By Our Special Correspondent
After two weeks of action-packed sport, passion, triumph and human endeavour, Winter Olympics 2022 came to an end with a snow-flanked closing ceremony at the Bird’s Nest Stadium in Beijing on February 20, 2022. From the spectacular, laser-lit opening ceremony with an environmentally friendly Olympic Flame on February 4, 2022 to an equally colorful but more relaxed closing ceremony, Beijing—the only city to have hosted the Summer and Winter Olympics—conjured up memorable Games in which Chinese athletes achieved unprecedented success on the ice and snow. China’s 9 gold medals exceeded expectations, putting it in third place, eclipsing the 8 won by the established Winter Games power, the United States.
San Francisco-born, 18-year-old freestyle skier Eileen Gu, who switched to China in 2019, emerged as a new global star with two gold and one silver medals for the host country. There was a new men’s figure-skating champion in 22-year-old Nathan Chen of the Unites States, who dethroned Japan’s two-time Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu. Traditional winter sports powerhouse Norway topped the medals table with 37 medals, comprising 16 gold, 8 silver and 13 bronze. Germany stood at second place with 27 medals comprising 12 gold, 10 silver and 5 bronze, followed by China (total 15 : 9g, 4s, 2b), USA (total25: 8g, 10s, 7b) and Sweden (total18: 8g, 5s, 5b). The Winter Olympics 2022 will also be remembered for extreme Covid-19 measures that saw creation of a ‘close loop’ and outrage over yet another doping scandal involving 15-year-old Russian skating sensation Kamila Valieva.
Comments