Day 16 of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics

Now that Beijing 2022 has come to a close, it’s time to look back on its high and lows.

From hard-won victories to heartbreaking disappointments, the 24th Winter Games will be one to remember for both the right, and wrong, reasons.

The Kamila Valieva doping scandal dominated the headlines for much of the competition but don’t forget the success stories from some of the world’s best athletes.

Norway cemented its dominance in winter sports and the new generation of stars broke through on the biggest stage, including China’s freeski sensation Eileen Gu.

You can find all the flashpoints from Beijing 2022 here.

US figure skater Vincent Zhou took to Instagram to say he was not allowed to march in Sunday’s Closing Ceremony because he was flagged as a Covid “close contact risk.” 

Zhou tested positive for Covid on Tuesday, February 7, and missed competing in the men’s single skating short program competition.

“I have tested negative 14 times in a row. I have antibodies and am not contagious whatsoever. I am 100% healthy and normal. I am double masked and would be walking outdoors with the same people I am about to travel with in a couple of hours. I would be the least at risk of transmitting to others,” Zhou wrote on his personal Instagram account. 

Zhou, who skated in the Exhibition Gala earlier in the day, also wrote that he was required to take off his mask while on the ice with 40 other people during the gala.

“But it seems that being double masked outdoors is riskier,” he added.

“I have followed the rules and done as required with no question for as long as the rules have existed.” 

The official Playbook for the Beijing Olympic games states that athletes who return to the Games after a period of isolation due to Covid will be “asked to adopt additional countermeasures that apply to close contacts.” 

Correction: An earlier version of this post misstated figure skater Vincent Zhou’s affiliation. He skates for the US.

‘You’ve got the power to know, you’re indestructible, always believe in’

Great Britain has had to wait a while for a gold medal to materialize in Beijing, but has wasted no time in celebrating when it finally arrived on Sunday.

After the women’s curling team beat Japan to secure Team GB’s first Olympic gold in the event in 20 years, the Queen’s Guard took to the grounds of Buckingham Palace to honor their triumph with a rendition of Spandau Ballet’s ‘Gold’.

“What a fantastic end to Beijing 2022,” read a tweet from the official Royal Family account.

China knows a thing or two about fireworks.

An amazing 90-second display lights up the Beijing sky as the Olympic flame is extinguished inside the stadium.

The fireworks are supposedly non-toxic and environmentally friendly but no less impressive.

And that’s that for Beijing 2022.

Over two weeks of elite competition – full of highs and lows – has come to an end. Let’s do it all again in just two years time when Paris hosts the Summer Games in 2024.

IOC President Thomas Bach uses his farewell speech to deliver a plea for peace and unity while thanking the Chinese people for hosting the Winter Games.

“Give peace a chance,” he said, urging world leaders to be inspired by the sporting spectacle in Beijing this month.

Bach also praised the organizers for hosting the Games amid the pandemic, thanking the volunteers for their kindness and ever-present enthusiasm.

Bach then officially declares the 24th Winter Games closed, prompting loud applause from those within the stadium.

Just time for one last emotional video as Beijing says goodbye.

A choir of children takes to the stage and sing while the Olympic flag is lowered inside the stadium – cute is an understatement.

IOC president Thomas Bach hands the flag to the mayors of Milan and Cortina to complete the handover process ahead of the 2026 Winter Games in Italy.

The Italian flag is then raised to the soundtrack of the country’ national anthem.

It may be four years away but preparations have already begun for the next Games.

“Duality, Together” is the motto for the sporting spectacle that promises to raise awareness of sustainability.

Italy has twice hosted Winter Olympics in the past – Cortina in 1956 and Turin in 2006 – but it will be the first held in Milan.

The 2026 Games will take place from February 6-22, while the Winter Paralympics is set for March 6-15.

A check of the current temperature in Beijing will tell you it is below freezing, not that Nathan Crumpton seems to care.

Flanked by flagbearers in wooly hats and puffy coats, the 36-year-old American Samoan skeleton rider mimicked his bare-chested opening ceremony outfit in the closing show.

