Beijing Winter Olympics come to an end

Beijing has doused its Olympic flame closing a Games that will be remembered for the extremes of its anti-COVID-19 measures and outrage over the doping scandal that enveloped 15-year-old Russian skating sensation Kamila Valieva.

Photo: AFP

Chinese President Xi Jinping was on hand for the snowflake-themed ceremony at the Bird’s Nest stadium, where International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach described the Beijing Games as “truly exceptional” before declaring them closed.

The Beijing Games, contained inside a “closed loop”, were the second Olympics in six months to be deprived by COVID-19 of much of its festivity.

They were also stalked by politics, with several countries staging a diplomatic boycott over China’s human rights record, and the spectre of invasion of Ukraine by Russia, with President Vladimir Putin attending the opening ceremony in a show of solidarity against the West with Xi.

Still, China was spared any embarrassing protests by competitors over its treatment of the Uyghur Muslim minority or anything else, and the thousands of foreign journalists on hand were stuck inside the closed-loop, unable to report more widely.

Sunday night’s ceremony was capped by a 90-second fireworks display that spelled out “one world, one family,” followed by a rendition of “Auld Lang Syne”.

During the ceremony, Bach praised Beijing’s organisers and made a call for unity as well as universal access to COVID-19 vaccines.

“You embraced each other, even if your countries are divided by conflict,” he said. “The unifying power of the Olympic Games is stronger than the forces that want to divide us: you give peace a chance.”

Beijing’s tightly sealed bubble prevented the spread of the novel coronavirus at the Olympics or into the community, vindicating a zero-COVID policy that has isolated China inside what are nearly closed borders that shows no sign of easing.

However, many athletes had their Olympic dreams dashed by positive tests that prevented them from competing.

Photo: AFP

China’s nine gold medals exceeded expectations, putting it in third place, while winter sports powerhouse Norway, with a population of just 5.5 million, won a record 16.

The biggest legacy of the Beijing Olympics will be the controversy surrounding Valieva, who stumbled under pressure in her final skate, and the outrage directed towards Russian sports officials and the country’s history of doping, which meant its athletes could not compete under Russia’s flag.

Valieva failed a doping test at her national championships in December but the result was only revealed on Feb. 8, a day after she helped the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) win the team event.

She was nonetheless allowed to participate in the singles but finished fourth, her error-strewn performance prompting a harsh reaction from her coach Eteri Tutberidze that the IOC’s Bach later said he found “chilling”.

The saga, which dominated the Games, reopened debate over the suitability of the Olympic environment for minors and prompted the world’s top anti-doping authority to investigate Valieva’s entourage.

Finland’s men’s ice hockey team finally reached the top of the Olympic podium by beating the Russian Olympic Committee 2-1 to claim the final gold medal on offer at the Games.

New Zealand finished 17th on the medal table with two gold and a silver.

-Reuters