Monthly Archives: February 2022

(The Hill) NBC sports commentator MikeTiricosaid 15-year-old Russian skater KamilaValieva is the victim of the villains in the Winter Olympics.

Valieva has been put under an international spotlight after she was allowed to compete following a positive testfora banned substance.

Portrayed by some this week as the villain, by others as the victim, she is, in fact, the victim of the villains, Tirico said, referencing the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and the skaters coaches,NBC Bay Area reported.

Whether they orchestrated, prescribed or enabled, all of this is unclear. But what is certain: They failed to protect her, he added.

TheWorld Anti-Doping Agency is investigating the coaches as International Olympic Committee (IOC) PresidentThomas Bachsaidthatdoping is very rarely done alonewith the athletes.

The IOC faced backlash for letting Valieva compete after her positive drug tests while other Olympians have previously been banned for the use of marijuana.

The deal that was brokered was supposed to ensure a level playing field while giving clean Russian athletes a chance to compete, but that scenario totally broke down here, Tirico said. Now, a failed drug test from one of their athletes has tarnished one of the marquee events of the Games and taken away from every skaters moment.

Tirico called for the IOC to implement punishments against Russia for the incident as Valieva, who wasfavored to win gold, fell multiple times during her performance and broke down afterwards.

Now, its time for the IOC to stand up, Tirico added. Whether its about blocking Russia from hosting events for a very long time, or stringent and globally transparent testing for Russian athletes going forward, if swift action from the top of the Olympic movement does not happen quickly, the very future of the Games could be in jeopardy.

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Tirico: Valieva the victim of the villains | WRIC ABC 8News

Lindholm placed 28th out of 59 finishers in the men's 50km mass start event at Beijing 2022

Perhaps the worst part of it all for Finland's Remi Lindholm is that it was not even the first time it had happened.

Such was the chance of athletes suffering frostbite, freezing conditions at the Winter Olympics in Beijing had already seen the blue riband men's 50km cross-country ski delayed by an hour - and shortened to a 30km event.

But even those alterations could not save Lindholm from an "unbearable" fate.

The immediate concern for the 24-year-old, in the aftermath of completing the final event of his debut Olympic Games, was thawing out his frozen penis.

A heat pack eventually helped the Finn salvage the situation at the end of what was a gruelling race.

However, having spent almost one hour and 16 minutes out on the course in howling winds and appendage-threatening temperatures of -17C, he was, understandably, left in a tremendous amount of pain.

"You can guess which body part was a little bit frozen when I finished," Lindholm told Finnish media.

"It was one of the worst competitions I've been in. It was just about battling through.

"When the body parts started to warm up after the finish, the pain was unbearable."

Poor Lindholm previously suffered a similar incident at a competition in Finland last year, with the thin suits and under layers worn by racers offering minimal protection from extreme cold.

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Winter Olympics: Finnish skier Remi Lindholm suffers ...

The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics have concluded. So naturally, it is time to start looking at what countries and cities will host the next winter and summer Olympics.

The most recent winter and summer Games took place closer in time than usual due to the coronavirus pandemic. The 2020 Tokyo summer Olympics actually occurred in 2021, leaving just a few months between those Games and the Winter Olympics that just took place in Beijing.

The next Olympics are scheduled to get back to being every two years between summer and winter events.

Here is a look at the next Olympic host cities, through 2032:

Paris is set to host the summer Games in 2024, marking the third time they have been a host city. It has been a while, though. The first two times Paris hosted came in 1900 and 1924.

The Opening Ceremony of the Games will take place along River Seine and will be open to the public, with over half a million people expected to attend.

These Winter Games will be unique because it will mark the first time two cities will host the Olympics. The opening and closing ceremonies will not take place in the same city, marking the first time that will happen as well.

The Olympics are coming back to the United States for what will be the first time in 26 years (the first since Salt Lake City hosted in 2002). This will mark L.A.'s third Olympic Games.

The opening and closing ceremonies will take place in SoFi Stadium, home of the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers and site of Super Bowl LVI. The Los Angeles Coliseum will once again hold Olympic events.

Brisbane will be the third city in Australia to host the Olympics, with the last Games there taking place in Sydney in 2000. The Games were also held in Melbourne in 1956.

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Where is the next Olympics? Explaining where the Summer and Winter Games will be held through 2032 - CBSSports.com

The 2022 Beijing Winter Games will likely be remembered for being yet another "COVID Olympics."

Similar to the Summer Games only six months ago, athletes, staff and journalists were required to stay in a closed "bubble," cut off from the local population over fears of spreading the disease. Athletes performed before an audience on television with few fans in attendance.

Still, there was much more to the Winter Games than the cloud of the ongoing pandemic.

NPR's team in Beijing put together moments and storylines that stuck out including those that showed immense inner strength, athleticism and grace.

Team USA's Mikaela Shiffrin competes in the mixed team parallel quarterfinals on Feb. 20. Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

It wasn't a gold-medal winning moment by U.S. Alpine star Mikaela Shiffrin that put her on the top of the list. Rather, it's the way the Olympian failed and responded to her unusual struggles on the slopes.

Shiffrin is a bona fide star despite what internet trolls have been saying about the 26-year-old. She has won more World Cup slalom races than anyone in history, woman or man. She came into these Games already having won three Olympic medals, including two gold.

Asked about the pressure of coming into the Games as one of those few athletes expected to win medals, Shiffrin said she felt pressure but no more than she had experienced before.

