A pinch of COVID-19, a hint of politics, a light dusting of snow, a meager public but also a big dose of Valieva and sporting exploits galore, like those of Eileen Gu: the Olympic Games of Beijing ended on Sunday with the usual cocktail.
The President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach has, as tradition dictates, “closed” these 24and Winter Olympics on a speech of peace, before the Olympic flame goes out 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 celebration.
Just as regrettable but more common in Olympic history, doping also came to Beijing with a name: Kamila Valieva.
At 15, the Russian skater finds herself at the center of a resounding affair that will continue well beyond the Chinese meeting.
Arriving as the favorite in the individual event thanks to her quadruple jumps, Valieva began by winning the team event, ahead of the Americans and Japan, on 7 February. Doom! The next day, she was notified of a positive doping control for a test carried out on December 25.
With calls and procedures, Valieva, the IOC and the World Anti-Doping Agency are trying to unravel the imbroglio.
On the eve of the individual event, the skater is finally allowed to participate. But the IOC warns that it will take the results as provisional and will not award medals until the case is resolved – which could take months. Finally, after dominating the short program, she literally cracked in the freestyle and finished… at the foot of the podium, worn out by the pressure.
Quickly returned home, the teenager must now recover and wait, just like the Americans, furious at not having received their medal, and the Japanese.
The clan of quintuplets
Medals, some have drunk it.
The cream of biathlon, the Frenchman Quentin Fillon Maillet, the Norwegians Johannes Boe and Marte Olsbu Roeiseland, and the Russian cross-country skier Alexander Bolshunov each leave with five medals in their suitcases.
The Chinese Eileen Gu, crowned in skiing big air and in half pipe and silver in slopestyle, crushed these Olympics thanks to his performances and his history.
Born in California to an American father and a Chinese mother, Gu, the focus of attention in the host country, chose to compete for China in 2019, becoming an icon of her sport.
Unfortunately, these exploits could not be as festive as they deserved.
Less than 100,000 spectators
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 Olympic Games were gloomy and often silent.
The health bubble has spoiled a large part of the pleasure, with the wearing of the compulsory mask, the daily tests and, above all, the travel restrictions, the impossibility for the 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-19 policy worked. Admittedly, some athletes, affected by COVID-19, have had to give up their Olympic dream. But, in view of the more than 60,000 daily tests, there was no cluster or carnage, since the Olympic population had no more than three positive cases over the last ten days. And those placed in solitary confinement did not seem to have suffered, like Johannes Boe, four-time Olympic champion.
The fortnight had also started with controversies over human rights or the lack of natural snow, made with snow cannons.
Milano/Cortina in 2026
The debate on human rights has come neither from athletes, nor from countries like the United States which have decided on a diplomatic boycott, nor from organizations opposed to the holding of these Olympics in China, accused of violating human rights against the Uyghur Muslim minority in the Xinjiang region.
The Biden administration accuses Beijing of having locked up Uighurs there, as well as other minorities, and speaks of a “genocide”.
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 Uyghur cross-country skier Dinigeer Yilamujiang out of their hats to light the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremony on February 4.
Heaven also extinguished the snow controversy as, after a week spent lamenting the dry, arid, and white-free landscapes of the mountain venues of Zhangjiakou and Yanqing, the Holy Snow finally fell in the middle of the Olympics, whitening the backgrounds.
Now it’s time for the next Olympics with a return to Europe, after Rio, Pyeongchang, Tokyo and Beijing, the first city to host the Summer (2008) and now Winter Olympics.
In four years, the next winter edition will take place in Italy, with an unprecedented 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 Paris! The next meeting in 2024 will take place in the French capital, where the organizers promise festive summer Olympics. The Olympic world needs it.