Olympic news The curtain falls on the Beijing Olympics

Thanks to China! You have overcome all divisions between countries. And in this Olympic community, we are all equal, exclaimed the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, in a message of unity and solidarity.

This unforgettable experience was made possible by our hosts, the Chinese people. I announce that these 24th Olympic Winter Games are officially over, he concluded to the applause of the audience.

Led by flag bearer and three-time Olympic medalist Isabelle Weidemann, the Canadian delegation entered the Beijing National Stadium for the closing ceremony, in front of a much larger crowd than at the opening of the Olympics. .

Isabelle Weidemann waves the Canadian flag during the closing ceremony of the Beijing Games.

Photo: Getty Images / James Chance

It's completely surreal, said the long track speed skater before her walk in the stadium.

“We really had a lot of fun in the last few days. We went to see the other competitions as a gang. It represents what we are as a group. »

It's really amazing! Even with the sanitary measures, it didn't affect us too much. We stayed as a group and we took advantage of the present moment, indicated Steven Dubois, triple medalist on Chinese ice.

I'm really happy to experience this with my training partners, continued Laurent Dubreuil, vice-champion in Beijing. It was a week that proved my strength of character and showed me that you can bounce back quickly. These are the best moments of my career.

We were warned that these Games would be different, but all Games are. All Games have a unique spirit, that's the beauty of this event, mentioned Catriona Le May Doan, Chef de Mission for Team Canada.

The Beijing Olympics as seen by Catriona Le May Doan

Photo: Radio Canada

Final tally of Canadian performances

The paintings

As usual at the Games, Thomas Bach was introduced to the crowd, accompanied by Chinese President Xi Jinping, in the dais.

As at the opening ceremony, it was the Chinese director Zhang Yimou who signed the staging of this great celebration.

Toddlers with lanterns

Photo: USA TODAY SPORTS/George Walker IV

First, dozens of children danced with lanterns in their hands. This lantern festival, where light is king, closed the cycle of Chinese New Year festivities.

Toboggans on skates, guided by young children, then gave way to a huge illuminated snowflake, still very present during the closing ceremony.

Beijing National Stadium illuminated

Photo: Reuters / SUSANA VERA

The athletes then invaded the Bird's Nest center to celebrate their sporting achievements one last time.

As Olympic tradition dictates, the medal ceremony for the premier event in cross-country skiing took place in the stadium, in front of a jubilant crowd.

The Canadian delegation at the closing ceremony

Photo: afp via getty images / SEBASTIEN BOZON

Due to weather conditions, the 50 km race has been reduced to 30 km. Norway's Therese Johaug was crowned in the women's category, while ROC representative Alexander Bolshunov took the men's award.

In the following painting, director Zhang Yimou has portrayed a message of hope, tinged with a melancholy marked by the end of the Games.

According to Chinese tradition, when friends part, the one who leaves for another place receives a willow branch as a souvenir. They symbolize joy, hope and the beginning of a new life.

Willow branches represent hope.

Photo: Reuters / KIM HONG-JI

After the Greek national anthem, the cities of Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, officially took over.

Diplomatic boycott and epidemiological threat

Despite the dark clouds that have hovered over its Olympic Games, China can be proud of a faultless organization, despite difficult circumstances and a somewhat cooled enthusiasm.

COVID-19 requires athletes, organizers and journalists to stay away from the population, in a health bubble, and were subjected to daily screening tests.

Beijing has become the first city in the world to host both the Summer and Winter Games.

However, the 2022 version had little in common with the popular party atmosphere that hosted the 2008 edition, seen as a symbol of the country's emergence on the world stage.

The Games were boycotted diplomatically this time by several Western countries, including Canada and the United States, in the name of defending human rights.

In winning the organization of the 2022 Games, Beijing had set itself the objective of introducing 300 million Chinese to winter sports. If the power claims to have achieved this goal, observers are however more measured.

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Looking towards Italy

In 2026, the Winter Olympics will return to Italy, more specifically to Milan and Cortina d' Ampezzo, 20 years after Turin, for an appointment spread over an immense territory for the sake of not building too many facilities.

There are still a lot of unknowns on the road to the next Olympics, the first officially co-organized by two cities. Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo were preferred, in 2019, to the Swedish duo formed by Stockholm and Are.

After new destinations in Russia (Sochi) and Asia (Pyeongchang and Beijing), the Winter Games will reconnect with the Old Continent, like the summer Games that Paris will organize in 2024. They will mainly find historic sites in skiing since Italy already hosted the event in 1956, already in Cortina d'Ampezzo, before 2006 in Turin.

The logistical challenge is no less great, knowing that the two host cities, located in two different regions, Lombardy and Veneto, are more than 400 kilometers apart by road.

The will of the organizers is clearly to make the most of the existing sports infrastructures to limit the economic and environmental impacts, points on which the Winter Games are particularly scrutinized.

The 2022 edition once again fueled the debate, among other things with the massive use of artificial snow and facilities specially developed for alpine skiing in a semi-arid region.

An important Italian delegation traveled to China to study the central themes of transport, stadiums and equipment for athletes, explained the President of the Italian Olympic Committee, Giovanni Malago .

The Italian choiceis a model to which we must get used, because it is the model which makes possible the sustainabilityof the Winter Games, assured Friday in Beijing Vincenzo Novari, general manager of Milan/Cortina 2026.