© KEYSTONE/EPA/ROMAN PILIPEY
A pinch of Covid, a hint of politics, a thin layer of snow, a thin audience and sporting exploits galore: the Beijing Olympics ended on Sunday with the usual cocktail.
The President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach, as tradition dictates, “closed” these 24th Winter Olympics with a speech of peace, before the Olympic flame went out in the Chinese capital at the end of this very special fortnight, under the regime of a very strict health bubble which greatly ruined the party.
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 compulsory masks, daily tests and, above all, travel restrictions, the impossibility for 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 policy worked. Certainly, some athletes affected by the Covid-19 had to give up their Olympic dream. But, in view of the more than 60,000 daily tests, i.e. more than 1.8 million in total, there was no cluster or slaughter, since the Olympic population did not count more than three positive cases on the last ten days. And those placed in solitary confinement did not seem to have suffered, like Johannes Boe.
The fortnight had also started with controversies over human rights or the absence of natural snow, made with snow cannons.
Milan/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 Olympic Games in China, accused of violating human rights against the Uyghur Muslim minority in the Xinjiang region.
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 Milan/Cortina duo, who recovered the Olympic flag during the evening from the hands of Thomas Bach, before the Olympic flame was extinguished.
And, in two years, it will be in Paris that it will shine! The next meeting in 2024 will take place in the French capital, where the organizers promise festive summer Olympics.
The Olympic world needs it.