"That's the whole shebang in sport: You can have preparation, confidence ... and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't," she said. "And I literally have no idea why we keep coming back and doing it."

In the mountains northwest of Beijing, she didn't finish three of her five individual races after either falling or skiing out of the course after a matter of seconds.

She managed to face those difficulties thoughtfully, honestly and with a sense of humor.

"I don't know if anybody's failed that hard with so many opportunities maybe in the history of the Olympics. But I will take it," she said joking.

One of the Games' lasting images may be her after her second race: Sitting by the safety netting off to the side, with her head down.

She leaves China with no hardware, but Shiffrin can take solace in her handling of failure. And how, if people were paying attention, she taught them something about failing with grace and honesty.

Team USA's Nathan Chen competes in the men's single skating free skating on Feb. 10. Antonin Thuillier/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

These Games were billed as U.S. figure skater Nathan Chen's chance for redemption after a disastrous performance during the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.

In the face of immense pressure heading into Beijing, Chen managed to deliver. His stunning short program performance netted him a season-high, world record score of 113.97. It set the bar high for his final run on the ice later that week.

He was the last skater of the day among a slew of talented skaters each better than the last. It seemed each man executed routines that were energetic and just pure fun. Some performances even had even the audience clapping their hands to the beat of the music.

But when Chen took to the ice everyone sat at attention.

Dancing to a medley of "Rocket Man" and "Benny and the Jets" by Elton John, Chen showed why he is the best. He took to the ice exuding joy and looking confident as ever.

He put those Pyeongchang demons behind him and then some.

China's Sui Wenjing and Han Cong compete in the pairs free skate on Feb. 19. Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

China's Sui Wenjing and Han Cong compete in the pairs free skate on Feb. 19.

The victory in pairs figure skating by Sui Wenjing and Han Cong of China came at the end of the Games a crowning moment for the host country. The 2018 Olympic pairs silver medalists skated last, knowing what they had to do and shouldering the pressure of an entire country hoping and cheering for them.

Despite a few wobbles on jumps by Sui, the duo pulled together in the rest of their program and won the gold. It was comments Sui made that resonated with sports-watchers and athletes.

"We feel like when we show our best selves to the world, the world belongs to us," Sui said after the pair's dazzling performance in the short program. "Only during these several minutes, perhaps billions of people around the world are looking at us. That is the most honorable moment in our life."

This made sense after watching so many thrilled athletes at these Games perform well, although "fail" by the outside world's standards because they didn't win medals.

But talk to enough Olympians and most understand they won't win a medal. It's an old sports clich, but athletes consistently say they just want to do their best. Sui's words get to the heart of why. These athletes many in seemingly strange niche sports train for years, out of the limelight. Then comes the "several minutes" when the world watches and cares. To do well or to "show our best selves," as Sui said, is a memorable triumph.

Eileen Gu of Team China reacts after winning the gold medal during the women's freestyle freeski halfpipe final of the Winter Olympics. Ezra Shaw/Getty Images hide caption

The 18-year-old Gu, affectionately called the "Snow Princess" by Chinese fans, had a whirlwind experience in Beijing. She won gold in the freeski halfpipe and became the first athlete to reach the podium in three different freestyle skiing events. She also won gold in big air and the silver medal in slopestyle.

Gu also became the poster child of the difficulties navigating two cultures.

The San Francisco-born athlete, who was born to a Chinese mother and American father, chose to represent China for the Olympics. Gu spoke frequently about spending summers in China to visit family and friends and about being fluent in both the culture and Mandarin.

"Both experiences in the two countries made me who I am. I am American when I am in America, and I am Chinese when I am in China," she said.

Questions over whether she gave up her American citizenship in order to do this arose during the Games, but Gu was mum about whether that was the case.

Critics in the U.S. accused Gu of being a "traitor" to the U.S. or said she needed to "pick a side. "

With maturity and a clear sense of self, she responded: "It doesn't really matter if other people are happy or not because I feel as though I am doing my best, I'm enjoying the entire process, and I'm using my voice to create as much positive change as I can for the voices who will listen to me in an area that is personal and relevant to myself."

China has made no qualms about embracing their "princess." Gu's appearance on Chinese TV and for ads for sports apparel and other products was constant, and it's likely we will continue to see the breakout star's face for a long time.

Gu said she plans to use her platform for good.

"I especially want to use the sport as a force to connect people in the two countries instead of dividing them," she told the media in Beijing.

Erin Jackson of Team USA skates to victory to win the gold medal during the women's 500-meter on Feb. 13. She became the first Black woman to medal in speedskating at a Winter Olympics. Richard Heathcote/Getty Images hide caption

Erin Jackson of Team USA skates to victory to win the gold medal during the women's 500-meter on Feb. 13. She became the first Black woman to medal in speedskating at a Winter Olympics.

American Erin Jackson won gold in the women's 500-meter speedskating competition becoming the first Black woman to medal in speedskating at a Winter Olympics.

The last time an American woman took the top spot in this event was in 1994.

The whole feat was made even more incredible given that Jackson almost missed out on the chance to compete in Beijing entirely.

Jackson was top-ranked in the 500-meter speedskating event leading up to the qualifying trials. But a shocking stumble in her race at the U.S. trials pushed her to third place, thereby disqualifying her from a spot in the Winter Games.

That's when her teammate and friend Brittany Bowe gave up her spot in the 500-meter race so Jackson could compete in Beijing.

"This medal means so much," Jackson said after she won gold. "It has been a tough couple of years and a tough beginning for this year. For this to come around like this, I am so happy."

