Winter Olympics 2022: Goodbye Beijing, hello Milan and Cortina
Fireworks illuminate the "Bird's Nest", Beijing's national stadium, during the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games, February 20, 2022 WANG Zhao AFP
Text by: Farid Achache Follow
2 mins
Beijing concluded its Winter Olympics during a good-natured ceremony on Sunday February 20 in its famous "Bird's Nest", closing sixteen days of sporting exploits and a health bubble, before passing the baton to Milan and Cortina which will host the 2026 edition for the 25th Winter Olympics.
Advertising
Read more
The Chinese capital has become the first city to host the Summer and Winter Games.
Two young Chinese athletes, cross-country skier Dinigeer Yilamujiang, born 20 years ago in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, and Nordic combined specialist Zhao Jiawen, 21, were the last torchbearers to kick off the 24th Winter Olympics.
Despite the dark clouds that have hovered over its Olympic Games, China can be proud of a flawless organization despite "
difficult circumstances
" and a somewhat cooled enthusiasm.
Covid-19 obliges, athletes, organizers and journalists remained during these Games kept away from the population, in a health bubble, and subjected to daily screening tests.
China third in medal table
China finished in third place in the medal table, with fifteen medals, including nine titles, and its new record for the Winter Games, just ahead of the great American rival and several European powers.
The Chinese Eileen Gu, crowned in big air skiing and half-pipe and silver in slopestyle, crushed these Olympics thanks to her performances and her history.
By winning the organization of the 2022 Olympics, Beijing also set itself the goal of introducing 300 million Chinese to winter sports.
If the power claims to have achieved this objective, observers are more measured.
If China is a benchmark nation for the Summer Olympics, it is far from having the same success during the Winter Games.
Her first participation dates back to 1980 and, before these home Games, she
had amassed “only” 62 medals, of which thirteen were gold.
His best record, in Vancouver in 2010, was eleven medals, including five titles.
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.
Objective “virtually” achieved, judge French sports officials
“
The delegation has practically achieved its goal, we had fixed fifteen medals
”, estimated the president of the French Olympic Committee (CNOSF) Brigitte Henriques, drawing up Sunday February 20 the balance sheet of the Beijing Olympics.
After two editions with fifteen medals, France remained just below with fourteen podiums, which remains its third best total.
With five titles, France equals its gold medal record established in Pyeongchang.
Some headliners expected on at least one podium leave Beijing disappointed, such as skier Alexis Pinturault, hard worker Perrine Laffont or biathlete Emilien Jacquelin, without an individual medal.
"
Our policy has borne fruit, we are present in freestyle, snowboarding, alpine, biathlon, cross-country skiing and, moreover, we are winning medals in all these disciplines
”, indicated the DTN of the French Ski Federation ( FFS), Fabien Saguez.
"
We want to analyze what made these exceptional results possible in order to sustain them
," said Claude Onesta, high performance manager at the National Sports Agency (ANS), high-level financier.
We took a lot of information on the elements that brought the good results and the disappointments.
We want to project ourselves towards Milan and Cortina
(next Winter Games in 2026, editor's note)
by identifying the areas of progress and the details that may have caused some athletes to fail
.
Apart from the pair of golden dancers Gabriella Papadakis/Guillaume Cizeron, ice has remained France's poor relation in terms of medals, with disciplines that have historically been weak due to a lack of means and infrastructure (short-track, speed skating , bobsleigh, luge, etc.) “
We have to set clear objectives together.
Should we focus on practice and licensees or the high level?
“Questioned the president of the French Federation of Ice Sports (FFSG), Nathalie Péchalat.
With AFP
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_EN
Olympic Games 2022
China