The Fort Worth Press - Beijing Olympics closes after golden moments and doping storm

USD -
AED 3.67299
AFN 71.988544
ALL 95.450021
AMD 398.831079
ANG 1.794237
AOA 914.501055
ARS 1040.233898
AUD 1.615887
AWG 1.8
AZN 1.678687
BAM 1.898817
BBD 2.010058
BDT 120.959991
BGN 1.899648
BHD 0.376928
BIF 2945.171234
BMD 1
BND 1.363656
BOB 6.879545
BRL 6.0569
BSD 0.995515
BTN 86.155474
BWP 14.012349
BYN 3.257995
BYR 19600
BZD 1.999767
CAD 1.435855
CDF 2835.000213
CHF 0.912397
CLF 0.03648
CLP 1006.594095
CNY 7.331702
CNH 7.347015
COP 4286.45
CRC 501.735395
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 107.052359
CZK 24.5465
DJF 177.278111
DKK 7.24628
DOP 60.901434
DZD 135.931976
EGP 50.451099
ERN 15
ETB 126.297707
EUR 0.97123
FJD 2.33055
FKP 0.823587
GBP 0.819555
GEL 2.839813
GGP 0.823587
GHS 14.849693
GIP 0.823587
GMD 71.496617
GNF 8655.999697
GTQ 7.678566
GYD 208.279531
HKD 7.78966
HNL 25.480071
HRK 7.379548
HTG 129.96835
HUF 400.129899
IDR 16296.7
ILS 3.630245
IMP 0.823587
INR 86.48645
IQD 1310
IRR 42087.499033
ISK 140.729576
JEP 0.823587
JMD 155.908837
JOD 0.709399
JPY 157.363978
KES 129.496542
KGS 87.449511
KHR 4041.000047
KMF 478.225002
KPW 900.000111
KRW 1460.524973
KWD 0.30855
KYD 0.829604
KZT 527.888079
LAK 21819.999948
LBP 89550.000403
LKR 293.237025
LRD 186.666278
LSL 18.939802
LTL 2.95274
LVL 0.60489
LYD 4.95498
MAD 10.067046
MDL 18.716323
MGA 4705.00021
MKD 59.740398
MMK 3247.960992
MNT 3398.000107
MOP 7.983612
MRU 39.919824
MUR 46.920101
MVR 15.404988
MWK 1736.000254
MXN 20.53635
MYR 4.503499
MZN 63.878687
NAD 18.940275
NGN 1554.289949
NIO 36.729777
NOK 11.38531
NPR 137.84714
NZD 1.785571
OMR 0.384989
PAB 0.995524
PEN 3.773502
PGK 3.961973
PHP 58.675501
PKR 278.649977
PLN 4.142755
PYG 7844.507874
QAR 3.64075
RON 4.831304
RSD 113.737678
RUB 101.998058
RWF 1386.38
SAR 3.753641
SBD 8.475185
SCR 15.027582
SDG 600.99993
SEK 11.18646
SGD 1.36739
SHP 0.823587
SLE 22.703022
SLL 20969.49992
SOS 571.477447
SRD 35.104989
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.710595
SYP 13001.999985
SZL 18.939777
THB 34.740497
TJS 10.881351
TMT 3.5
TND 3.220268
TOP 2.3421
TRY 35.499815
TTD 6.759158
TWD 33.049498
TZS 2515.000093
UAH 42.080057
UGX 3679.575926
UYU 43.776274
UZS 12913.46686
VES 53.896925
VND 25386
VUV 118.722008
WST 2.800827
XAF 636.839091
XAG 0.033527
XAU 0.000373
XCD 2.70255
XDR 0.767364
XOF 638.501938
XPF 119.000187
YER 249.014985
ZAR 18.926615
ZMK 9001.180379
ZMW 27.601406
ZWL 321.999592
  • RELX

    0.1800

    46.08

    +0.39%

  • SCS

    0.1100

    11.24

    +0.98%

  • RBGPF

    60.6700

    60.67

    +100%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0400

    6.91

    -0.58%

  • BCC

    3.1000

    123.61

    +2.51%

  • CMSC

    0.0800

    22.88

    +0.35%

  • GSK

    -0.6200

    32.08

    -1.93%

  • RIO

    0.8600

    60.38

    +1.42%

  • CMSD

    0.0900

    23.2

    +0.39%

  • NGG

    -0.1600

    56.27

    -0.28%

  • JRI

    0.1900

    12.23

    +1.55%

  • BCE

    -0.6700

    22.54

    -2.97%

  • BTI

    0.3700

    35.72

    +1.04%

  • AZN

    -0.3600

    65.37

    -0.55%

  • VOD

    0.0500

    8.25

    +0.61%

  • BP

    -0.1300

    31.09

    -0.42%

Beijing Olympics closes after golden moments and doping storm
Beijing Olympics closes after golden moments and doping storm

Beijing Olympics closes after golden moments and doping storm

The Beijing Winter Olympics have closed with IOC chief Thomas Bach hailing a smoothly run event and a "safe Games" in the midst of the Covid pandemic, but the gold medals were overshadowed by a doping controversy.