Team USA's Lindsey Jacobellis celebrates her win in the snowboard women's cross final on Feb. 9. Marco Bertorello/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Athletes are usually considered in the prime of their careers in their 20s. But that's not always the case, as shown by U.S. snowboarder Lindsey Jacobellis.

After a 16-year medal drought (she last won silver at the 2006 Torino Games), the 36-year-old dominated in Beijing. She overpowered a much younger field of racers during the women's snowboard cross and won her first career gold.

She went on to compete at the first-ever mixed team snowboard cross event with 40-year-old teammate Nick Baumgartner again winning gold.

"Don't count the old girl out," Jacobellis joked at the time. "As I've gotten older, I've learned to forgive myself of the uncontrollable variables, and that's just taking maturity and time. And that helps you heal and move on and apply that skill that you learned in your next race."

U.S. snowboarder Shaun White reacts after his run in the snowboard men's halfpipe final on Feb. 11. It was his final Olympics. Marco Bertorello/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Shaun White finished fourth on the halfpipe in Beijing just missing a medal at his last competition before retiring.

The 35-year-old said he was proud of his effort, despite falling short in the push to win a fourth career gold medal. He was visibly emotional as he was embraced by his competitors.

"A lot of emotions are hitting me right now the cheering from the crowd, some kind words from my fellow competitors at the bottom. I'm so happy," he said. "Snowboarding, thank you. It's been the love of my life."

He debuted at the Torino Olympics in 2006. The Beijing Games were his fifth Winter Games. White maintains his place in the record books as the only snowboarder to win three Olympic gold medals.

An exiled Tibetan wears a hollow head in the likeness of Chinese President Xi Jinping during a street protest in Dharmsala, India, on Feb. 3 to highlight human rights abuses in China. Ashwini Bhatia/AP hide caption

Before these Games, there was much talk about the politics of the host country, and the government's treatment of marginalized groups and pro-democracy activists: Tibetans, Hong Kongers, the Uyghurs of Xinjiang province.

In an era of athlete protest, would Olympians take the torch from human rights advocates and speak out against documented abuses by the Chinese government?

No.

It was startling that an Olympics in a host country criticized by many around the world, and diplomatically boycotted by the U.S. and others, would be so devoid of activism.

The International Olympic Committee could take credit with its oft-repeated stance of political neutrality saying the Games are all about bringing the world together.

In reality, athletes undoubtedly felt the chill created by Chinese organizers who threatened to punish anyone who criticized. National Olympic committees warned their athletes about the risk of speaking out.

Other than a Ukrainian skeleton racer holding up a sign reading "No War in Ukraine," the Olympians were quiet.

The only notable breach of the "no politics" rule came when Yan Jiarong, a Beijing Olympics spokesperson, went a bit off the rails at the final joint briefing of the IOC and Beijing organizers.

"What I want to say is that there is only one China in the world. Taiwan is an indivisible part of China," she said in response to a question about whether Taiwan's Olympic team would appear at the closing ceremony.

She then accused a journalist of asking questions "based on lies" when asked about the forced labor and human rights violations imposed on Uyghurs.

IOC President Thomas Bach said afterward that the two committees had a meeting and agreed to refocus on the principle of political neutrality "as required by the Olympic Charter."

Russia's Kamila Valieva reacts after competing in the women's free skate on Feb. 17. A doping scandal dominated headlines around figure skating. Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Russia's Kamila Valieva reacts after competing in the women's free skate on Feb. 17. A doping scandal dominated headlines around figure skating.

The headline-stealing Russian doping scandal that threw women's figure skating in disarray may become the lasting story from these Games.

Fifteen-year-old Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva was a favorite to win, but controversy followed after it emerged that she had tested positive for a banned drug in December. She ended up finishing fourth in women's singles.

The resolution of her case is still far from over. Investigators with the World Anti-Doping Agency are looking into it and may examine the role of her controversial coach.

In addition, before the positive test was made public, she had already helped the Russian Olympic Committee take gold in the team event. U.S. figure skaters who won the silver medal in the team event still have to wait to receive their medals despite putting in a last-ditch effort to appeal the decision to delay the medal ceremony.

It's also unclear whether the IOC will take any measures against the Russian Olympic Committee for yet another doping scandal involving one of their athletes.

Questions also remain over whether the IOC should allow such young athletes to compete on the world stage. Valieva crumbled in her last performance after facing days of pressure and scrutiny.

IOC head Bach said he was "disturbed" by the response of Valieva's coach to her performance, but Bach offered little concrete plans on what his organization will do to change things going forward.

Doping expert April Henning told NPR that the anti-doping system as it is now "is a mess." She said Valieva "was failed at all levels in terms of duty of care."

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9 moments that resonated at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics - NPR

Medal history was made in more ways than one during the 2022 Winter Games.

Norway broke the record for most gold medals at a single Olympic Winter Games and, most recently, Elana Meyers Taylor earned her fifth Olympic medal, making her the most decorated African American Winter Olympian.

At the 2022 Games there were 109 gold medals in total, up from 102 in Pyeongchang four years ago and a far cry from the 16 on offer at the first Winter Olympics at Chamonix in 1924.

The United States came to Beijing with the second-most Winter Olympics medals with 305.

More than 300 medals were awarded to Olympians participating in the 2022 Winter Games.With 15 sports and 109 events, ranging from skiing to bobsledding to figure skating, world-class athletes went for gold during the global competition.

