Beijing (AP) — A pile of figure skating rubble created by Russian cheating. A New Chinese Champion — From California.Ace American skier I was frustrated I went home empty-handed. The The end of the olympic line For the most famous snowboarders in the world.All in anti-COVID “Closed loop” Enforced by the authoritarian government of China.
The 2022 Beijing Olympics terrarium ends on Sunday, conquering the unprecedented Asian Olympic Trefector, sending the world’s most global sporting event west for a foreseeable future and returning to this corner. There is no chance. The world at least until 2030.
It was weird. It was messy and at the same time somehow sterile.It was controlled and calibrated in the only way Xi Jinping China has the potential to succeed. And it is isolated in a “bubble” that keeps the participants Cities around them — And, by extension, the world you see sporadically — at arm length.
By many mechanical means, these games have been successful. In fact, they were very safe — despite being carefully tuned. Company dress up How authoritarian governments always do their best. The Local volunteers, As always, it was fun, kind and attractive.
“Chinese people have embraced these games. We were able to experience this excitement, warmth, hospitality and friendliness even in a closed loop,” said Thomas Bach, chairman of the International Olympic Committee. Said on Friday.
It snowed — almost Part of fake, part of real.. Venue such as Birds Nest and Aquatic Center harvested from the 2008 Beijing Olympics worked as expected. One new locale, Big air shoe gunCarved from a reused steel mill, was a fascinating edgy mashup of the winter wonderland and rusty belt industrial landscape.
TV ratings were down, but streaming viewers were up. By saturday NBC Streamed 3.5 billion minutes from Beijing compared to 2.2 billion minutes in South Korea in 2018.
There were no major logistics problems that were unexpected, only those that were deliberately created to stop the COVID epidemic more than two years ago in the country where the coronavirus first appeared.
And the stem that it seemed to be.As of Saturday, the isolated system that turned Beijing into virtually two cities (one isolated and the other proceeding normally) produced only 463. Positive test Among the thousands of visitors who have entered the bubble since January 23rd. Not surprisingly, the state media loved this.
“Successful isolation of events from viruses and minimizing disruption to sporting events also reflects the effectiveness and flexibility of China’s overall zero COVID policy,” the pro-government said. Global Times said, “COVID -19 The preventive experience accumulated at this Olympics can also encourage Chinese cities to adjust their policies.”
But take a deeper look. That will bring up another story about these games.
Internationally, many have criticized them as “authoritarian Olympics” and accused the IOC of hosting them in cooperation with the government accused of serious human rights abuses against Uighurs. Tibetan In its far west and strict policies towards Hong Kong democracy activists off the southeast coast.Some western governments boycott By sending athletes, but not official delegations.
As part of that, China denied such a claim. Normally, Featured Uighurs as part of the Olympic torch career slate Opening ceremony February 4th.
And of course, there were also Russians. And doping. Also.
15-year-old Russian figure skater Camilla Varieva Banned heart medicine. Results were not published by anti-doping authorities until she won gold as part of the team’s competition, even though the sample was taken a few weeks ago.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that she was in a protected position as a minor and allowed her to compete in individual areas. However, although Barriera was eager to win, she fell several times during her free skating routine, finishing fourth and urging a cold reception from her embarrassed coach. Eteri Tutberidze..
“Rather than trying to help her and comforting her, you could feel this cold atmosphere, this distance,” Bach said the next day. Declare his anger.
Varieva’s Russian teammates took gold and silver, but on the night of the drama, which seemed destined to define these 2022 games, Even the winner was weeping..The case that was created One possible heritage For Beijing: The Trials of Balieva influenced the story of raising the minimum age of Olympic skaters from 15 to 17 or 18.
American skier Mikaela Shiffrin also came to Beijing with great expectations. She couldn’t finish 3 races.. Her American teammates didn’t go very well. She left without a medal. In the image to remember, the TV camera sat tired of Shiffrin on the snow, holding her hands and shooting for a few minutes.
The 2022 game was controversial from the moment of the IOC Awarded them to Beijing, A snow-free capital of a country with little winter sports tradition. Almaty in Kazakhstan was the only other city after the other four bids were made. Withdrawn Due to lack of local support or high cost.
Geopolitical tensions also cast a shadow over these games, raising fears of war in Europe as Russia strengthened its troops along the Ukrainian border. “Olympic truce” Probably kick-in.
Anxiety did not stop Russian President Vladimir Putin appearing in Opening ceremony After meeting Xi personally. Russia cannot compete under its own flag from a luxurious box as part of the sanctions imposed on a large-scale state-sponsored doping operation revealed after Putin’s 2014 Sochi Olympics. Waved to the athlete.
China swelled with pride, and its social media swelled with comments.Eileen Gu, an American-born freestyle skier Chosen to compete for ChinaHer mother’s home country, has become an international superstar. Her three medals (two gold medals and one silver medal) set a new record for her sport. Her compliment to Gu at some point literally broke the Internet in China, temporarily crashing the server of Sina Weibo, a huge Twitter-like network.
And Su Yiming, a Chinese snowboarder who played the role of a former child, Won the crowd of houses The predominant gold medal big air performance.
Other moments to remember from Beijing in 2022:
— A 22-year-old figure skater with almost perfect free skating and a record short program Nathan Chen Since 2010, he has become the first American gold medalist in his sport.
— Shaun White, the most famous snowboard rider I called it a career After finishing fourth in the halfpipe at the fifth Olympics, he handed the torch to athletes such as Sue and Ayumu Hirano, a Japanese halfpipe gold medalist. “When I woke up this morning, I felt this comfort. I was surprised to find that I was in front of me a lot,” White said. I said later.
—Chloe Kim, an American border and social media figure, won a gold medal on her second halfpipe in addition to the 2018 medal from Pyeongchang.
— Norway has led the number of medals with a total population of 5 million, less than half the host country. Russia was second, followed by Germany, Canada and the United States.
Later games in Asia for the third consecutive year Pyeongchang Behind 2018 Tokyo Summer Olympics Six months ago, it was also the second pandemic game. And 16,000 athletes and other foreign visitors who have spent all their time isolated from the host city behind a long wire mesh fence are forced to see countless signs of overwhelming the constant repetition of the Olympic slogan. It was. “Together for a shared future.”
However, in many of these solemn and distant games, not only the weather but also the tenor itself is winter, and the shared future after the pandemic, the diversity of embrace and harmony that the Olympics will build across multinational brands, is largely. I saw it outside. Of reach.
The Beijing Olympics are over, ending a strange global moment | WGN Radio 720
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