Day 4 of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics

Day 4 of Olympic action is in the books from Beijing, and there’s been no shortage of standout stories and newsy nuggets to devour. For those who may have been deep in slumber while the 2022 Games were peaking in daytime Beijing hours, here’s a roundup of what you missed.

⛷ China’s Eileen Gu takes gold, creates citizenship controversy and breaks internet

Eighteen-year-old freeski superstar Eileen Gu nailed a 1620 in Tuesday’s big air competition. The move was good enough to secure her first-ever Olympic gold medal. But Gu wasn’t quite done.

Her performance — which she described as being a “testament to her character”— was so awe-inspiring that China’s Twitter-style platform, Weibo, crashed amid due to a massive number of users. Later, Gu, who skis for China but was born in the US, further stirred up public interest when she deftly dodged post-event inquiries regarding her citizenship and nationality. That is a busy day, Ms. Gu.

⛸ Chen dethrones skating’s “Ice Prince”

Team USA figure skater Nathan Chen is quad-flipping and triple-axeling his way toward a gold medal, and breaking world records in the process.

Chen, 22, nailed his short program Tuesday, earning a record-breaking score of 113.97. The mark breaks the previous record set by his rival Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu, who goes by the nickname “Ice Prince.”

Chen, however, stands poised to become the sport’s king, leading all competitors heading to Thursday’s free skate which will determine the event’s medal winners.

🏒 See you again soon, Canada?

The US women’s hockey team fell 4-2 to Canada in a hotly-contested and highly-anticipated preliminary round match in Beijing. But Canada and the US, who met in the gold medal game in Pyeongchang four years ago, may have yet another chapter to write in their historic rivalry.

Each nation has already secured a spot in Thursday’s quarterfinals, which means if they each keep winning, they’ll meet again in the finals. Between the two of them, Canada and the US have captured every gold medal in the sport.

And if you missed yesterday’s Olympic action, here are a couple of compelling stories from Monday at the Games:

🎿 Australian beach kid captures gold on snow

Jakara Anthony’s gold medal in women’s moguls is Australia’s first Winter Olympics gold in more than a decade.

Anthony, who grew up in a beach town, called her Olympic moment “mindblowing.”

Speaking with CNN, the 23-year-old noted that “people think we’re a bit of an underdog in winter sports but we’ve actually proven that we’re pretty strong.”

🏂 Max Parrot stands up to cancer, captures snowboarding gold

Canadian snowboarder Max Parrot, 27, was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in December 2018. Now, he’s an Olympic champion, capturing gold in the men’s slopestyle event.

Parrot describes his cancer fight as a “nightmare journey” and said that while battling the disease, and being unable to compete, he felt “like I was a lion in a cage.”

Finland’s women’s ice hockey team beat the Russian Olympic Committee’s (ROC) team 5-0 in the final game of group A round-robin at National Indoor Stadium on Tuesday. Coronavirus fears remained in the backdrop as the Finnish team decided to play the match with their masks on.

“The female lions have decided to play today the match against the Russian Olympic Committee team with masks on their faces,” Olympic team Finland said in a tweet. “The team decided after discussing the matter with the International Hockey Federation.”

Some background: The ROC women’s ice hockey team was subjected to three days in quarantine early last week after several players tested positive for Covid-19. The team has since been cleared to compete at the Games. The team also competed against Canada on Monday with masks on until the third period, after which it played without masks while Canadian players kept their masks on.

Finish hockey player Minnamari Tuominen said she didn’t feel the mask while on the ice at first.

“It wasn’t bothering my vision or anything, but after a long shift on the bench it was kind of a little bit difficult to breathe and it was difficult to drink our water,” she said in her comments after the match.

Meanwhile, ROC head coach Yevgeni Bobariko admitted that the quarantine period at the beginning of the Winter Olympics has been tough on the team.

“The only way for us to go outside is to go to practice or to the game, so we cannot do any team-building exercises or something like that,” he said in his comments after the match. “The only way for us to regroup and to get ready for the quarterfinals is through the practice, and that’s all.”

He added that the quarantine prompted a fatigue that has affected the team.

“The only way was to train in the rooms. Obviously, it affected us. The fatigue is basically because of that.”

In case you missed it yesterday, Canadian snowboarder Max Parrot has provided arguably the most inspiring story of the Winter Olympics so far.

Just over three years after he was diagnosed with cancer, Parrot claimed his first Olympic gold medal in the men’s slopestyle event in Beijing on Monday.

In what he has described as a “nightmare journey” since his diagnosis with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in December 2018, Parrot underwent 12 rounds of chemotherapy before announcing in July 2019 that he had “won” against cancer.

“At times, I felt like I was a lion in a cage because I wasn’t able to do what I love the most, which is snowboarding,” the 27-year-old said as he reflected on the past three years.

“That was the first time in my life that I had to put my snowboard in the closet. Snowboarding is all I know, so it was really hard for me.”

ZHANGJIAKOU, CHINA - FEBRUARY 07: Gold medalist, Max Parrot of Team Canada celebrates with their medal during the Men's Snowboarding Slopestyle Medal Ceremony at Medal Plaza on February 07, 2022 in Zhangjiakou, China. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

Related article Max Parrot: Canadian snowboarder wins Olympic gold, three years after cancer diagnosis

On Day 4 of the 2022 Beijing Games, 10 gold medals were up for grabs. Here’s how the competition has shaken out so far.

Alpine Skiing: Austria’s Matthias Mayer won gold in men’s Super-G.

Biathlon: France’s Quentin Fillon Maillet took the top spot in men’s 20 km individual event.

Cross-Country Skiing:

World champion Jonna Sundling of Sweden clinched the gold in women’s cross country freestyle sprint.

Norway’s Johannes Klaebo defended his Olympic title in men’s cross-country freestyle sprint.

Curling: Italian pair Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner sealed their country’s first ever curling medal at a Winter Olympics with gold in the mixed team doubles.

Freestyle Skiing: China’s Eileen Gu won gold in women’s freeski big air, causing her fans to temporarily crash leading Chinese social media platform Weibo.

