Winter Olympics: China brings curtain down on ‘extraordinary’ Games, as IOC chief urges nations to ‘give peace a chance’
- Thomas Bach strikes unusual political tone in speech, calling on the world to ‘give peace a chance’ and urging equal access to Covid-19 vaccines
- China celebrates its most successful Games sporting wise, with nine gold medals helping them to third in the overall table
The world trooped cautiously into the 2022 Beijing Olympics, wary about the “closed loop”, a diplomatic boycott, human rights and the silencing of athletes.
But after two weeks of action-packed sport, passion, triumph and human endeavour, the closed loop gave way to an “open China”, as more global viewers than ever before soaked up the tension, drama and emotions that encapsulate the Olympic spirit in a Games that appeared to have fulfilled its motto of “Together for a Shared Future”.
The Winter Olympics family may have been sealed off from the rest of the world because of strict Covid-19 rules, but the world nevertheless had a front-seat view, via television and online platforms, of a China that has rapidly moved on from its coming out party at the 2008 Summer Games to a modern, world-class, technologically advanced super power that can create robots to deliver meals to your hotel room door.
From the spectacular, laser-lit opening ceremony that welcomed the world with an environmentally friendly, barely visible Olympic flame on February 4, to an equally colourful but more relaxed closing ceremony on Sunday, Beijing – the only city to host the Summer and Winter Olympics – has conjured up a memorable Games in which Chinese athletes achieved unprecedented success on the ice and snow.
President Xi Jinping attend both ceremonies, clearly satisfied his pet project from almost a decade ago came to a successful end and helped to enhance China’s global standing.