Crumpton received viral acclaim following the opening ceremony earlier this month, carrying the flag into the stadium as American Samoa’s sole athlete – amidst icy temperatures of -5°C – with just a layer of oil to keep him warm.

He placed 19th in the men’s skeleton on February 11, the event won by Germany’s Christopher Grotheer.

The medal ceremonies for the women’s cross-country 30km mass start free event and the men’s 50km mass start free event are now taking place inside the stadium.

It’s quite a moment for Norway’s Therese Johaug and the Russian Olympic Committee’s Alexander Bolshunov who have the eyes of the world on them as they pick up their respective gold medals.

Both these events took place in bitterly harsh conditions but it’ll all be worth it now.

The anthem’s ring around the stadium amid beaming smiles and a tear or two.

Those athletes still in Beijing are making their way into the stadium now and are creating a carnival atmosphere in the National Stadium

Unlike the Opening Ceremony, all the delegations come out quickly after one another and there is a palpable sense of relief.

Whether they won a medal or crashed out early, all those on stage can say they competed at a Winter Games and won’t forget the past two weeks in a hurry.

Flags are waving and we can only assume smiles are beaming across faces behind those masks.

Trading and collecting pins has been hugely popular at the Beijing Winter Olympics, with volunteers, athletes and media all battling to get the best collection before the Games end.

Displaying the pin collection on the lanyard which holds the Olympic accreditation ID is a way to invite others to trade.

Curating the best collection means a variety of team pins, official volunteer pins and media company pins.

The trading is always popular at the Olympics, but it seems to have taken off even more in Beijing – perhaps because of the limited social interactions due to the restrictions within the closed loop.

The rarest team pins are the most sought after, with Saudi Arabia and Haiti among the favorites, given they only have one athlete from each country at the Games as both countries make their Winter Olympic debut in 2022.

Norway’s was also in demand, given the country topped the medal table at the Games.

Topical pins are also popular, including the Russian Olympic Committee pin, a nod to the news headlines of the Games that have been dominated by the controversy around the positive drugs test by 15-year-old figure skater Kamila Valieva.

For a rare or sought-after pin, people often offer multiple pins in return. 

There are etiquette rules to pin trading which are displayed on a white board at the Main Media Centre (MMC) in Beijing. All pins should be Olympic-related, and any exchanges should be “voluntary and friendly.”

In the last week of the Games, the Beijing 2022 volunteers in particular have begun hustling to improve their collections, approaching anyone wearing a pin collection to request pins or to trade them.

The gold and red CNN pins were very popular, with some athletes saying that is because CNN is the only English news channel available on the hotel televisions within the bubble.

China President Xi Jinping and International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach are introduced to the crowd who give them a rapturous welcome.

Both will be relieved at the relative success of this year’s Games which was staged in a strict bubble amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The flag of China is raised to the soundtrack of the national anthem as more dancing gets underway on the vast stage.

After 16 days of competition, 109 gold medals and more than one controversial moment, Beijing 2022 is officially coming to a conclusion.

The National Stadium, commonly known as the Bird’s Nest, is hosting the Closing Ceremony as China waves goodbye to the Winter Games.

With the pandemic and political tensions posing a threat before and during competition, the sport has been reasonably unscathed.

Now is time to remember the highs and lows and look forward to the next Winter Games in Milan and Cortina, Italy.  

The crowd in the stadium is getting warmed up, so settle in for light shows and ever-enthusiastic dancing.

Amongst the thrills and spills of Beijing 2022, there’s been some sound bites deserving of gold medals.

As competition wraps up and eyes turn towards the Closing Ceremony, here’s the best quotes from this year’s Winter Games.

“I had a glass of wine before the super-G with Loic Meillard and Luca Aerni and after the super-G they wrote on my door, ‘Drink wine: ski fast’. So I drank a glass of wine with them again, of course.”

An unorthodox race preparation for Swiss skier Michelle Gisin, who won gold in the women’s alpine combined after a glass of wine with her teammates the day before.

“He is really relaxed, after yesterday he drank two beers.”

What is going on in the world of skiing sports science and nutrition? Austrian gold medalist Alpine skier Matthias Mayer’s coach Sepp Brunner giving more weight to the alcohol-based approach.