Luge: German luger Natalie Geisenberger captured the gold, her third consecutive Olympic singles luge title.

Snowboard:

Czech Republic’s Ester Ledecká won gold in women’s parallel giant slalom.

Austria’s Benjamin Karl took the gold in men’s parallel giant slalom.

Speed Skating: Kjeld Nuis of the Netherlands defended his title in the men’s 1,500m race in an Olympic record time.

As Day 4 of the Winter Olympics draws to a close, these are some of the best action shots from Tuesday in Beijing – from flying skiers to flexible figure skaters.

Head here to take a look through some of the best photos from the Games so far:

The closing ceremony is held at the National Stadium (Bird's Nest) in Beijing, China on February 20, 2022. The fireworks are gone off. ( The Yomiuri Shimbun via AP Images )

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Related gallery Photos: The 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing

Germany’s Natalie Geisenberger cemented her status as one of the most successful lugers of all time as she stormed to a third consecutive Olympic singles luge title on Tuesday.

The 34-year-old now has a total of six medals to her name, five of which are gold.

Geisenberger ties Italy’s Armin Zöggeler for the most Olympic luge medals won (6) and equals the record of German luger Georg Hackl, who won three successive Olympic men’s titles in 1992, 1994 and 1998.

She missed the 2019-20 season to give birth to her first child, Leo, in May 2020.

After 18 months away from the sport, she returned to training in September, winning her first race back at the Nations Cup in Innsbruck in November.

Compatriot Anna Berreiter claimed silver, while Tatiana Ivanova of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) won bronze.

Italian pair Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner sealed their country’s first ever curling medal at a Winter Olympics with gold in the mixed team doubles, defeating Norway 8-5 on Tuesday.

The pair have gone through the entire competition in Beijing unbeaten having won all nine preliminary games, a semifinal against Sweden and now the final against Norway.

After their win, Mosaner said: “This is an important moment, we managed to win a gold medal and this is an incredible thing.

“But above all the 11 wins and the zero defeats, this is the biggest and most beautiful thing.”

Perhaps most important to Constantini, though, was how their run led to a wider awareness of curling in Italy.

“This is the beauty of it,” Constantini said. “We managed to get people more curious (about our sport). Lots of Italians and fans are following us and are proud of us. We could feel all their support.”

The historic run to the gold also saw Constantini and Mosaner knock out 2018 champion Canada in the round robin stage.

Norwegians Kristin Skaslien and Magnus Nedregotten, bronze medalists in PyeongChang four years ago, were unable to see off the resolute Italians and took silver.

Sweden’s Almida de Val and Oskar Eriksson claimed bronze earlier on Tuesday with a 9-3 victory over Great Britain.

Norwegian Johannes Klæbo defended his Olympic title in men’s cross-country freestyle sprint at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics on Tuesday.

Klæbo is the first athlete to ever win consecutive gold medals in cross-country skiing men’s sprint free.

“I think it’s a special moment, for sure. Last couple of weeks has been quite stressful. We had some Covid in the team and my coaches are staying at home,” he said after his win.

“So a lot of difficult times but being able to defend the Olympic gold from last time and having this amazing fight with Federico (Pellegrino) today was special. It was a lot of fun out there.”

The 25-year-old captured his fourth Olympic gold medal after winning three at the 2018 PyeongChang Games. 

Italian Federico Pellegrino earned silver, while Alexander Terentev of the Russian Olympic Committee took bronze.

Beijing 2022 is already seeing new world records and masterful displays across different sports. But here are two US athletes to watch, who are yet to compete at the Winter Olympics

Chloe Kim: Snowboarder

It seems Chloe Kim was destined for Olympic glory, having started snowboarding at the age of four.

The story goes that her father immigrated from South Korea to the US with $800 in hand, later giving up his job to support his daughter’s snowboarding ambitions.

Kim was 17 years old when she won the women’s halfpipe event at PyeongChang 2018, making her the youngest woman to earn an Olympic gold medal in snowboarding.

She’s scheduled to compete in the women’s halfpipe event at this year’s Games.

Erin Jackson: Speed skater

World No. 1 speed skater Erin Jackson’s hopes of competing at Beijing 2022 were nearly dashed when she failed to qualify for the 500m during the US Trials in January.

However, Jackson received a spot after compatriot Brittany Bowe renounced her place, saying at the time, “No one’s more deserving than her to get an opportunity to bring Team USA home a medal.”

But in a fortuitous twist, Bowe will still be able to compete in the 500m after the US picked up an extra spot when some countries returned quota slots for the event.

Even though Jackson has only been speed skating for five years, she’s a favorite for gold in the women’s 500m and women’s 1,000m events.

You can read more about our athletes to watch below.

Related article Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics: Top 15 athletes to watch

Dutch speed skater Kjeld Nuis defended his title in the men’s 1,500m race in an Olympic record time.

Nuis finished in 1:43.21, breaking the mark set by American Derek Parra at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.

The 32-year-old is the first person since 1994 to successfully defend his Olympic title in the men’s 1,500m.

This is Nuis’ third Olympic gold medal. He also won the men’s 1,000m at the 2018 PyeongChang Games.

Silver went to Thomas Krol of the Netherlands, while Kim Min-seok of the Republic of Korea claimed bronze for the second straight Winter Games.

Sweden’s Jonna Sundling picked up her first gold medal of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics by winning the women’s cross country freestyle sprint on Tuesday.

The world champion was in imperious form beating her compatriot Maja Dahlqvist by almost three seconds.

Jessie Diggins of the United States, who won gold in the women’s team sprint in 2018, claimed bronze.

Freestyle skier Eileen Gu, who won gold in the big air competition on Tuesday, was asked after the event if she was still a US citizen having chosen to represent China at the Winter Olympics.

It’s unclear whether Gu renounced her American citizenship – usually a requirement for Chinese naturalization – since the country does not allow dual citizenship.

The 18-year-old has never publicly commented on the status of her American citizenship, though an article on the official Olympic site referred to her “dual nationality” in January.