Text size:

The Games ended on Sunday in the "Bird's Nest" stadium, just as they had when the Chinese capital hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics, in a snowflake-themed closing ceremony attended by President Xi Jinping and a socially-distanced crowd.

As he declared the Games over and handed over to 2026 hosts Milano-Cortina, the International Olympic Committee president Bach hailed an "unforgettable Olympic experience".

The Games produced bright new stars including China's Californian-born freestyle skier Eileen Gu, who won two gold medals to cement her huge popularity in the host nation.

The future of 15-year-old Russian figure skating prodigy Kamila Valieva is less certain after she failed a drugs test but was allowed to continue competing.

Then, after a week of intense pressure, she fell apart in an error-strewn performance that will go down as one of the saddest in Olympic history.

Chinese organisers will be quick to hail the success of the vast Covid-secure "bubble" that enveloped the Games, with up to 70,000 people sealed off.

There was no mass outbreak of Covid at the Games or in the wider Chinese capital, but Bach said: "If we want to finally overcome this pandemic, we must be faster, we must aim higher, we must be stronger -- we must stand together.

"In this Olympic spirit of solidarity, we call on the international community: give equal access to vaccines for everybody around the world."

With tensions rising between Russia and Ukraine, Bach said the athletes had "given peace a chance".

"May the political leaders around the world be inspired by your example of solidarity and peace," he said.

China and its ruling Communist Party will look back on a soft-power success.

The Global Times, a Chinese nationalist state-run tabloid, said on Monday the Olympics had shown the 'true nature' of China.

"The unexpected global popularity of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games declared the complete failure of the so-called diplomatic boycott, smashed the malicious slander of some Western media, and demonstrated the enduring charm of human resilience and unity," it said.

Echoing that theme, fireworks lit up the night sky at the ceremony, spelling out "ONE WORLD".

- Valieva's case dominated -

Gu, the 18-year-old who was born in California but switched to China in 2019, gave the hosts a significant medal bump, helping them finish third in the medals table with nine golds.

That was easily China's best performance at a Winter Games, a place ahead of chief geopolitical rival the United States, who claimed eight golds.

For the second Games in a row, Norway topped the medals table, with 16 golds, mainly thanks to their peerless cross-country skiers. Germany were second on 12.

A new men's figure skating champion emerged in 22-year-old Nathan Chen of the United States, who dethroned two-time Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu, in what could be the Japanese legend's final Games appearance.

Shaun White, the American who has defined snowboarding, bowed out after finishing without a medal. The 35-year-old three-time Olympic champion called the sport "the love of my life".

There was bitter disappointment for his fellow American and one of the biggest names of the Games, the alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin, who also went home empty-handed.

But it was Valieva's story that dominated the Games, catapulting the teenage skater to the forefront of yet another Russian doping controversy to mar an Olympics.

After becoming the first woman in history to land a quadruple jump in Olympic competition to help Russia win the team event, it was revealed Valieva had tested positive for trimetazidine, a drug used to treat angina but which is banned for athletes because it can boost endurance.

To fury from the US team and others, the Court of Arbitration for Sport allowed her to continue competing at the Games, citing her young age, though without clearing her of doping.

In the final, Valieva fell several times, to audible gasps from the crowd, and was given a cold reception from her coach Eteri Tutberidze as she left the rink.

Bach called that reaction "chilling" and ordered the young skater's coaches and advisors be investigated.

Valieva's doping case looks certain to drag on for months.

For the first time in Olympic history, the IOC ruled that the skating team medals cannot be awarded until her case is settled.

Ice skating's governing body meanwhile said it would consider a proposal to raise the minimum competition age to 17.

- Rights protests muted -

While a Covid outbreak never materialised, some athletes did have the Olympics ruined by the virus and the pandemic was never far away -- Russia and Canada's women ice hockey teams played each other wearing medical masks after the results of their PCR tests failed to arrive in time.

Concerns about human rights had dominated the build-up, with the United States leading a diplomatic boycott by its closest allies over China's rights record, especially the fate of the Muslim Uyghur minority in Xinjiang.

China warned in the fraught lead-up that foreign athletes criticising the authorities could face consequences, but any protests against the hosts were extremely muted.

F.Garcia--TFWP