“You feel like Superman, you’re just flying.”

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s Team USA’s monobob gold medalist Kaillie Humphries.

“When you’re a professional athlete in a sport that sucks as much as speed skating sucks, you’ve got to find a way to make it suck a little less.”

A double gold medalist in Beijing, imagine what Sweden’s Nils van der Poel could achieve in a sport that he loved.

“Snowboarding, thank you. It’s been the love of my life… Sorry you’re going to get me ugly crying here.”

Three-time Olympic gold medalist Shaun White ended a legendary career in Beijing, crashing out on his final run.

“I’m gay … and to be out and proud, competing at the Olympics and all of the opportunities that have come my way since the Olympics, I couldn’t be more thankful.”

Once a silver medalist for the USA, Team GB freestyle skier and pop-culture celebrity Gus Kenworthy reflected on a landmark third and final Games.

Read more here.

Bars and restaurants inside the Olympic bubble have started to run out of alcohol in the final week of the Games.

Teams of freestyle skiers from Canada, the US and New Zealand tried to celebrate their last night in China on Saturday after they competed in the halfpipe event.

But they soon exhausted the supplies of alcohol and mixers at the Lobby Bar in the Genting Resort Secret Garden hotel in Zhangjiakou, and the teams resorted to buying boxes of room temperature beer from the hotel shop – around $35 for a box of 12 Tsingtao beers – and sharing around bottles of neat spirits.

In the Marco Polo hotel in Beijing, four out of the five choices of red wine had sold out on a recent visit – leaving only the most expensive option available at around $80.

The Westin hotel in Beijing and the Marriott hotel in the alpine ski area of Yanqing also had to reduce the number of alcohol options available on the menus as supplies ran low.

Getting supplies into the closed loop is challenging, with tight restrictions on food and drinks, and organizers may not have anticipated the amount of alcohol the foreign teams and media would go through during the Games.

Cheers!

There were five gold medals up for grabs on Sunday at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

Here’s a breakdown of who took home gold for their delegations on Day 16 of the Games.

Alpine Skiing

Bobsleigh

Cross-Country Skiing

Curling

Ice Hockey

The full medal table can be found here.

Norway’s Therese Johaug won her third gold medal at Beijing 2022 in the women’s 30km mass start cross-country skiing event.

The 33-year-old had already won the women’s 10km classic and the women’s 7.5km + 7.5km skiathlon in what is her third, and last, Winter Games.

“It’s special for me because I know that this was my last Olympics. It’s a dream that it could end like this,” she said.
“I came here with no individual gold medals and today I have three. It’s been an amazing Olympics for me here in China.”

Jessie Diggins of the US won the silver medal, with Kerttu Niskanen of Finland claiming bronze.

Johaug’s success means Norway increases its lead in the medal table with the country now boasting 16 golds and 37 in total.

Read more about why Norway has been so successful at Beijing 2022 here.

As if competing on an empty stomach was bad enough, Jessie Diggins faced the prospect of trekking 30km through the snow in below freezing temperatures on a recently poisoned one.

The American cross-country skier revealed that just 30 hours before the mass start event on Sunday, she had been suffering from food poisoning.

Yet Diggins powered through to win silver, becoming the first American ever to win multiple cross-country skiing medals in the same Olympics after her previous bronze in the free sprint event.

“One of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my whole life,” said Diggins. “I felt like I was dying in the finish.

“We had so much cheering out there. When it got really hard everyone was just breathing with me.”

Germany’s Francesco Friedrich, who led his four-man bobsled team to victory on Sunday and became the first man ever to win the double-double, said he will continue to bobsleigh for as long as he can.

Friedrich’s win was history making — it’s the first time a driver has won the two- and four-man gold at multiple Olympics.

“We really enjoy doing what we do,” he said. “We are extremely lucky that this is our job and we have such a passion for it. It’s not something that’s given to everyone in life. So every year and every competition we give it our utmost, and as long as we can do this, we will continue to do this.”

Friedrich beat the fellow German team led by Johannes Lochner, which took silver.