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There will be a record number of out athletes – at least 36 – competing at the Winter Olympics in Beijing this year, according to SB Nation blog Outsports.

Among them is British curler Bruce Mouat, who has been speaking during the Games about coming out in 2014.

“It’s weird to look back and think I wouldn’t have come out eventually,” Mouat said after beating China in the mixed doubles round-robin group match on Sunday.

“I don’t know where I would be, but I’m not sure if I would have been as confident as I am right now.

“I’m a very proud person and I like to have a little joke and a laugh and be proud of who I am and who I’ve become because of it.”

Mouat and mixed doubles partner Jen Dodds missed out on a bronze in the mixed doubles after a 9-3 defeat against Sweden on Tuesday but will compete again in the men’s and women’s competitions later in the Games.

Mouat, who is 27 and competing at his first Olympics, has been seen sporting rainbow laces in Beijing in solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community.

“Bruce is an amazing person,” Dodds said of her partner. “It doesn’t matter if he’s straight, gay, whatever, he is just an amazing friend, one of my best friends.”

The 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing will take place against a backdrop of an environment that is growing increasingly challenging for LGBTQ+ people and athletes to express themselves in

Related article The Tokyo Olympics set the record for LGBTQ+ visibility. The Beijing Games aren't likely to break it

France has its first gold medal of the Beijing Games courtesy of Quentin Fillon Maillet who won the men’s 20 km biathlon event at the Zhangjiakou National Biathlon Centre on Tuesday.

The Frenchman, who is the current World Cup overall leader, came home in a winning time of 48 minutes and 47.4 seconds – this despite suffering two shooting penalties.

“Maybe it looked easy, but it was so hard today. With two misses in the shooting, I never expected the victory – maybe the podium,” Maillet said.

“It’s hard to relish the victory right now because the race is not finished, but I’m starting to feel the emotions of the victory. It was amazing,” he added. “A lot of work, a lot of energy for this. Thank you to my family, my friends, my partner, my teammates, for all their work and all the people who helped me on my way to becoming Olympic champion.”

Maillet finished almost 15 seconds clear of Anton Smolski, who wins Belarus’ first medal of the Games.

Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Bø, who won this event at PyeongChang 2018, claimed the bronze medal.

The Winter Olympics showcases some unusual sports and disciplines that you may never have heard of.

One of those is the Nordic combined, which is comprised of cross-country skiing and ski jumping and remains one of the few competitions at the Games that’s yet to introduce a women’s draw.

Competitors win points for the style and distance of their ski jump. The better-scoring jumpers subsequently get a head start in the staggered cross-country skiing element — the conversion of points to time is known as the Gundersen method.

The Nordic combined was the centerpiece of the Holmenkollen ski festival, which began in Oslo, Norway in 1892. Since then, the sport has garnered an international fanbase and has been an enduring event at the Games since the first Winter Olympics in 1924 in Chamonix, France.

The competitions in Beijing take place from February 9 until February 17.

You can read more about the Nordic combined — and every other Winter Games discipline — below.

Related article Beijing Winter Olympics 2022: Event-by-event guide

After winning her first Olympic gold medal and China’s third of the Games, freestyle skier Eileen Gu said her final trick — a 1620 — was a “testament to her character.”

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The Winter Olympics is home to some interesting and unusual sports … but even in ice hockey — a sport that is extremely popular around the world — there are some terms used by commentators or pundits that you might not be accustomed to hearing.

We picked out some of the key ones and explain what they mean, so you’ll be ready to impress your friends and follow the action in Beijing.

An apple: an assist.

Bottle rocket: when a goal breaks the goalie’s water bottle that sits on top of the net.

Flamingo: when a player lifts one leg, standing like a flamingo, to get out of the way of a shot.

Sieve: a goaltender who allows a lot of goals, usually referred to as being full of holes.

You can read more of ice hockey’s unique phrases below.

China's goaltender Zhou Jiaying (R, bottom) and teammate Yu Baiwei defend their goal from Sweden's Lisa Johansson during their women's preliminary round group B match of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games ice hockey competition, at the Wukesong Sports Centre in Beijing on February 7, 2022. (Photo by Anthony WALLACE / AFP) (Photo by ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP via Getty Images)

Related article An apple, a biscuit and a cherry picker: explaining the ice hockey jargon you might not understand

Olympic gold medalist Eileen Gu has offered her support to teammate Zhu Yi, the Chinese figure skater who received abuse on social media after her performance in the team skating event.

Zhu fell during her short program routine in the team competition on Sunday, after which the hashtag “Zhu Yi has fallen” gained 200 million views in just a few hours on social media platform Weibo.

Then on Monday, the 19-year-old Zhu fell twice during the free skate and broke down in tears as she left the ice. She later said she would be focusing on her mental health ahead of competing in the singles.

After her gold medal in the big air competition on Tuesday, freestyle skier Gu — who, like Zhu, is US-born and competing for China at Beijing 2022 — urged supporters to show compassion to her teammate.

“I think she’s amazing. Anyone who can make it to the Olympic Winter Games is already amazing,” Gu told reporters.

“Mistakes and pressure are both part of the sport. I think many athletes also fell today, as you saw.

“Therefore, we should have some sportsmanship … Of course, everybody wants her to get good results, but she especially wanted to get good results for herself.

“That’s why I hope people can try and understand her situation better. I think she’s done her best.”

The contrasting reactions to the performances of Zhu and Gu in Beijing — one attacked on social media, the other showered with praise — typifies the heavy scrutiny Chinese athletes are under during the course of the Games.

After 18-year-old Gu’s gold medal on Tuesday, the Weibo site crashed due to the millions of users celebrating the victory. Seven of the top 10 trending topics were about Gu’s win, and related hashtags — such as “Gu Ailing won the gold medal” — received more than 300 million views within an hour of the result.

Nordic combined skier Kristjan Ilves should be competing tomorrow. Instead, he will be watching on with sadness.

Ilves was the third member of the Estonian Winter Olympic team to test positive on arrival in Beijing.

“That’s gone,” he told CNN of his hopes of competing in Wednesday’s individual normal hill/10 km. “That’s what I’ve already accepted.”