1. Norway 37 (16 gold, 8 silver, 13 bronze)

2. ROC - 32 (6 gold, 12 silver, 14 bronze)

3. Germany - 27 (12 gold, 10 silver, 5 bronze)

3. Canada - 26 (4 gold, 8 silver, 14 bronze)

5. United States - 25 (8 gold, 10 silver, 7 bronze)

Norway not only broke the record for most gold medals in a single Olympics with 16, but also defeated the Russian Olympic Committee in the total medal count with 37.

The Russian Olympic Committee had the second-most medals with 32, winning the silver medal in men's hockey to finish up the Olympics.

The United States ultimately won eight gold medals, with those going to:

Kaillie Humphries - Women's Monobob

Nathan Chen - Men's Figure Skating

Alexander Hall - Men's Freeski Slopestyle

Lindsey Jacobellis - Women's Snowboard Cross

Erin Jackson - Women's 500m Speedskating

Chloe Kim - Women's Snowboard Halfpipe

USA - Mixed Team Aerials

USA - Mixed Team Snowboard Cross

The U.S. had to endure five days of grueling competition - with some disappointing upsets - to finally bring home its first gold medal in the Olympics.

Lindsey Jacobellis slid to victory in thewomen's snowboard cross, putting an end to Team USA's gold-less streak at the Winter Olympics in Beijing.

The three-time Olympian took home bronze, while her teammate Rosie Brennan came in fourth.

Snowboarder Julia Marino won the United States first medal on Saturday, but it was not gold.Madison Chock and Evan Batesadded another silver medal to the team's count after their stunning galactic-themed ice dance Sunday night.

Jaelin Kauf won the Olympic silver behind Australia's Jakara Anthony during the women's moguls finals, and Ryan Cochran-Siegle clinched another silver medal, adding to the USA's total count, in men's super-G, on Tuesday.

Jessie Diggins secured the fifth medal for Team USA - the bronze in women's individual sprint, cross-country skiing. She made history here, becoming the first American to win a medal in the cross-country skiing individual sprint event.

Nathan Chen earned gold in the mens singles figure skating competition at the 2022 Winter Games. He clinched the title by receiving a 332.60 total score, giving him a 22.55-point victory over silver-winning Yuma Kagiyama of Japan.

Chloe Kim wasted no time showing off why she is the reigning gold medalist as she blew the competition away with her first run of the final halfpipe event - securing her spot at the top of the podium and women's halfpipe history.

The United States won the first-ever Olympic gold medal in the mixed teams aerial event at the Winter Olympics.

The trio of Ashley Caldwell, Chris Lillis and Justin Schoenefeld scored a total of 338.34, beating out China for the gold. It's the first gold medal in aerial freestyle skiing for the U.S. since 1998.

Mixed team snowboard cross made its Olympic debut at the 2022 Beijing Games and Team USA also won the first-ever gold medal in the event.

Erin Jackson ended a medal-less day for the U.S. on Sunday with her win in the 500-meter final.

Alpine Skier Ryan Cochran-Siegle took home a silver medal in the Super-G on Monday, 50 years after his mom Barbara Cochran won gold at the 1972 Winter Olympics.

Megan Nick scored bronze in women's aerials early Monday morning, Kaillie Humphries won the first-ever gold in the womens monobob and teammate Elana Meyers Taylor joined her on the podium with a silver medal and American duo Madison Hubbell and Zach Donohue earned bronze in the ice dance event.

Team USA scored a bronze in the men's speed skating team pursuit, marking a surprising finish for the world record holders.

Team USA then had a 1-2 punch atop the mens freeski slopestyle podium. Hallearned gold andGeopperearned silver.

Team USA fell short in the women's ice hockey gold medal match,losing 3-2 to CanadaWednesday night to earn silver in Beijing.

American Brittany Bowe then captured that elusive individual medal, winning bronze in the women's 1000m speed skating race.

The men's freestyle skiing halfpipe podium at the 2022 Beijing Olympics featured not one but two U.S. skiers.

Team USA'sDavid WiseandAlex Ferreiratook one spot each, with Wise winning silver and Ferreira taking bronze.

Elana Meyers Taylor made history on Saturday, becoming the most decorated African American Winter Olympian with five medals when she won bronze in the two-woman bobsled with a combined time of 4:05.48 alongside Sylvia Hoffman.

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Final 2022 Olympic Medal Count: Top Performing Countries and U.S. Results - NBC Chicago

These have been an Olympics of incredible highs -- and staggering lows. As we close out the 2022 Beijing Games, we asked our writers what they'll remember most from the past two-plus weeks:

Alyssa Roenigk: Several moments caused me great FOMO during these Games, but two long-coming gold-medal performances top the list: snowboarder Lindsey Jacobellis capturing the gold she left on the course in Torino 16 years ago and Japan's Ayumu Hirano landing the greatest halfpipe run in history -- twice! -- to win his first Olympic gold.

Before Beijing, I had watched every heat of Jacobellis' Olympic career from the bottom of snowboardcross courses in Torino, Vancouver, Sochi and Pyeongchang, and each time, I reported on her heartbreak at coming up short. Jacobellis, 36, is the most dominant athlete in her sport, but she never won on the world's biggest stage. Until last week, in her record fifth Olympics.

Jacobellis has said for years that, had she won in Torino at 19, the stress she felt in the lead-up to those Games would have caused her to call it a career. She would have hung up her gold medal next to her snowboard and gone surfing. Losing that race kept her in the sport for nearly two decades and fueled the greatest career in snowboardcross history. I wish I'd seen her finally win an Olympic race -- two, actually! -- in person. Instead, I'll remember pantomiming her passes in the warmth of my living room.

