sochi Winter Olympics have been very confusing for American audiences. Not only have we been baffled seeing the likes of Ashley Wagner robbed of a better score during her ladies' figure skating long program, but we've also been forced to avoid spoilers for a Winter Games that plays out in real time nine to 12 hours before U.S. sports fans get to watch them on NBC. (And though some of us have been lucky enough to watch the Sochi Olympics live on NBC's sports network, most of us, you know, actually work during the day.) Still, after figure skating and hockey and every other thrilling event wraps up, there's still one more to anticipate: The Sochi Olympics' Closing Ceremonies. TV audiences on the East and West Coasts will not get the chance to see them until 8:30pm EST and PST, respectively, but when can those in the mountain region watch them? We're here to help: The Olympics Closing Ceremony airs at 7:30pm MST Sunday night. (And, to make things even more confusing, the ceremonies air live in Sochi at 8pm MSK.)

But the two-hour ceremony isn't all sports fans get on Sunday night — prior to the closing ceremonies, NBC will air a special, Olympics 2014: Sochi Gold. As for the goings-on of the ceremony itself, American audiences will see some familiar faces not only in 2014's Olympians, but also in tennis great Billie Jean King, who President Obama hand-picked as part of the U.S. delegation of athletes, which — as a form of protest against Vladimir Putin's anti-gay laws — is largely made up of gay athletes like King. There will, however, be some unfamiliar faces as well: Korean musicians Jo Sumi, Na Yoon Sun, Lee Seung Chul, and Yang Bang Eon will be performing in celebration of 2018's Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea, and Filipino figure skater Audrey Alcaraz will be skating at the event.

As for what we can look forward to before 2018? Why, the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics, of course. Not only can we look forward to seeing swimming and gymnastics greats perform on the international stage, but there's also one thing in particular to look forward to in 2016: An Olympics that airs just two hours ahead of EST. Hey, it's an improvement!