By Neal Mohimen
As the XXIV Beijing winter olympics ended, it’s time we reflect on the past month— we have seen triumph, heartbreak, and surprises. From skiing to skeleton, the winter games truly offer some spectacular sports. Today I will sum up the games and results and give you a basic rundown on what happened.
Before the games got started the US announced a boycott of the games. They would still allow the athletes to compete but they would not send any diplomatic people to watch. The reason is that the US said China was doing genocide against the Uygurs. The Uygurs are a Turkic ethnic group in central and east Asia. Genocide is when you try destroy a group of people. Lots of other countries followed the US including Canada, Australia, India and Japan.
The opening ceremonies are one of the most spectacular moments in the games because it shows the host country’s culture. All competing countries march into the bird’s nest. Two people are chosen to bear their flag and lead their country. There were some great moments and performances. One of them was the celebration of spring. People got big LED sticks and started waving them around to look like a flower blooming. Another was a sheet of ice covering the olympic ring. The sheet of ice was melting with the rings slowly appearing. Probably the best one of them all is the lighting of the torch. Two athletes from China ran into the stadium and went into a giant snowflake. The snowflake had cells, each representing each competing country. The torch was kept in a hole in the snowflake where it burned throughout the games.
There were total of 15 sports in the winter olympics: Alpine skiing, cross country skiing, freestyle skiing, snowboarding, luge, skeleton, monobob, bobsledding, ski jumping, hockey, curling, figure skating, speed skating and biathlon. This winter olympics were great games and we shall wait until 2024 for the summer olympics in Paris, France.