Ilves says he has not yet tested negative since he arrived in Beijing almost a week ago, but he still holds some hope of competing in the individual large hill/10 km on February 15.

“Actually, in my head, I have to say that I may be quite over with the Olympics, if I can say so,” he says.

“So if I can compete, that’s a bonus. It looks a little unlikely, but I will say … there’s absolutely nothing I can do. I just can hope and wait.” 

Initially, rules allowed athletes that had tested positive to leave isolation after 10 days, meaning Ilves would have made his second competition.

However, they have since been changed and athletes now require back-to-back negative tests to leave quarantine.

Even if he does make it out, Ilves admits the confined quarantined conditions — and the lack of a varied diet with the food — means he is no longer at his peak physical condition.

“I won’t say that it’s 100% over, but even if I possibly get out, I’m not like in the shape that it’s optimal for me,” he explained.

“And for the Olympics, I’m probably I will say 70% of my capacity or something … it would probably be quite low.”

Ilves is visited multiple times a day by people dressed in hazmat suits and says they come into his room five or six times a day for testing, taking his temperature and delivering food.

“It looks looks weird and insane,” he says.

“We are living, like, in the normal world and we have to do that kind of stuff here and it definitely takes down the value of the Olympics. Just, like, visually looks weird.”

After a silver in Vancouver in 2010 and a bronze in PyeongChang in 2018, it’s finally gold for Austria’s Benjamin Karl after the 36-year-old triumphed in the men’s parallel giant slalom in Beijing.

Karl defeated Slovenia’s Tim Mastnak in the final, adding Olympic gold to his five world championship titles in the same discipline.

“I can’t describe with words, I’m just happy and satisfied,” said Karl of his victory. “I’ll enjoy it during the rest of the day.”

The Russian Olympic Committee’s Victor Wild claimed bronze — his third Olympic medal after two golds at Sochi 2014.

At one of the “closed loop” hotels, we see a man who decided to brave the 17.6 degrees Fahrenheit (-8 degrees Celsius) evening temperatures to run small laps of the hotel car park.

Under the closed loop system, you can only move between your hotel, media center and competition venues.

This must all be done in official closed loop buses or special vehicles — and there is a noticeable lack of outdoor space.

The hotels have closed most facilities in order to adhere to strict Covid restrictions and to maintain social distancing.

Beijing has been experiencing a spell of clear blue sky weather this past week, but unfortunately, most of the thousands of people inside the loop can’t experience it.

Instead, days are spent peering out of hotel windows, working in the basement of the media center and shuttling to a competition venue — if you are one of the lucky ones.

Ester Ledecka retained her Olympic title in women’s snowboarding parallel giant slalom on Tuesday to become only the second Czech woman to win three Winter Olympic golds.

Ledecka shocked the sports world four years ago at the Pyeongchang Games when she won the same event and also took gold in the alpine skiing Super-G.

Daniela Ulbing of Austria wins silver, while Gloria Kotnik of Slovenia takes bronze.

“I was so concentrated until the end that I didn’t even know if we had to go up one more time or not, so I was not celebrating it at all,” Ledecka said after her final run.

“I’m super happy, but in my head, I’m just still a little bit in the race.”

“I made a good job, I’m very proud of my team, so thank you very much to them, especially Justin (Reiter), my American coach,” she added.

“They made an amazing job and I’m happy that I was able to finish like that.”

Weeks-long isolation, repeat stints in quarantine and sub-par meals — these are conditions that some Olympic athletes snared in Beijing’s stringent system for controlling Covid-19 say they are contending with, and some are pushing back.

Finnish ice hockey head coach Jukka Jalonen on Sunday accused China of “not respecting human rights” for keeping his star player Marko Anttila in isolation for more than two weeks, leaving the athlete, who tested positive for the virus, out of commission into the first weekend of the Beijing Winter Games.

“We know that he’s fully healthy and ready to go and that’s why we think that China, for some reason, won’t respect his human rights and that’s not a great situation,” Jalonen told reporters Sunday, adding that according to his team doctor, Anttila was no longer infectious after first testing positive 18 days earlier.

Beijing pushes back: Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian stressed controls put in place by the organizing committee for the Beijing Games were meant “to reduce the risk of infection as much as possible, and ensure the safe and smooth running of the Games as scheduled,” while safeguarding the health of all those involved and in the host city.

The hockey star is one of 159 athletes or team officials who have tested positive for Covid-19 in Beijing as of Tuesday morning local time. Overall, some 393 Olympics-related personnel and other stakeholders have received that result, picked up in arrival screenings and daily tests — a key pillar of Beijing’s Olympic’s bubble.

Rules a shock for some: For athletes coming from parts of the world that have begun to shift their approaches to “live with the virus” after large portions of their populations received vaccines, China’s rules can seem jarring.

And for some, the virus and its controls have meant giving up Olympic dreams.

Polish short track speed skater Natalia Maliszewska missed her first competitive event due to being placed back in isolation within hours of her initial release.

Read the full story:

People in protective gear are seen in the Olympic village ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games.

Related article Olympians pushed to their limits over uncompromising Beijing Covid-19 controls

Team USA’s Nathan Chen achieved a world record score in the men’s short program Tuesday, placing him in pole position for his first Olympic gold.

The three-time world champion, 22, finished with a score of 113.97, breaking the previous record set by Japan’s “Ice Prince” Yuzuru Hanyu — his chief rival.

Skating to “La Boheme” in a black tuxedo, Chen landed a series of flawless quadruple jumps, then pumped his fists into the air at the end of his routine in a rare show of triumph.

“Looking back I almost never do stuff like that, I guess it’s just indicative of how I felt in that moment — very happy,” Chen told reporters afterward.
“I’d say it’s pretty close to my best. Obviously there are always things you can improve on, there are always things you can do a little bit better, but overall I’m very happy.”

“Ice Prince” needs something special: Hanyu, the reigning two-time Olympic champion, finished eighth with a score of 95.15 after missing his first jump.

