We wanted these Olympic Games (OG) at all costs. And we got them. A year ago, it would have been thought impossible to hold an international event on the scale of the Olympic Games in the midst of a global pandemic. And yet, we had two.
Like Japan, China had made it a matter of national honor, and it was impossible for her not to hold these Games or even to postpone them. To their credit, we haven’t heard many countries suggest otherwise. The degree of difficulty was all the higher this time around because, unlike Japan, China was simultaneously pursuing a “zero COVID” policy and, at the same time, was breaking the wave of its most contagious variant, l ‘Omicron.
The solution adopted was to put the Games under a glass bell, like the sanitary bubbles of the Tokyo Games, but on steroids. This time, we were not going to be economical with COVID tests before and during the Games, the slightest doubt was going to lead to the sidelines of the unfortunate athlete, and there was no question of leaving the Olympic health bubble, even after two weeks of quarantine, or three, or more, it doesn’t matter.
The Beijing Games thus took place completely in a vacuum, like a parallel world that could well have been in any other country, even on another planet. The few hundred Chinese spectators admitted to each competition and hand-picked only served to furnish the decor for television.
Speaking of the small screen, major sporting events have long since not been designed first and foremost for spectators on site, or even for the population of the host country, but for the public of the major television networks, particularly American ones. . This explains why, in China, several important events were held so early or so late in the day, which reinforced the unpleasant impression of being only on a huge television set producing a spectacle intended for a distant world.
The best and the worst
Viewers were able to witness the best and the worst of what the major sporting event can offer. As always, everyone was especially attentive to what was happening to their own athletes.
Happy in its small universe, the National Hockey League has chosen, this year again, to shun the event, which has earned its sport the best ratings, including in the American market, which it claims to covet. The Canadians thus had more time and attention to devote to other athletes, starting with their hockey players, who flew over the women’s tournament. They also witnessed the exploits of speed skaters Isabelle Weidemann and Steven Dubois, each left with the complete collection of medals, snowboarders Maxence Parrot and Eliot Grondin and another long track skater, Ivanie Blondin. They made the acquaintance of a beautiful and refreshing rising generation in freestyle skiing. They saw “old” Charles Hamelin, 37, win his sixth Olympic medal in five Games. They were able to see the class and maturity of skater Laurent Dubreuil in defeat, before he was finally rewarded. And they were able to rejoice in the revenge taken by adopted Montrealers, Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron, on their cruel second place in Pyeongchang.
They may also have seen other exploits and other dramas, such as the domination of the Norwegian winter superpower, even with only 5.5 million inhabitants, or the five (sic) medals won by the French biathlete Qu entin Fillon Maillet, or the extraordinary perseverance of the great American ski champion Mikaela Shiffrin, despite her repeated setbacks on the track and the rain of insults she received on social media.
Like a shameful disease that we couldn’t get rid of, another story of doping came to haunt the Games. The case again involved Russia and again resulted in a half-hearted response from sports authorities, but this time the culprit, or rather the victim, was a 15-year-old girl. A gifted athlete sacrificed in the field of honor of the vanity of nations, Kamila Valieva crashed in flames and tears, alone in the middle of the ice, dropped by her own entourage, supposed to protect her.
In the same vein, and as was to be expected, no more was heard of the plight of the Uighurs and Kazakhs of Xinjiang, in northwestern China, as soon as the diplomatic boycott of the ceremony of opening by a few Western countries, including the United States and Canada. And it is not because the message of the latter has finally been heard, the spokesperson for the organizing committee of the Beijing Games, Yan Jiarong, repeating last Thursday, that the accusations of violation of human rights against the China “are largely based on lies”.
“We have been in contact with [le comité organisateur] immediately after this press conference […] and reaffirmed “the importance of” remaining politically neutral, as required by the Olympic Charter, “replied the president of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, the next day. No kidding !
Winter Games without snow
Rather, the Chinese hosts wanted recognition that they had managed to hold the Games without any real outbreak of COVID-19 indoors or transmission of the virus outdoors. They were also able to demonstrate that they could convert the magnificent stadiums they had given themselves for the 2008 Summer Games into excellent facilities for the Winter Games, like the “water cube” of the swimming events transformed into an “ice cube” for curling. They are also pleased to have taught, in just a few years, 300 million Chinese to love and practice winter sports.
It is reported that for the approximately 2,800 athletes from 91 delegations who came to China, these Beijing Games, although like no other before, were as sportingly and humanly rich as they could hope for. We repeat that, for all the gold in the world, they would not have wanted to miss them and that they are happy that this dream of a life has been made possible.
It is surely true. The athletes had also said the same thing at the end of the Tokyo edition. In this case, there was still reason to question the sporting, nationalist and commercial logic of holding the Olympic Games at all costs in the midst of a pandemic and in the stifling heat of Japanese summers.
This stubbornness to hold an event against and against the local climate and environment was repeated, but in reverse, six months later in China, when despite the biting cold in the arid mountains, the only snow of these Winter Games was for a long time 100% artificial and covered only the narrow strips where the athletes had to pass with their skis. It was hard not to see in this striking image another example of the disconnect between these Games and reality.
A snow shower, as unusual as it was providential, fortunately came to save appearances along the way, and covered all these questions with a beautiful white sheet. At least until it melts.
This report was financed thanks to the support of the Transat International Journalism Fund.The duty.