The same goes for Hirano, 23, one of the most progressive and exciting riders in halfpipe snowboarding. The past two Olympic contests were so close that gold and silver came down to a call by the judges, and both times, Hirano lost the call. Not this year. It will likely be a while before another rider duplicates Hirano's frontside triple cork 1440 - cab double 1440 combo, and I wish I'd been there to see him land it from the bottom of the pipe. Twice.

Greg Wyshynski: I was one of those hockey fans who was crushed when the NHL pulled out of Beijing. We haven't had a "best on best" tournament since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey ... and that was a preseason event with exhibition game-level play and two completely made-up teams. It was not the Olympics. These were the Olympics. And less than two months before they started, the NHL opted not to participate because COVID-19 interrupted the regular-season schedule.

That was such a bummer, which is why I was pleasantly surprised how engaged I was with the U.S. men's national team and the men's hockey tournament as a whole. USA Hockey's decision to bring 15 NCAA players to Beijing, instead of a "thrift shop on skates" like they did in 2018, offered the kind of different energy that I needed to forget that Auston Matthews and Jack Hughes weren't there. They played with pace and with offensive creativity. They offered glimpses at future NHL talent like Seattle Kraken prospect Matty Beniers and Vegas Golden Knights draftee Brendan Brisson. Their record was perfect after the prelims and their enthusiasm was infectious -- I'd be lying if I said I didn't believe they had a shot at winning the U.S. its first gold since 1980's Miracle on Ice.

Alas, the best thing about them was also their undoing, as their inexperience caught up with them in a quarterfinal upset loss to Slovakia. But even that had its virtue: Slovakia making the bronze medal game was a surprise. So was Denmark, in its first Olympics ever, winning three games. Even Team China had moments of competitive hockey, which was remarkable for a team that the Olympic organizers considered pulling from the tournament for being so terrible.

I'll also remember this as the Olympics when Canada's Marie-Philip Poulin cemented her GOAT status, if she hadn't already. Poulin is the only hockey player -- woman or man -- to score in four Olympic gold-medal games. Seven of the 17 goals she has scored in the Olympics have been in gold-medal games. She has ascended to a level of Canadian hockey royalty populated by the likes of Gretzky, Lemieux and Orr; unfortunately, it was the U.S. that genuflected in front of her as Poulin and Canada collected the gold medal.

Elaine Teng: I'm still processing what happened in the women's figure skating competition -- and I will be for a long time.

Like so many people coming into these Olympics, I was excited to see Russia's Kamila Valieva, whom many considered the greatest women's skater of all time, even at the tender age of 15. We didn't consider the cutthroat methods of her coaches, or the line of teenage skaters who came before her, broken before their time by injuries or eating disorders. We saw her beauty, her elegance and of course, her historic triple axels and quad jumps.

But then came the saga that hung over the entire Olympics: Valieva tested positive for a banned substance, she was allowed to compete anyway, and the result Thursday was unsettling, heartbreaking and a setback for the sport. Valieva struggled through her free skate only to face her coach's unflinching criticism. She finished off the podium and broke down on-camera. Her teammate Anna Shcherbakova, who won gold, looked devastated and shocked in the greatest moment of her career. And her other teammate, silver medalist Alexandra Trusova, had a public meltdown about not winning gold and initially refused to go back on the ice for the victory ceremony.

It felt like a scene out of a soap opera crossed with a horror movie. Valieva's case is yet to be decided, as is the ultimate outcome of the team medals, including Team USA's silver.

There were moments of beauty and joy for the sport in Beijing. Who can forget Nathan Chen's radiant smile when he finally won gold? Or Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron of France's exquisite, delicate free dance? But I'll always remember the 15-year-old girl who embodied perfection, briefly, before she unraveled in front of the world.

D'Arcy Maine: At this point, it's hard not to think about the devastating scene that unfolded at the end of the women's free skate: Valieva's inconsolable sobs, Trusova's screams and Shcherbakova -- the newly crowned Olympic gold medalist -- just looking for someone to hug her. Those images, and all of the questions we collectively still have about what happened and why, will linger for a long time.

But I hope eventually what I'll remember most from Beijing is Mikaela Shiffrin's incredible spirit. She didn't have anywhere near the Olympics she was hoping for, and her uncharacteristic struggles have dominated much of the coverage, but despite her disappointment, she has remained so positive and gracious through it all.

Very few of us could imagine what it's like to be in her shoes right now, and she's consistently handled it with poise and candor. She has thanked the world for the public support and hasn't shied away from being vulnerable. Shiffrin has always worn her heart on her sleeve, but it's one thing to do when you're winning. It's another to do during the toughest stretch of your career on the sport's biggest stage when all the world is watching.

I'll think of Shiffrin standing in front of reporters, whether during a televised interview on NBC or in the mixed zone, reflecting on her experience with honesty and perspective. Sometimes being a champion has nothing to do with results or medals, and Shiffrin has been an incredible reminder of this.

Sam Borden: On Thursday evening in Beijing, the U.S. curling team battled against Great Britain in a semifinal match that was one those events -- the kind where, even if you don't really get curling, even if you don't really understand what is happening on this sheet of ice with men and brooms and rocks sliding this way and that, the emotion and pressure is nonetheless irresistible.