“I didn’t feel anything bad until takeoff. When I took off, I was under some hole, maybe (caused by) some other skater’s toe (loop) or flip or something,” he told reporters.

The mistake leaves Hanyu with it all to do heading into Thursday’s free skate program. But he said he was still determined to attempt the quadruple axel — the most challenging jump in figure skating and never completed by anyone in competition.

“I have one more chance. I have lots of time with the music and many jumps in there, so I (can) be my best.”

Jakara Anthony became Australia’s first Winter Olympics gold medalist in 12 years, capturing the women’s moguls title on Sunday.

The 23-year-old spoke to CNN about how a kid from a beach town grew up to become an Olympic champion of the snow.

“It’s just mindblowing” she said. “People think we’re a bit of an underdog in winter sports but we’ve actually proven that we’re pretty strong in the World Cup field, World Championships and Olympics in the past.”

Born in coastal Cairns — probably best known for the Great Barrier Reef — Anthony said of her skiing: “it’s pretty bizarre.”

“I wouldn’t really pick someone from where I live to be so successful at winter sports.”

Watch the interview:

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Fans across China temporarily crashed the country’s leading social media platform on Tuesday, as tens of millions rushed online to celebrate teenage freeski sensation Eileen Gu winning her first gold medal at the Beijing Olympics.

Gu, 18, jumped into the top position at the women’s big air competition with her third run, scoring 94.5 with a 1620 and a perfect landing — making her total score 188.25 in the event’s debut at the Winter Olympics.

“That was the best moment of my life. The happiest moment, day, whatever — of my life. I just cannot believe what just happened,” said Gu after her win, according to the Olympic site.
“Even if I didn’t land it, I felt it would send a message out to the world and hopefully encourage more girls to break their own boundaries,” she added. “That was my biggest goal going into my last run. I reminded myself to have fun and enjoy the moment and that, no matter what, I was so grateful to even have this opportunity to even be here.”

Fans filled the stands to cheer for Gu, who was born in the United States but decided in 2019 to compete for China. Known as the “snow princess” in China, Gu — already a reigning world champion — has become the unofficial face of China’s Olympic ambitions, and saw her popularity skyrocket in the lead-up to the Games.

Social media site crashes: Gu’s victory sparked joyous scenes online. The topic dominated searches on China’s Twitter-like platform Weibo, where seven of the 10 top trending topics were all about Gu’s win. Fans on her Weibo, where she has 2.6 million followers, left more than 90,000 comments in less than 30-minutes after her win.

Related hashtags, such as “Gu Ailing won the gold medal,” received more than 300 million views within an hour — eventually crashing the entire Weibo site due to the massive number of users.

Read the full story:

China's Gu Ailing Eileen reacts as she competes in the freestyle skiing women's freeski big air final run during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games at the Big Air Shougang in Beijing on February 8, 2022. (Photo by Manan VATSYAYANA / AFP) (Photo by MANAN VATSYAYANA/AFP via Getty Images)

Related article China's freeski sensation Eileen Gu wins gold in Big Air competition

Canada beat the United States 4-2 in a fiercely contested women’s ice hockey preliminary round match at the Wukesong Sports Center in Beijing on Tuesday.

Though both teams had already secured spots in the quarterfinals, it was still one of the most highly anticipated matchups of these Winter Games.

It was also both teams’ final games in the preliminary round before the seeds are determined for the quarterfinals, which begin Thursday. 

In the latest instalment of the rivalry, Canada – despite being outshot by the US 53-27 – had the upper hand. 

Four years ago at Pyeongchang, the US beat Canada in a penalty shootout in the final to win Olympic gold. Between them, the two teams have won every Olympic gold medal in this sport.

Canada leads Group A with four wins out of four, with the US in second.

And the two big rivals could meet again in Beijing — if they progress to the finals.

Even the referees are tough in ice hockey: The officials weren’t spared from the rough and tumble on the ice Tuesday — referee Cianna Lieffers had to take time out after a US player accidentally hit her in the face with her stick, leaving her bleeding from her mouth.

China’s gold medalist Eileen Gu sidestepped questions about the status of her US citizenship during a news conference Tuesday after winning the freeski big air competition in Beijing.

Reporters pressed the 18-year-old on whether she holds dual passports, as her Beijing 2022 profile says she “renounced her United States citizenship” in 2019 “to represent China at the Winter Games.”

“I definitely feel as though I’m just as American as I am Chinese. I am American when I am in the US, I am Chinese when I am in China, I’ve been outspoken about my gratitude to both the US and China for making me the person I am,” Gu told reporters when asked whether she still held her US passport. 
“Both have been incredibly supportive of me and continue to be supportive of me because they understand that my mission is to use sport as a force for unity, to use it as a form to foster interconnection between countries and not use it as a divisive force, so that benefits everyone and if you disagree with that that’s someone else’s problem.”

Gu, who is a San Francisco native, was born in the United States to a Chinese mother and American father. 

China only allows dual citizenship in exceptional circumstances, with the government cracking down in recent years on people secretly holding two passports. 

Gu has never publicly confirmed whether she renounced her US citizenship to compete for China. 

Beijing 2022’s official mascot has emerged as a fan favorite at the Winter Games.

Eliciting some of the biggest cheers from crowds — sometimes louder than those heard for the athletes — Bing Dwen Dwen has appeared all over the Olympic venues. Dressed in a full-body icy “shell,” the panda mascot has been seen dancing in the stands, cheering on athletes and pictured on signs and flags waved by spectators.

Miniature, stuffed Bing Dwen Dwens are even awarded to athletes when they win a medal, with skiing sensation and new Olympic gold medaliist Eileen Gu among those seen holding one up on the podium.

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BEIJING, CHINA - FEBRUARY 05: A worker dressed as Bing Dwen Dwen, the mascot of the 2022 Winter Olympics, performs in the stands during the Mixed Team Relay Final A on day one of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games at Capital Indoor Stadium on February 5, 2022 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Liu Lu/VCG via Getty Images)

Related article Panda-monium: From medal podiums to spectator stands, Winter Olympics mascot Bing Dwen Dwen is everywhere

Team USA’s Nathan Chen is leading the men’s figure skating after setting a new world record Tuesday with a score of 113.97 in the short program.

