Olympic Games-2022: the Games say goodbye to Beijing

A pinch of Covid, a hint of politics, a thin layer of snow, a thin audience but also a big dose of Valieva and sporting exploits galore, like Quentin Fillon Maillet and Eileen Gu: the Olympic Games of Beijing ended on Sunday with the usual cocktail.

The president of the National Olympic Committee Thomas Bach declares the Beijing Olympic Games “closed” on February 20, 2022 in the national stadium where the closing ceremony takes place / AFP

The President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach, as tradition dictates, “closed” these 24th Winter Olympics with a speech of peace, before the Olympic flame was extinguished in the Chinese capital at the end of this very special fortnight, under the regime of a very strict health bubble which greatly spoiled the party.

Just as regrettable but more common in Olympic history, doping also made its appearance in Beijing with a name: Kamila Valieva.

At 15, the Russian skater found herself at the center of a resounding affair which will continue well beyond the Chinese meeting.

Arriving as favorite in the individual event, thanks in particular to her quadruple jumps, Valieva began by winning the team event, ahead of the Americans and Japan, on February 7. Patatras! The next day, she was notified of a positive doping control for a test carried out on December 25.

Through appeals and procedures, Valieva, the IOC and the World Anti-Doping Agency are trying to untangle the imbroglio.

Russian Kamila Valieva falls during her figure skating free program on February 17, 2022 at the Beijing Olympics / AFP/Archives

On the eve of the individual event, the skater is finally authorized to participate. But the IOC warns that it will consider the results provisional and will not award medals until the case is resolved – which could take months. Finally, after dominating the short program, she literally broke down in the free and finished… just off the podium, worn out by the pressure.

Quickly returning home, the teenager must now recover and wait, just like the Americans, furious at not having received their medal, and the Japanese.

– Seven medals for biathlon –

Medals, some drank in them.

Quentin Fillon Maillet, gold medalist in pursuit at the Beijing Games, February 13, 2022 at the national biathlon center in Zhangjiakou / AFP/Archives

Quentin Fillon Maillet accumulated five, a feat that no Frenchman had achieved during the same Winter Olympic edition. The Jura native leaves these Olympics with two titles (individual and pursuit) and three silver medals (mixed and men’s relay, sprint).

He is the most medalist, tied with his Norwegian rival Johannes Boe, who collected four Olympic titles, the Norwegian biathlete Marte Olsbu Roeiseland and the Russian cross-country skier Alexander Bolshunov.

The French biathlon torchbearers before receiving their silver medal on February 16 at the Beijing Olympic Games / AFP/Archives

“QFM” will therefore have been the main provider of French medals. With its five podiums, plus Justine Braisaz-Bouchet’s title in mass start and Anaïs Chevalier-Bouchet’s silver in individual, the biathlon is even worth half of the French camp’s fourteen medals.

After the failure in the quarterfinals of the alpine skiers during the team event on Sunday, the count stopped one unit short of the 2018 Olympic record.

The French Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron during the free ice dance program at the Beijing Olympics, February 14, 2022 / AFP

The Blues can, however, console themselves with so many gold medals, since to those of Fillon Maillet and Braisaz-Bouchet are added Clément Noël in slalom and the duo Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron in ice dancing.

Unfortunately, these exploits could not be as festive as they deserved.

– Less than 100,000 spectators –

Empty stands for the arrival of Norwegian Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen in the men’s biathlon relay on February 15, 2022 in Zhangjiakou / AFP/Archives

The public invited by the officials was present (unlike last summer in Tokyo) but, with less than 100,000 spectators announced by the organizers (compared to 1 million four years ago in Pyeongchang) spread over thirteen sites and 109 events, these Olympics were gloomy and often silent.

An employee in a suit carries out a Covid test before the start of the Beijing Olympic Games, January 27, 2022 / AFP/Archives

The health bubble spoiled much of the fun, with the compulsory wearing of masks, daily tests and, above all, travel restrictions, the impossibility for athletes to stay a few days once their events are over to encourage their compatriots, to escape this bubble to meet the population…

But, in the end, the organizers’ zero Covid policy worked. Certainly, some athletes affected by Covid-19 have had to give up their Olympic dream. But, given the more than 60,000 daily tests, or more than 1.8 million in total, there was no cluster or massacre, since the Olympic population did not count more than three positive cases out of the last ten days. And those placed in solitary confinement did not seem to have suffered from it, like Johannes Boe.

The fortnight also began with controversies over human rights or the absence of natural snow, made using snow cannons.

– Milan/Cortina in 2026 –

The debate on human rights came neither from athletes, nor from countries like the United States having decided on a diplomatic boycott, nor from organizations opposed to the holding of these Olympic Games in China, accused of violating rights against the Uyghur Muslim minority in the Xinjiang region.

The last bearers of the Olympic flame of the Beijing Olympics, Dinigeer Yilamujiang and Zhao Jiawen, during the opening ceremony on February 4, 2022 / POOL/AFP/Archives

To the few questions asked on this subject, the spokesperson for the Organizing Committee, Yan Jiarong, spoke of “lies”, before being called to order by the IOC which does not want to mix sport and politics, and organizers pulled Uighur cross-country skier Dinigeer Yilamujiang out of their hat to light the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremony on February 4.

Satellite photo of the alpine ski slopes of the 2022 Olympic Games Yanqing on February 3, 2022 / Satellite image ©2022 Maxar Technologies/AFP/Archives

The sky also extinguished the controversy over the snow since, after a week spent lamenting the dry, arid and white landscapes of the mountain sites of Zhangjiakou and Yanqing, the holy snow finally fell in the middle of the Olympics, whitening the backgrounds.

Now, time for the next Olympics with a return to Europe, after Rio, Pyeongchang, Tokyo and Beijing, the first city to host the Summer Olympics (2008) and now the Winter Olympics.

National Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach applauds the mayors of Milan Giuseppe Sala (c) and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Gianpietro Ghedina, whose cities will host the next Winter Olympics, during the closing ceremony of the Beijing Games, February 20, 2022 / AFP

In four years, the next winter edition will take place in Italy, with a unique duo Milan/Cortina, who recovered the Olympic flag during the evening from the hands of Thomas Bach, before the Olympic flame was extinguished.

And, in two years, it will be in Paris that she will shine! The next meeting in 2024 will take place in the French capital, where the organizers promise a festive Summer Olympics.

The Olympic world really needs it.