If you happened to stumble into the match, it was impossible to turn away. John Shuster, the American skip, and his British counterpart, Bruce Mouat, kept trading strategic jabs and parries, and the shot-making -- again, even for someone who knows very little about the intricacies of it all -- was breathtaking. When Great Britain won in the final end, Mouat screamed with relief and shook his hands over his head in delight.

"That was a release of tension and pressure," he said. He smiled. "I think people back in Scotland might have heard it, to be honest."

It was what the Olympics are for so many of us, what they are supposed to be. Captivating theater. Delightful drama. An appreciation of skills, however specific or unusual or unexpected, that transcend the everyday choices we make about what we want out of sports.

Tom Hamilton: I was absolutely fascinated by Sweden's speedskating double Olympic champion Nils van der Poel. He took gold in both the 5,000 and 10,000, while simultaneously lighting a torch underneath the sport.

Van der Poel is a brilliant, multilayered personality. His news conferences are an art in themselves; he's not afraid of silence nor of saying what's on his mind, rather than retreating to a cloak of media-speak. After taking gold in the 5,000, he spent the time leading up to the 10,000 by calling out the Dutch speedskating organization for its attempts to, in his mind, manipulate the conditions of the ice to make them favorable to those competitors in orange. It was a fascinating case of a man who isn't afraid to challenge authority and the status quo.

On the ice, his final lap to take gold in the 5,000 was astonishing. He went from being 0.99 seconds behind to winning gold by 0.47 seconds. Then came his pice de rsistance in the 10,000 as he took gold by 13.85 seconds, complete with a world record of 12:30.74.

Now what? Well we don't know. The smart money would be on him to continue competing in the Swedish tournaments, and then the competitor in him may make Milano Cortina 2026 irresistible. Regardless, he's already left an incredible legacy, complete with a document outlining the precise nature of his training methods so that others can attempt to replicate his astonishing times. But you sense that by the time they've caught up with him, he'll already be streets ahead of the chasing pack.

Aishwarya Kumar: The most scintillating moment to me was when Team USA's Kaillie Humphries and Elana Meyers Taylor went 1-2 in the women's monobob debut. Both of them had to go through deeply traumatic and difficult situations to even get to the starting line.

Up until a month and a half before the Olympics, Humphries didn't even have a country to compete for. After Humphries, 36, accused her former coach of mental and emotional harassment, she went through a divisive split with Canada Bobsleigh. Then, in December 2021, she received her American passport (she is married to former American bobsledder Travis Armbruster), after working to expedite the process for months.

On Feb. 13, wearing the American flag as a bandana, she dominated the field in every heat. When she won the gold medal, she had a 1.5-second lead, considered a huge margin in the bobsled world.

Then there's Meyers Taylor, who, at 37, became the oldest U.S. woman to win a medal at the Olympics. Meyers Taylor had a plan. Take the 2019-20 World Cup season off to give birth to son Nico. Come back to bobsled and compete -- and win a medal -- in Beijing.

But, this plan almost didn't pan out. Soon after she landed in Beijing, she tested positive for COVID-19, spending more than a week in quarantine, away from her son. Just a few days before training, by sheer luck of the bobsled schedule, she was able to produce two negative tests and got the OK to compete. She was in third position after the second heat, just 0.18 seconds behind Canada's Christine de Bruin. Then, in the fourth and final heat, she jumped up to silver-medal position. At the end of her run, she yelled "We did it," and you could feel the relief in her voice.

These were stories of sheer dedication, perseverance and courage. To me, that's what the Olympics are all about.

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Winter Olympics 2022 - Lindsey Jacobellis, Nathan Chen, Kamila Valieva -- what were the most memorable moments of the Games? - ESPN

Another historic Olympics went down during the coronavirus pandemic, especially as female athletes drove Team USAs medal count.

Out of the 25 medals Team USA racked up, 17 were earned by women, the most by any other competing nation, with 13 coming from womens events and four from mixed-gender events.

American snowboarding icon Chole Kim returned to the halfpipe and won gold in Beijing, becoming the youngest athlete to do so at 21 years old. She made her Olympic debut during the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics and then took a year off from competition to attend her first year of college at Princeton University

Lindsey Jacobellis, at the age of 36, also won gold at the womens snowboard cross event while becoming the oldest snowboarder to medal at the Olympics. It was her fifth time competing at the games, where she also helped Team USA bring home gold in the mixed team aerials.

Kaillie Humphries and Elana Meyers Taylor also brought home gold and silver medals in the inaugural monobob event, one of seven new events at the Beijing Winter Olympics that entails an individual version of bobsleigh.

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Meyers Taylor also became the most decorated Black athlete in Winter Olympics history with five medals. Along with her silver medal in the monobob event, she won bronze for Team USA during the 2020 Vancouver Winter Olympics, silver medals at the Sochi 2014 and PyeongChang 2018 Olympics.

The Olympics havent historically been a gender-inclusive space, with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) noting in its Gender Equality & Inclusion Report 2021 that since the first Olympic Games in which women were allowed to compete in 1900, only 2 percent of participating athletes were women.

That percentage has increased with the London 2012 Olympics marking the first games with women competing in every sport on the program and accounted for 44 percent of Olympic athletes participating. The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics had women accounting for a record 45 percent of athletes.

The U.S. didnt win the most medals out of all nations competing at this years Olympics, Norway achieved 37 total medals, the Russian Olympic Committee earned 32 and Germany edged out Team USA with 27 medals.

Despite the gains in gender representation at the Beijing Olympics, the games didnt go down without controversy. Kamila Valieva, a 15-year-old Russian figure skater,tested positive for a banned drug ahead of competition and caused the team figure skating event to not hold its traditional public medal ceremony.