Chen goes through to the free skate, which takes place on Thursday and where the medals will be decided.

His rival Yuzuru Hanyu is in eighth, mainly due to a missed jump at the start of his performance today.

Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama is in second with his compatriot Shoma Uno in third.

Canadian Keegan Messing is also among the 24 qualifiers. He only arrived in Beijing less than 24 hours before he hit the ice due to being isolated for Covid.

Correction: An earlier version of this post misstated Hanyu’s position. He is eighth.

Matthias Mayer of Austria has defended his Olympic title in Super-G, taking gold in the alpine skiing event.

In a surprise, Ryan Cochran-Siegle of the United States, in his second Games, won silver for his first Olympic medal. His mother, Barbara Ann Cochran, was the 1972 Olympic slalom champion.

Aleksander Aamodt Kilde of Norway took bronze.

There were some notable skiers not to finish, including Marco Odermatt and Beat Feuz of Switzerland. 

Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai attended the big air final at the Beijing Winter Olympics on Tuesday, where she watched China’s Eileen Gu take home gold in the event. 

Peng was seen sitting alongside the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach, who she also had a face-to-face meeting with on Saturday night.

“The IOC President was in the athletes’ stands at the Big Air final today and met a number of athletes and one of them was indeed Peng Shuai,” the IOC told CNN Tuesday. 

Peng told independent French sport news site L’Equipe in a sit-down interview in Beijing on Sunday that she denied making sexual assault allegations against a retired senior Chinese Communist Party leader, adding she had “never disappeared” from the public eye.

“I never said anyone had sexually assaulted me in any way,” she said, adding that she herself had erased an explosive social media post from November, in which she accused former Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli of pressuring her into having sex during their years-long affair. 

Mexico’s Donovan Carrillo said many people told him it was impossible for a Mexican figure skater to qualify for the Olympics, but in Beijing on Tuesday he qualified for the free skate after his performance in the men’s short program.

Carrillo is Mexico’s first Olympic figure skater in 30 years and his country’s flag bearer at Beijing 2022.

Following his skate, Carrillo said he was “super happy” with his performance, with his highlight being the quadruple toeloop.

On being a Latin American athlete at the Beijing Olympics, Carrillo said: “Many people told me during the beginning of my career that this was a crazy dream.”

“I always tried to push harder and harder, competition through competition, to try to be the best version of myself. I want people in Latin America and in my country to think about it, to have their big goals and go for it,” he said.

On being able to develop an Olympic-level program despite training at a shopping mall ice rink during public sessions, Carrillo said, “It’s challenging, I’m not lying.”

“But instead of regretting myself and thinking of what I don’t have, I always try to work with what I have. That’s key for me being here. It’s better to focus on what you have and try to exploit that and live the dream.”

In a display of Olympic sportsmanship after the big air freeski final, China’s Eileen Gu and Switzerland’s Mathilde Gremaud rushed to comfort a visibly upset Tess Ledeux from France.

Ledeux looked disappointed following her third and final jump, knowing that it wasn’t enough to clinch the gold.

The 20-year-old finished in silver position, with Gu taking the win and Gremaud the bronze.

Fans on Chinese social media rushed to congratulate big air freeski star Eileen Gu after her gold medal win in Beijing.

On China’s Twitter-like platform Weibo, Gu dominated searches with seven out of the 10 top trending topics all about her victory.

Gu has become a Beijing 2022 poster child for China and has 2.6 million followers on Weibo, with fans leaving 90,000 comments in half an hour after her win.

American-born Gu, whose mother is from China, decided to compete for Team China at the Games. She has the overwhelming support of the home crowd and her image has been splashed across billboards, magazine covers and promotional videos in China.

The Beijing Olympic Committee identified six new Covid-19 cases among Olympics-related personnel on Monday, it said in a statement Tuesday.

All the cases were identified in people already in the “closed loop” system, which separates Olympic athletes, stakeholders, and staff from the public.

Five of the infections were from athletes or team officials, and one involved an Olympic stakeholder. 

Since the official “closed loop” system began on Jan. 23, some 393 Olympics-related personnel have tested positive for Covid-19, with 159 of those cases involving athletes or team officials.

Covid situation in Beijing: It comes as Beijing reported no new locally transmitted cases of Covid-19 outside the Olympic bubble on Monday, the first time since the city clamped down on a recent cluster.

On Monday, authorities lifted all lockdown measures for neighborhoods in Fengtai district where cases had been reported. 

Covid in China: Overall, China reported 65 locally transmitted symptomatic cases on Monday, including 64 in Guangxi and one in northern Tianjin city, according to the National Health Commission. The country also reported four asymptomatic cases, including two in northeastern Heilongjiang province and two in Guangxi.

Fans filled the stands Tuesday to cheer for Chinese freestyle skier Eileen Gu — known as the “snow princess” in China — roaring her on to gold in the women’s big air freeski event

Supporters waved paper Chinese flags and blue Beijing 2022 flags, as hundreds of media personnel and IOC President Thomas Bach watched from the sidelines.

Pumping music and upbeat commentary filled the newly-built Big Air Shougang venue, which is set in the backdrop of four giant industrial chimneys on the outskirts of Beijing.

American-born Gu, whose mother is from China, decided to compete for Team China at the Games.

As well as her skiing career, she is also a model, brand ambassador and plans to attend Stanford in the fall.

In a hotel within the closed loop in the mountain area of Zhangjiakou, staff were seen crowded around a big TV to watch Gu compete.

Read more about Eileen Gu:

BEIJING, CHINA - FEBRUARY 07: Ailing Eileen Gu of Team China reacts during the Women's Freestyle Skiing Freeski Big Air Qualification on Day 3 of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games at Big Air Shougang on February 7, 2022 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Liu Lu/VCG via Getty Images)

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The home crowd erupted when China’s Eileen Gu won the women’s big air freeskiing gold in Beijing.

