Last night the 24th Winter Olympics ended in Beijing and as per usual I'd like to give a brief recap of the global sporting events. I know very little about winter sports such as figure skating, skiing, and snowboarding and yet I tune in every night for the coverage. That 8pm prime time start on NBC with the Olympic Fanfare Theme brings such joy and nostalgia for me. As I've written many times before I love everything about the Olympics from the sports to the international unity. It's a celebration of the human physical and mental prowess while also a celebration of global cultures.
Just like with Tokyo last summer, these games were going to be on a 13-hour difference. So this meant that most of the main events partook while we were sleeping on the American east coast. There still was however some live coverage at night and in the morning. As per usual NBC did a great job at packaging the best highlights and events in a prime time evening program. I did my best to ignore the news of the day so as to be more surprised in the evening. Some nights were especially entertaining to watch such as the live halfpipe performances. The figure skating was perhaps not as exciting due to the doping scandals but still the games were as good as ever.
The Opening Ceremony
Beijing, China hosted the Summer Olympics in 2008 and made quite a statement with their opening ceremony in the elaborate Nest Stadium. I particularly remember the grand scale of the event unlike any before, and the thousands of drummers beating in unison. However at this games there was ongoing diplomatic tension pertaining to China's recent abuse of human rights. Also was the ongoing crisis of Russia's aggression towards Ukraine. In a bold statement, US did not send any emissaries to this game as they wanted to show disapproval to both China and Russia. Nonetheless the athletes were all still allowed to participate.
Another unique element of this Olympic games, was once again the lack of fans due to the Covid Pandemic. Nonetheless there were still thousands of entertainers, volunteers, and athletes within the stadium. The ceremony was as usual a celebration of the host nation's culture while also a celebration of the games. There was a unique digital display on the field that projected all sorts of colorful visual effects. There was also music, dancing, elaborate stage props, the parade of athletes, rising of flags, lighting of the Olympic torch, and of course many fireworks. It was a spectacle that did not disappoint.
Speedskating
As per usual the speedskating was dominated by the Dutch skaters who won a total of 12 medals (6 of which were gold). Some key highlights included Erin Jackson winning gold in the 500m, to become the first ever African American female to win gold in the skating events. Dutch skater Irene Schouten had the best showing in speedskating with 3 gold medals and a bronze in the team event. Jutta Leerdam was one of my personal favorite of the skaters who won silver in the 1000m. And American Brittany Bowe finally received a medal after her 3rd Olympic games. The men were starred by Swedish skater Nils van der Poel who won two gold medals in the 5000 and 1000m.
Alpine SkiingIn the downhill skiing perhaps one of the biggest stories and disappointments was the epic collapse of superstar Mikaela Shiffrin. In an interview before the games she mentioned the pressure on being an Olympic star and related to the problems Simone Biles faces. Well sure enough she thought this fear into existence and was never able to feel confident at these games. She did not medal in any of her 6 events and did not even finish in 3 of them due to falls. Despite this mental breakdown she is still young and can likely be back for more games and medals. The skiing events were won by the Swiss with 9 medals followed by the Austrians with 7 medals. Only one American medals in these events, Ryan Cochran-Siegle.
Snowboarding
The half-pipe event has become one of the more popular events of the games since it's inclusion in 1998. This is much ado to the face of the event and the Winter Olympics, the superstar flying tomato Sean White. He burst onto the stage as a young teenager at the Torino Olympics in 2006 and has won three gold medals in the events since. This was to be his fifth and last Olympic games and unfortunately at the age of 34 he was unable to compete with the younger talent and did not medal. He still held his head high however as a true legend of the sport. Meanwhile his American counterpart, Chloe Kim defended her gold medal she won four years ago with relative ease. Lindsay Jacobellis won two gold medals in the snowboard cross, after falling short many times before.
Short Track Skating
One of my favorite events since Apollo Ohno first dominated the sport is the chaotic Short Track Skating. This is a very unpredictable event that quite often leads to wicked crashes as they take very tight turns. I probably did not get to watch as much of this event as I would have liked but still did see some of it. South Korea continues to be the top contender in the event with it's 5 medals however followed closely by the Dutch, Chinese, Canadian, and Italian. One of my favorite skaters from the Pyeongchang games is Dutch skater, Suzanne Schulting who went on to win two golds, a silver, and a bronze medal at these games. She is only 24 and still has a bright future to collect more medals and become an all time great of the event.
Freestyle Skiing
This year I gave more attention then ever to the freestyle skiing, which consists of acrobatics from ski jumps. This sport has really blown up since it's introduction of the aerial event at the 1992 Albertville winter games. Now there are 6 events in the sport for both men and women consisting of the aerials, big air, halfpipe, slopestyle, moguls, and ski-cross. And this year for the first time emerged a new star and face of the event, Eileen Gu. The young 18 year old Chinese American, chose to represent China instead of America and won two gold medals and a silver medal. Her future is quite bright and surely she'll be back for more games to collect more medals.
Figure Skating
The marquee main event of the Winter Olympics is always the women's figure skating which does not take place until the 2nd week. However once again this event was clouded with great controversary due to more doping scandals against the Russian Olympic Committee. The superstar 15 year old Russian skater, Kamila Valieva was favored to easily win the event however midway thru the games she tested positive for an illegal endurance booster. Even more strange however was that she was still allowed to compete while the case was to be adjudicated. Due to much pressure and negative attention Kamila performed very poorly in her final program and fell numerous times. She did not even medal and was left with a horrible image of crying at the end. This was truly unfair for her to endure this negative coverage at the age of 15 which was most likely the fault of her coaches. Hopefully she can bounce back and compete in four years.
On the flip side there was a very positive skating story on the men's side for American skater, Nathan Chen. After falling short in the Pyeongchang games he performed masterfully with numerous quads and amassing one of the highest scores ever in figure skating. Nicknamed the quad-king he will surely be remembered as one of the greatest male skaters of all time. In the other events, Anna Shcherbakova of Russia won the gold for women's skating, China won the pair skating event, France won the dance skating, and Russia won the team event (which is still to be deliberated due to Kamila's positive drug test). Aside from Kamila I was honestly really not that impressed with the skating field this year. My all time favorite still remains Russian, Yulia Lipnitskaya.
Other Events and Closing Ceremony
I watched a little bit of the bobsleigh events, in which they get up to 80 miles-an-hour on the downhill track. These events were once again dominated by the Germans with 7 medals, however the star was American Elena Meyers who went on to win her 5th medal in the event and was the nations flag bearer in the closing ceremony. The hockey tournaments were won by the Canadian women and the men from Finland. It was good to see Finland upset the mighty Russia, and I actually watched the ending of this game live on Saturday night. I watched some of the other events here and there such as cross country skiing or curling and they're all so unique and visually appealing.
Last night I watched the closing ceremony which was obviously not as grand as the opening ceremony but still a fitting closure to the games. Beijing also made its formal hand off to the host of the next winters games by the dual Italian cities of Milan and Cortina. At the ceremony Italy got a chance to showcase some of it's artistic prowess in the stadium along with a video montage demonstrating the city's features and excitement to host the games. The ending of the games always brings about a bittersweet feeling of something incredible coming to an end. But that is certainly what makes it special, and aside from some controversy I'd say these games were a success and I cannot wait for the Paris Olympic games in two years.
Final Medal Count
Norway (NOR)
Germany (GER)
China (CHN)*
United States (USA)
Sweden (SWE)
Netherlands (NED)
Austria (AUT)
Switzerland (SUI)
ROC (ROC)
France (FRA)
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