China also came under fire for its dismal human rights record against the Uyghur Muslim minority, while activists warned that Olympic athletes participating in Beijing should not speak out against China as they could be prosecuted.

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Women dominate Team USA medal count at Beijing Winter Olympics | TheHill - The Hill

Just 37.04 seconds. Thats how long it took Erin Jackson of the United States to race to her gold medal in the womens 500-meter speedskating event. Thats also how long every photographer had to capture her win.

So much of the Olympics is about speed, sacrifice and emotion. Photographing the Games can sometimes take a lot of that, too.

No articles Id read or television Id watched could do justice to witnessing the action on the ground. My heart pounded as cross-country skiers collapsed to the ground at the finish line. A Chinese cross-country skier, Jialin Bayani, unclipped her exhausted teammate Dinigeer Yilamujiangs bindings after a race. A Swedish skier placed his hands on the slumped-over back of J.C. Schoonmaker of the United States. I was moved to tears by these small gestures. Minutes later, I filed photos with fingertips numbed by the subfreezing cold and wind. Later that night, my lens frosted over.

The first full Friday of competition was a big news day. Shaun White had announced that this would be his last Olympics.

On Whites third and final run, I waited for him to pop up on the side of the halfpipe when I heard that dreaded scraping sound. He fell. A few seconds later, he glided to the finish, helmet in the air, and just like that, history was written. A sporting legends career was ending, and the halfpipe would be getting a new master, Ayumu Hirano of Japan, the gold medalist.

Shoulder to shoulder with my colleague Chang Lee as White collapsed to the ground and wept, I pulled out my Polaroid SX-70. Although my digital camera allows me to shoot 30 frames a second, I sometimes turn to my Polaroid to slow down and enjoy the unpredictability of its film. I had four frames left in my Polaroid, so I waited and shot two frames.

The athletes are the stars of the Olympics, but behind the scenes thousands of people have been working tirelessly to make this happen. We walked out of the main press center one night, giddy about the dusting of snow that had fallen, and saw a team of workers in orange jackets sweeping the snow off the pavement with long brooms of dried leaves and sticks. Every time it snowed, these teams would shift gears from sanitizing the venues to standing in the cold, sweeping the entrances and walkways and shoveling roadways.

I also came to appreciate all the behind-the-scenes work at events. Between ends at curling, Mark Callan quietly laid down pebbles on the ice sheets, with his water backpack and hose. The team he is a part of spent weeks preparing the venue, the National Aquatics Center, using humidifiers to keep the ice sheets from disintegrating in the dry Beijing climate.

Crews of volunteers, pails in hand or driving a big machine, took to the ice between figure skating routines to repair the skating surface.

One night, as I raced back to the media workroom at the cross-country skiing site, having shot hundreds of images, I realized that I had barely stopped to take a breath all day. I pulled out my Polaroid camera again and took a photo. As the film came out, I watched the chemicals frost in the film. The next day on the halfpipe the cameras focus was frozen.

When we are given only one opportunity to succeed, when 37.04 seconds can be all we get to capture a moment and when somewhere between the anxiety and freezing temperatures we are moved to tears, pulling out a 50-year-old camera that is slow, a little faulty and held together by a few pieces of neon orange tape can often be the perfect way to take a breath and really enjoy the amazing spectacle before us.

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I Captured the Olympics With My Polaroid. Until the Camera Froze. - The New York Times

The 2022 Winter Olympics was less an unforeseen disaster for NBC than something that, almost by design, was fated to be forgotten even while it was happening. That the Beijing Games now has the unhappy distinction of being the least-watched Olympics on the books is nothing anyone at 30 Rock cares to dwell on, but the results by no means came as a shock to the network suits or the sponsors who backed the event.

NBC almost certainly did not make a profit on these Winter Olympicsas of last nights primetime replay of the closing ceremonies, NBC had yet to provide guidance either way, an uncharacteristic silence which translates to a resoundingnopealthough making money on the event is never a given. The last two Olympics that aired on NBC prior to Comcasts acquisition of the companyBeijing 2008 and Vancouver 2010failed to recoup their combined $1.7 billion rights fee, and the massively popular 2012 London Games just about broke even, despite an ad sales haul of $1.25 billion.

Because NBCs ad sales team deftly played the hand it was dealt, pricing its primetime inventory at a discount while offering correspondingly lower-than-usual performance guarantees, the network was able to at once manage and satisfy its clients expectations. Depending on the size of an advertisers overall commitment, primetime units could be had for as much as $200,000 less than the average 30-second spot went for in 2018.

A 17% increase in overall Olympics coverageNBCs Beijing slate beat out its Pyeongchang lineup by some 400 hours, thanks in large part to Peacocks expanded streaming offeringsand growth in social-media sales likely went some way toward offsetting the impact of the slashed ad rates. That said, a more precise read on how NBC fared in China may not be unearthed until late April, when parent company Comcast is expected to file its first-quarter earnings results.

On the day of the 2018 closing ceremonies, then-NBC Broadcasting and Sports chairman Mark Lazarus said the Pyeongchang Games had generated more than $920 million in national ad sales. Two months later, Comcasts 10-K report indicated that the Winter Olympics had generated $1.15 million in total revenue, with $770 million landing at NBCs broadcast flagship and another $378 million at the cable networks unit. (In the same document, Comcast said NBCs broadcast of Super Bowl LII had booked $423 million in revenue.)