Gu jumped into the top position with her third run, scoring 94.50. Her total score was 188.25 in the event’s debut at the Winter Olympics.

She beat France’s Tess Ledeux, who took silver with a score of 187.50. Her first run was her best of the day, with a 94.50.

Switzerland’s Mathilde Gremaud wins the bronze.

Home crowd favorite and teen skiing sensation Eileen Gu has just won the gold in the women’s freeski big air competition at Beijing’s Shougang Industrial Park.

Japanese skating sensation Yuzuru Hanyu has made it his goal to attempt the fabled quadruple axel during his Beijing Olympics appearance.

The jump has never been completed in competition before, let alone at the Olympics.

But what exactly is the jump everyone is talking about? The quadruple axel is a jump that involves four-and-a-half rotations in the air.

An axel is the most challenging of figure skating jumps “because it is the only jump in the sport in which skaters take off facing forward,” according to the Olympics website.

“It’s also the easiest for fans to spot at home: If the skater is facing forward when he or she takes off for the jump, kicking their free leg into the air to spring into it, it’s an Axel.”

Triple axels are seen in elite men’s — and increasingly women’s — programs.

Skating history already made: On Monday, ROC’s Kamila Valieva became the first woman to land a quad at the Games.

The 15-year-old Valieva landed two quads in the team event. First was a quad Salchow, which involves four complete rotations in the air, and the second was a quad toeloop and she landed a triple Axel in the same routine.

Favorites in the men’s short program — American Nathan Chen and Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu — begin their Beijing 2022 skate campaigns today in the Capital Indoor Stadium.

Hanyu, 27, is hoping to make history in Beijing by attempting the quadruple axel — a jump that has never been done at the Olympics, or elsewhere.

The reigning two-time Olympic men’s singles champion, who won successive golds at Sochi 2014 and Pyeongchang 2018, is also aiming for a third gold.

It’s a feat not achieved in men’s figure skating since the 1920s.

His main rival, Nathan Chen, 23, is the three-time world title holder — claiming victory in 2018, 2019 and 2021.

He left Pyeongchang 2018 disappointed following a fifth-place finish in the individual event. Since then, Chen embarked on a three-year international winning streak that ended with a third-place finish at Skate America in Las Vegas last October.

He arrives in Beijing as the favorite despite the presence of Hanyu.

Yet for Chen, to compete against his “idol” is nothing but a privilege.

“He’s done so much for the sport, both with himself and then all the things that he’s done outside of the rink — I think he’s just really changed the sport for the better,” Chen said.
“Just to be able to have opportunities to compete against him, to be on the same ice as him, is an honor in itself.

UK broadcaster Channel 4 has announced that its coverage of the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games will be fronted by a team consisting entirely of disabled anchors and pundits.

In what it described as a “global first” for a world-class sporting event, the network’s line-up will include former champions presenting on the ground in China when the games begin next month.

A daily highlights show will be helmed by Ade Adepitan, an award-winning host and wheelchair basketball player, Channel 4 said in a news release Monday.

Paralympic champion triathlete Lauren Steadman will host the breakfast show alongside quadriplegic former professional rugby player Ed Jackson.

Steadman took home a gold medal victory from the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics and also won silver at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio.

The presenting line-up also includes recently retired Paralympic swimmer Ellie Robinson, who won gold at the 2016 Rio Games aged just 15. She will be joined by British racing car driver Billy Monger.

Former sit-skier Sean Rose has been recruited as a pundit, and Channel 4’s overnight sports coverage will be led by Tokyo 2020 presenter Arthur Williams.

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From left: Arthur Williams, Ed Jackson, Ade Adepitan, Lauren Steadman, Ellie Robinson, Billy Monger, Sean Rose.

Related article UK's Channel 4 sends all-disabled presenting team to the Paralympics

Due to Covid restrictions, limited numbers of spectators are allowed into the Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing to watch the men’s figure skating short program.

The stands may be less than half full, but an announcement inside the stadium today warned fans not to throw flowers and gifts onto the ice due to Covid-19 concerns.

It’s common for fans to throw flowers and stuffed animals onto the ice after a skater completes their performance as a sign of appreciation.

Fans of Japanese skating sensation Yuzuru Hanyu have taken the tradition to another level — showering the rink with dozens of Winnie-the-Pooh toys after he skates.

It all started after their hero began carrying a tissue box in the shape of the much loved A.A. Milne character back in 2010. The 27-year-old now regularly carries the bear as a mascot.

It’s not the first time Winnie the Pooh has brushed up against Chinese authorities. In 2017, the honey-loving teddy bear was banished from China’s cyberspace after internet users compared him to Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Day 4 of the Beijing Winter Olympics looks set to be action packed, with fierce rivals facing off on the ice and people’s favorites gunning for gold.

There’s also gold medals up for grabs in alpine skiing, biathlon, curling, freestyle skiing, luge, speed skating and snowboarding. Here are some key moments to look out for:

As Day 4 of the Beijing Games begins, here’s a look at the medal standings, according to the official tally.

Sweden tops the medal board with three golds. The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) is second with two golds, three silvers and two bronzes. ROC has the won most medals so far with seven in total. The Netherlands is ranked third with two golds, two silvers and one bronze. And hosts China are in fourth with two golds and two silvers.

Day 3 of the 2022 Beijing Winter Games was filled with history-making Olympic action, Covid controversy and shock upsets.

Here are some of the highlights:

Team USA figure skater, Vincent Zhou, will not compete in Tuesday’s men’s single skating short program competition after revealing he tested positive for Covid-19.

“It seems pretty unreal that of all the people, it would happen to myself,” Zhou said in a video posted on Instagram on Monday.

Zhou said he has been doing “everything in my power” to avoid Covid during the pandemic.

“I’ve taken all the precautions I can. I’ve isolated myself so much that the loneliness I felt in the last month or two has been crushing at times.” He added that this has been painful, but “I do recognize that this absolutely does not define me as an athlete, as a person.”

Zhou won the silver medal in Monday’s figure skating team event.

It’s hard to fathom the pressure that Eileen Gu would have been feeling as she waited to drop into her third jump of freeski big air qualifying on Monday.

