records, failures, medals… The Beijing Olympics in figures

The Beijing Olympics ended on Sunday February 20. Zhangjiakou, Yanqing and the Chinese capital were the scene of the exploits of 2874 athletes, new Olympians or confirmed participants. Let’s dive back into this 24th edition of the Winter Games, in numbers.

6 records

This is the number of world records that were broken during the fortnight. Starting with figure skating and the French Olympic champion couple, Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron. They even offer two: 90.83 pts on the short program and 226.98 in the total score. In figure skating, we also find the Olympic champion couple Sui Wenjing / Han Cong (84.41 pts on the short program) and the gold medalist Nathan Chen (113.97 pts).

If we go from the ice of figure skating to that of speed, it is the immense Swede Nils van der Poel who arrives with his 12’30″74 over 10,000m. He thus beats his own world record by more than two seconds. In short-track, the Dutch star, quadruple medalist, Suzanne Schulting set a record time of 1’26″514 over 1000m.

5 medals

This is the number of medals won by each of the biathletes Quentin Fillon Maillet, Johannes Thingnes Boe, Marte Olsbu Roeiseland, and the cross-country skier Alexander Bolshunov on these Olympic Games. They were until then ten to have achieved such a feat, including the legendary Norwegian cross-country skier Marit Bjoergen twice, still the athlete with the most medals at the Winter Olympics (15).

141.93 points

This is the score of the free program of the Russian skater Kamila Valieva. A result well below expectations due to several errors and a fall for the 15-year-old Russian skating prodigy, who tested positive for a doping product before the Olympics. The teenager finished fourth, in tears, as she dominated the skating world this season.

79.25 points

This is the best score of Kevin Rolland, flag bearer of the French delegation, in the final of the halfpipe event. An almost unexpected sixth place after three runs when, two and a half years ago, the freestyle skier had come close to death in a fall while attempting the record for the highest jump ever made on skis.

98,000 people

This is the total number of spectators at the events of the Beijing Olympics, according to the announcement of the organizing committee on Saturday. This figure corresponds to all the people invited by the organization, because it was the only way for the followers to attend an event.

100% success

This is the podium percentage per race for Russian cross-country skier Alexander Bolshunov. Since Pyeongchang 2018 and in nine races, the most versatile man in world cross-country skiing has not once missed the podium. Nine consecutive medals, including three Olympic titles won this year in Beijing in the skiathlon, the relay and the long distance (28.4 km).

8th Games

At 49, German speed skater Claudia Pechstein competed in her eighth Olympic Games. Since Albertville, in 1992, 30 years ago, she has only missed one edition (in 2010 in Vancouver for doping) and has even won, in all, nine medals including five titles. At 49, she joined the Japanese ski jumper Noriaki Kasai, also present in eight editions, and thus became the most capped woman in the history of the Games.

41 years

This is the age of Frenchman Johan Clarey, Olympic downhill vice-champion in Beijing. He became the oldest alpine skier to receive a medal.

2004

This is the year of birth of the youngest gold medalists at the Beijing Olympics. On the women’s side, it’s the figure skater Anna Shcherbakova, 17 years old, and for the men it’s the freestyle snowboarder Yiming Su, titled in big air and silver medalist in slopestyle.

44% shooting

This is the crazy statistic of biathlete Lisa Vittozzi, the worst shooter on her prone shots during the competition. She makes a copy of 3/10, 1/5 and 7/10 in three individual proofs. That is a total of 11/25 and 44% success.

On the other hand, Greenlandic biathlete (who represented Denmark) Ukaleq Astri Slettemark is 100% on these Olympics. With a 20/20 on the individual and a 10/10 on the sprint, she distinguished herself for her formidable qualities as a shooter.

0.07 seconds

It was the gap in seconds that separated the Chinese Tingyu Gao, future Olympic champion, from his South Korean rival Cha Min-Kyu in the 500m speed skating sprint event. With a time of 34’32”, the gold medalist set an Olympic home record.

14 medals

This is the number of medals won by France during the Beijing fortnight. Overall, there are five gold medals, seven silver and two bronze. A lesser record than in Pyeongchang: France had then brought back 15 medals, but with five titles as well.