Given the steep rise in the Olympics rights fees, the likelihood of NBC sauntering out of Beijing with a few extra bucks in its pocket is up there with Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding joining forces to revive the Ice Capades. When NBC renewed its contract through the 2032 Summer Games, Comcast plunked down $7.75 billion, and while the cost of each individual event has not been disclosed, historical precedent would put the price of carrying these Winter Olympics somewhere around $975 million.

Even with the savings that came with keeping the majority of the staff back home in Stamford, Conn.only 600 production, engineering and operations workers made it to China, a far cry from the 2,000 employees that were on the ground in PyeongchangBeijing was all but destined to break NBCs money-making streak. The sense of resignation was hard to miss; NBC Sports Group chairman Pete Bevacqua earlier this month acknowledged the difficulty of staging two COVID-stunted Olympics in a half-year window.

Were holding these Games during a pandemic, [and] weve had two Olympics within six months of one another, Bevacqua said on Feb. 10, before noting that the empty venues in Beijing made for a rather dispiriting backdrop for the various athletic competitions. Its no secret thatthose great moments of Olympic athletes hugging their family and friends and spouses and partners, so much of that magic is just out of necessity not present.

Not helping matters was the dystopian vibe that comes from attempting to showcase the Olympic spirit and global solidarity in a place where people are regularly ground under the boot of techno-totalitarianism. (For a more human-scale representation of what it looks like when the State turns dreams into despair and hope into hamburger, go back and re-watch the Black Mirror episode that was the womens figure skating event. Sacr bleu!)

NBCs Olympics anchor Mike Tirico addressed the 800-pound panda bear in the room during Sundays closing ceremonies, saying that while the Winter Games had proceeded without an international incident, the atmosphere in Beijing had been predictably oppressive. These Games have made it to the finish line, though no one would deny the shadow that Chinas place in the worldand a world that seems to be more troubled and complicated by the daycast over the competition, Tirico said. Its fair to question how were going to look back at these Games months, maybe years, into the future. Fair to question whether they should have been held here, and what they did and did not achieve.

In all likelihood, very few of the tens of millions of viewers who watched the Beijing Olympics will have much cause to think about it at all, and the Games westering tendenciesthey head to Paris in 2024, followed by a spell in Milan two years later, before splashing down in Los Angeles in 2028should go a long way toward burying any residual memories of Chinas cheerless spectacle.

After all, the Olympics have managed to survive two World Wars, the Great Depression, the 1972 Black September murders and an extended period of Cold War jockeying that blighted two consecutive Summer Games. The Beijing Olympics were far from ideal, but collective amnesia will make short work of whatever it was that happened there, even if such forgetfulness wont make up for NBCs revenue shortfall. It couldve been a lot worse, which is probably what Fox execs will be saying to themselves this December as they jet out of Qatar.

The Olympics have always been imperfect, and maybe more so now than ever before, Tirico said Sunday, by way of putting a bow on Beijing. There are real challenges ahead for this movement. But nothing else brings the world together like this. With troops amassing and militaries maneuvering, these 18 nights again reminded us of the power of sport, the power of people, and the power of the Games to galvanize.

So, as we formally say goodbye to these Olympics, well spend every one of the next 887 days hoping that scene on the Seine to open the 2024 Summer Games will be the start of something special.

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NBC Wont Profit on Beijings Least-Watched Olympics, but Hopes are High for Paris - Sportico

The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics wrapped up on Sunday, but Pittsburghers are still flocking to skating rinks and ski slopes, many of them inspired by the games.

February is typically the busiest month for Seven Springs Mountain Resort in Somerset County, said Alex Moser, the director of marketing and communications for the resort. And thanks to the recent snow and the greater visibility of winter sports, even more people are skiing and snowboarding.

The average person isnt going to watch a snowboarding event on TV unless its the Olympics, Moser said, but the games may encourage beginners to give the sport a try or push lapsed skiers and snowboarders to get back on the trails. He estimates that the Olympics boost attendance between 10% and 20%.

We wish the Olympics were every year, he said.

Attendance at the UPMC Rink at PPG Place downtown has been strong and steady, which operations manager Andre Sanders said isnt only attributable to the Olympics, but it definitely doesnt hurt that the games were this year.

In the 2019 regular season, the rink averaged about 206 people a day. This year, the average is closer to 322 people a day.

Especially after the Olympics we get a little boost, he said. The weekends have been up way up compared to previous Saturdays.

According to Sanders, around 1200 skaters came to the rink on Feb. 12 to see a figure skating demonstration and Olympic flag display. Thats up from 500 to 700 skaters on previous weekends.

At Allegheny Countys South Park ice rink, attendance peaked in early December and was maybe slightly heightened by the winter Olympics, manager Matt Witt said. But the pandemic has played a role in boosting attendance across facilities.

Data from the National Ski Areas Association, a trade organization for ski facility owners and operators, found that roughly 5.2 million people visited the southeast ski region (which includes Pennsylvania) during the 2020 to 2021 season. Only 4.2 million people visited the sites during the 2018-2019 season.

With the pandemic the last two winters weve seen a huge interest in learning how to ski and snowboard because its outdoors and its relatively safe, said Moser. Were still seeing people be interested in outdoor sports.

Moser hopes the Olympics will bring more people to winter sports.

Who doesnt want to emulate an incredible athlete? he asked. Winter can be very harsh on people mentally, physically. And I think skiing and snowboarding really offers that chance to enjoy winter.

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Winter sports hit their peak in Pittsburgh after the Olympics - 90.5 WESA