Lochner said they needed to be more powerful to win gold.

“By and large I’m very happy. We were too far off in the start zone, so it’s our own fault really. We made it only for the silver; for the gold we needed to be more powerful. But raking in a silver at the Olympic Games is just great, it’s awesome.”

On whether he will continue to 2026, Lochner said he’ll have to see.

“Another Olympic Games, that’s not on my agenda really. I need to talk to my family at home and my parents to see where we’re going. I don’t have a plan yet,” he said. “I’ll be looking at the world championships at St. Moritz, that would be a nice end to my career.”

Team GB’s Eve Muirhead said it felt like a “dream come true” after her team won the country’s first Olympic gold in women’s curling since 2002.

Britain’s Muirhead, Vicky Wright, Jennifer Dodds and Hailey Duff beat Japan 10-3 in the curling final, claiming their country’s first gold at Beijing 2022.

“We fought very hard as a team to get it. We have come so far from the beginning of this season,” said Muirhead. “Without these girls being so strong, this dream would not have come true. They helped me become a better curler, and a better person. Together we are a very, very strong unit and I think today we proved that.”

On what it means for GB, 20 years after Rhona Martin won gold at Salt Lake City, Muirhead said it “is something very, very special.”

“I think Team Great Britain have been strong at the Olympic Games since Rhona won, but we just haven’t crossed the line,” she said. “To have this moment now and know that I followed in Rhona’s footsteps and have this gold medal around my neck, is something very, very special.”

Teammate Wright, who was working full time as a nurse during the pandemic while training for Beijing, said she was “really lucky to do both.”

“To have the support of the girls at work to make everything here possible, I am really lucky. I can’t wait to show them this medal because it is just as much theirs as it is mine,” she said.

 Dodds said of the gold medal match: “dreams come true.”

Heading into the Winter Olympics, there was much talk of two host cities – one inside a tightly-sealed bubble where the Games would be held, and one outside, where daily life would go on as normal.

But the past two weeks have also shown the world two very different Games: For China, Beijing 2022 was a resounding success that exceeded all expectations.

To the rest of the world, it remained a deeply polarizing event, that projected not only China’s rising power but also its growing assertiveness, ready to defy and challenge its critics.

Covid: In its meticulously managed “closed loop,” the ubiquitous face masks, spraying of disinfectant and daily testing have paid-off. Infections brought into the country were swiftly identified and contained, allowing the Games to run largely free of Covid.

Medals: In the medal tables, Team China claimed nine golds and a total of 15 medals, delivering its best ever result at a Winter Olympics – and ranking above the United States. The stellar performances of its new Olympic stars – from freeski sensation Eileen Gu to snowboard prodigy Su Yiming – captivated fans, drawing an outpouring of pride.

Avoiding embarrassment: But for the Chinese government, part of the domestic success also comes from the avoidance of major political scandal or embarrassment. While the doping saga surrounding a teenage Russian figure skater has cast a shadow over the Olympics, it was downplayed inside China. The same was true of criticism of the Games in general, most of which was censored and blocked.

And much to the relief of government officials in Beijing, not a single athlete attempted to use the event to publicly protest China’s human rights record – a hot-button issue in the lead-up to the Olympics.

Read the full analysis:

BEIJING, CHINA - FEBRUARY 03: A small group of spectators cheer for Team China during the Curling Mixed Doubles Round Robin ahead of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics at National Aquatics Centre on February 03, 2022 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

Related article Analysis: The Olympics was a success inside China. And that's the audience Beijing cares about

With the final medal event of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics in the books, Norway finishes the Games with a dominant lead in the medal count. 

Norway tallied the most gold medals, 16, and the highest total number of medals, 37, of all the countries competing in Beijing.  

Norway’s 16 gold medals represent the most ever won at a single Winter Games.

Here’s a look at the top 5 nations on the medal table:

Norway won 16 gold, eight silver and 13 bronze for a total of 37 medals. Germany won 12 gold, 10 silver and five bronze, for a total of 27. Host China won nine gold, four silver and two bronze, for a total of 15. USA won eight gold, 10 silver and seven bronze, for a total of 25. Sweden won eight gold, five silver and five bronze, for a total of 18.

