All posts tagged "2022"

The Olympic flame in the Bird's Nest Stadium was extinguished a few minutes after IOC president Thomas Bach declared the 24th Winter Games in Beijing closed. A closing ceremony themed 'One World, One Family' brought to an end 17 days of sports action at a Games held amid both the coronavirus pandemic and disputes over the human rights record of the host. Chinese President Xi Jinping was among the dignitaries in attendance but many western nations have staged a diplomatic boycott of the Games citing China's human rights issues. There was also a shadow cast by the potential for conflict between ......

Teenagers Eileen Gu and Kamila Valieva became faces of the Beijing Winter Olympics that ended on Sunday for very different reasons. The 18-year-old California-born Gu delighted hosts China with two golds and one silver in freestyle skiing and as a social media hit, building some bridges between the two countries which have a strained political relationship. Russian Valieva, 15, stunned as the first woman to stand a quad jump at the Games en route to first place in the team event but the news of a positive doping test in December then turned her world upside down and she finished fourth in the ......

Erin Jackson of the United States confirmed her favourite status with the 500-metre speed skating gold medal at the Beijing Olympic Winter Games to complete a remarkable fairytale journey in the sport. Jackson, 29, only switched to the ice from inline skating five years ago but triumphed in 37.04 seconds around the National Speed Skating Oval with Japan's Miho Takagi taking silver 8 hundredths back, as she did in the 1,500m. Angelina Golikova of the Russian Olympic Committee took bronze a further 9 hundredths behind having narrowly missed the lead held by Takagi since pair four in the 13th duo......

Beijing organizers reported another 36 coronavirus infections among Olympic Winter Games participants on Saturday, the vast majority from positive tests on arrival in China. The organizing committee said there were 1,418 Olympic-related arrivals on Friday with 29 turning out to be positive for the coronavirus. This number includes 19 athletes or team members. Seven further infections were discovered through the routine testing of those in the 'closed loop' system which keeps those involved with the Games apart from the Chinese population. Arrivals must also provide two negative PCR tests as pa......