Olympic Games closing ceremonies can be dull affairs. All those small children singing and athletes mugging at cameras. The caravan has rolled on.

What was missing, it seems, was Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe emerging from a pipe dressed as Nintendo's Mario – one of his country's best-known exports.

Seven has already written off $70 million of the cost broadcasting the 2020 Tokyo Olympics because it now expects much lower advertising revenue from the event. Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe waves as he stands on Mario's giant plumbing pipe. Credit:AP

The mustachioed Italian plumber, created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto and famed for his red cap and blue overalls, helped shift millions of copies of Super Mario Brothers for Nintendo Co.

Now Mario – older brother of Luigi and one half of the plumbing duo – has been seared into the memories of millions of Olympics viewers.