Netherlands also finished with eight gold medals, but placed sixth by virtue of having one less bronze medal than Sweden.

Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) collected 32 total medals, the second highest of any team competing in these Games.

Standings could still change: However, there is still a question mark over the medals in the figure skating team event. The medal ceremony was postponed and the results could change depending on the outcome of an investigation into the failed drug test of ROC figure skater Kamila Valieva.

Finland claimed victory in the men’s ice hockey final on Sunday, beating Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) 2-1, to win their first ever men’s Winter Olympics ice hockey gold medal.

ROC failed to defend their Olympic title won at Pyeongchang 2018, when the team went by the name Olympic Athletes from Russia. They picked up the silver.

The ROC team scored first in the game’s opening period but Finland leveled with a second period goal, sending the game to the third period tied 1-1.

Finland’s Hannes Bjorninen scored the go-ahead goal for his team just 31 seconds into the third period, and the Finns held on to win the game.

Finland have made regular appearances on the podium, returning home with an ice hockey medal from five of the previous seven Games, but it’s the first time the team has reached the top step. 

It’s also the last gold medal of the Beijing Games.

Slovakia earlier beat Sweden to take the bronze.

There has been no spread of Covid-19 infections from the Olympics’ “closed loop” system to the community in Beijing, officials said.

Han Zirong, vice president and secretary-general of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG) made the announcement during a press conference on Sunday.

“According to President (Thomas) Bach and some reporters, the closed loop system is one of the safest places on this planet, if not the safest,” Cai Qi, president of the BOCOG added.

The Beijing Olympic Committee identified one new Covid-19 case among Olympics-related personnel on Saturday, it said.

The new case involves an athlete or team official inside the closed loop, which separates Olympic athletes, stakeholders and staff from the public.

Since Jan. 23, a total of 437 Covid-19 cases have been found among Olympics-related personnel, 185 of which involved athletes and team officials.

Following Therese Johaug’s victory in the women’s cross-country skiing, there remains only one gold medal up for grabs at the Beijing Winter Olympics.

That final event is underway, with Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) leading Finland 1-0 in the men’s ice hockey.

Norway’s Therese Johaug won the women’s 30km cross-country skiing mass start on Sunday, with a time of 1:24:54.

This is Johaug’s third gold medal of these Games, having also won the women’s 10km classic and the 7.5km + 7.5km skiathlon.

In the home stretch, Johaug grabbed a Norwegian flag and waved it as she skied across the finish line.

Her gold adds to Norway’s domination in the medal standings, with the country’s 16th gold and 37th total medal in Beijing.

It is also the penultimate gold medal to be won at the Olympics.

Team USA’s Jessie Diggins claimed silver and Finland’s Kerttu Niskanen took bronze.

Diggins becomes the first American ever to win multiple cross-country skiing medals in the same Olympics. Diggins previously won the bronze medal in the women’s free sprint event.

Bobsledding legend Francesco Friedrich led his four-man bobsled team to victory on Sunday, becoming the first man ever to win the double-double.

He beat the German team led by Johannes Lochner, which took silver.

Justin Kripps’ four-man sled from Canada won bronze, just beating a third German team led by Christoph Hafer.

Friedrich’s win is history making — it’s the first time a driver has won the two- and four-man gold at multiple Olympics. Friedrich retained his title in the two-man on Tuesday.

He won both the two- and four-man at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics.

The 31-year-old Friedrich is a 13-time world champion across two-man, four-man and team events, cementing his place as the most decorated pilot in bobsledding world championship history and one of the greatest of all time.

The Germans have dominated the sport at these Olympics, winning gold in three of the Games’ four bobsleigh events and racking up seven of the 12 bobsledding medals awarded in Beijing.

Britain’s Eve Muirhead led her team to win gold in the women’s curling on Sunday, winning Team GB’s first gold of the Winter Olympics.

It’s also the first time GB has won gold in the curling since Rhona Martin skipped Britain to victory in Salt Lake City in 2002.

Japan took silver in their first ever Olympic final in the sport.