The 18-year-old — who elected to represent her mother’s native China over the United States, her country of birth — has become the poster child for these Winter Games, her face adorning billboards across the country.

Gu is among the favorites to medal at Beijing 2022, having secured gold at the 2021 X Games in halfpipe and slopestyle, as well as bronze in big air.

However, after landing her opening qualifying jump, Gu failed on her second after losing a ski during the attempt. With the two best scores of three jumps counting toward the skiers’ qualification totals, Gu needed to land her third to have any chance of reaching Tuesday’s final.

Much to the delight of the fans in attendance — and no doubt the millions more watching across the country — she did enough with her third jump to qualify in fifth place.

“It’s a relief,” she admitted after securing her spot in the final. “The wind switched in between the first and second runs and you could see a lot of people were going slow.
“I was the fifth person to drop, but I didn’t notice it until it was too late, so my ski popped off. After that, my coach made an adjustment, so it didn’t happen in the third run. Of course, there was a lot of pressure going into it.
“I wouldn’t be satisfied not making finals, but I was just focusing on my trick. I know there are people watching me, it’s a pressure on me. But I knew I could do that trick, I’ve been doing it since I was nine, so I was just talking to myself in the right way.”

Gu has seen her popularity in China soar in the lead up to Beijing 2022 as she has been featured on magazine covers and promotional videos for the Games.

She boasts nearly 2 million followers on China’s Twitter-like social media platform Weibo and has secured multiple Chinese sponsorship deals. One headline in state-run media Xinhua dubbed her the “Snow Princess.”

Read more:

BEIJING, CHINA - FEBRUARY 07: Ailing Eileen Gu of Team China waves after their run during the Women's Freestyle Skiing Freeski Big Air Qualification on Day 3 of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games at Big Air Shougang on February 07, 2022 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

Related article Beijing 2022 poster child Eileen Gu revels in 'historic moment' of reaching freeski big air final

Snowboarder Max Parrot won an Winter Olympic gold medal in Beijing on Monday, just over three years after the Canadian was diagnosed with cancer.

Having won silver in the men’s slopestyle event at Pyeongchang four years ago, the 27-year-old went one better at the Genting Snow Park to secure his first ever Olympic gold medal.

His best score of 90.96 was enough to beat Chinese 17-year-old Su Yiming’s best attempt of 88.70, and compatriot Mark McMorris’ bronze medal performance made it two Canadians on the podium.

Diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in December 2018, Parrot underwent 12 rounds of chemotherapy before announcing in July 2019 that he had “won” against cancer.

Speaking after triumph in Beijing, Parrot reflected on his “nightmare” journey over the past four years.

“They were really hard times and, at times, I felt like I was a lion in a cage because I wasn’t able to do what I love the most, which is snowboarding.

“That was the first time in my life that I had to put my snowboard in the closet. Snowboarding is all I know, so it was really hard for me.”

Read more:

ZHANGJIAKOU, CHINA - FEBRUARY 07: Gold medalist, Max Parrot of Team Canada celebrates with their medal during the Men's Snowboarding Slopestyle Medal Ceremony at Medal Plaza on February 07, 2022 in Zhangjiakou, China. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

Related article Max Parrot: Canadian snowboarder wins Olympic gold, three years after cancer diagnosis

Russian teenage figure skater Kamila Valieva made history at the Winter Olympics in Beijing on Monday as she became the first woman to land a quad at the Games.

The 15-year-old Valieva landed two quads in the team event as the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) secured gold ahead of USA in silver and Japan in bronze at the Capital Indoor Stadium.

“It’s been quite overwhelming. I was very nervous, but I am just glad I was able to execute all of my elements well,” Valieva told reporters.
“To perform with a team like this means everything. We all did such a good job. I’m very proud of my team.”

Valieva executed a quad Salchow — which involves four complete rotations in the air — while performing to Ravel’s “Bolero” in the free skate.

She then went on to land a quad toeloop and triple Axel in the same routine, though she fell on her second quad toeloop attempt.

Canadian Kurt Browning became the first person to land a quad jump in competition at the 1988 World Figure Skating Championships, according to Team Canada’s official Olympic website.

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BEIJING, CHINA - FEBRUARY 07: Kamila Valieva of Team ROC skates during the Women Single Skating Free Skating Team Event on day three of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games at Capital Indoor Stadium on February 07, 2022 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)

Related article Figure skater Kamila Valieva becomes first woman to land a quad at the Winter Olympics

Mikaela Shiffrin’s defense of her Winter Olympic giant slalom title lasted just five turns on Monday, as the American skier crashed out of contention on her opening run.

The 26-year-old was competing in all five alpine skiing disciplines in Beijing and is bidding to become the first American skier to win three golds in a single Winter Games.

However, Shiffrin was one of 22 skiers that failed to finish on Xiaohaituo Mountain, perhaps a consequence of the usual pre-Olympic test runs being canceled due to Covid.

“The day was finished basically before it had even started, but I had really the right mentality and actually I am proud of those five turns,” she told Beijing 2022. “I mean huge disappointment, not even counting medals, but just it’s a really fun hill and good conditions.

“I think there’s a lot of questions that will be asked and I think many people are going to say: ‘What went wrong this entire time?’
“We can go back to right after Sölden (World Cup event in October 2021) and rather than being able to train, being stuck inside because of a back injury. We can go to the 10 days I’ve had to take off in quarantine and missing training there.
“We can go to a lot of different places in the season where we can put the blame, but the easiest thing to say is that I skied a couple of good turns and I skied one turn a bit wrong and I really paid the hardest consequence for that.”

Shiffrin’s next chance at a medal comes in Wednesday’s slalom, the discipline she won gold in as a teenager at Sochi 2014.

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YANQING, CHINA - FEBRUARY 07: Mikaela Shiffrin of Team United States falls during the Women's Giant Slalom on day three of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games at National Alpine Ski Centre on February 07, 2022 in Yanqing, China. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)

Related article 'I won't get over this': Defending Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin crashes out of giant slalom on first run