It was a rematch of the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympic bronze-medal game, which was won by Japan for its first curling medal. 

Sweden won bronze in the event last night after defeating Switzerland. 

The victory comes after Team GB picked up a silver in the men’s curling — GB’s first medal of the 2022 Winter Games — after falling short against Sweden on Saturday.

US skiing star Mikaela Shiffrin had her dreams of winning an Olympic medal dashed on Sunday, after Norway beat Team USA in the small final of the mixed team parallel.

Norway took the bronze in the final alpine event of the Winter Olympics, with the US in fourth.

The event tops an upsetting Olympics for Shiffrin, who on Thursday was left reeling from a third did-not-finish (DNF) at the Games.

She arrived at the Winter Olympics looking to win a third consecutive gold at a Games, but after crashing out of the alpine combined event, the 26-year-old suffered 60% of her career DNF’s at the National Alpine Skiing Centre this month.

Shiffrin had already failed to finish in her favorite disciplines — the slalom and giant slalom — earlier in the Games, events that had reaped gold at Sochi 2014 and Pyeongchang 2018 respectively.

Going into the mixed team event and after her alpine combined upset, Shiffrin said: “It’s really strange, but I’m not even afraid of that right now, and maybe it’s because I don’t have any emotional energy to give any more.”

But it’s not all bad for Shiffrin: By competing in the mixed team event, she became only the second woman to race all six alpine skiing events at the Winter Olympics.

Read more here.

Austria won gold in the mixed team parallel slalom on Sunday, beating Germany in the final alpine event of the Winter Olympics.

Katharina Truppe, Stefan Brennsteiner, Katharina Liensberger and Johannes Strolz of Austria became Olympic champions after winning the big final.

Germany’s Lena Duerr, Julian Rauchfuss, Emma Aicher and Alexander Schmid took the silver.

Team Norway beat Team USA in the small final of the mixed team parallel, taking bronze.

USA took fourth place, ending US skier Mikaela Shiffrin’s dreams of a medal after an upsetting Olympics.

The fight over bronze came down to a tie, with USA’s Paula Moltzan and River Radamus winning their final runs but Norway’s Fabian Wilkens Solheim and Thea Louise Stjernesund taking theirs.

The tie was decided on Stjernesund’s 24.32 pipping Moltzan’s 24.72. 

American Mikaela Shiffrin became only the second woman to compete in all six alpine skiing events at a single Winter Games.

The first woman to complete the feat was Slovakia’s Petra Vlhova at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics.

The US skier is competing in the mixed parallel slalom event for Team USA, alongside AJ Hurt, Paula Moltzan, Tommy Ford, River Radamus, and Luke Winters.

The Americans won their first heat against Slovakia.

Shiffrin competed in all five alpine individual events plus the mixed team event. She raced her first Olympic downhill on Wednesday and the super-G on Feb. 11, after crashing out of the giant slalom, slalom and alpine combined.

The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics come to a close on Sunday with a ceremony at the National Stadium in China’s capital where the hosts will hand over to Milan-Cortina 2026.

What to expect based on previous ceremonies:

The most successful Winter Olympics team of all time is dominating the medal table in Beijing on the final weekend of action, with a record number of golds.

Norway leads the standings with a record 15 golds among 35 medals overall. Germany is in second with 11 golds and 24 total medals. Host China is in third with nine gold medals and 15 medals in total. Team USA in in fourth with eight golds and 24 medals in total.

The final day of the Winter Olympics brings a last chance for some athletes to medal. Here are the names and events to look out for on Sunday:

⛷️ Mikaela Shiffrin (still) has one more shot: High winds forced organizers to postpone Saturday’s alpine mixed team parallel race until Sunday, the final day of the Winter Games. The decision meant some teams had to rearrange flights and accommodation, but all 15 nations entered in the competition are set to participate. The team event is the last chance for American Mikaela Shiffrin, alpine skiing’s biggest star, to win a medal. One of the rare skiers who competes in all events of alpine skiing, Shiffrin has so far ended up with a ninth place in the super-G, 18th in the downhill, and three Did Not Finish results. Switzerland is the defending Olympic champion in this event. The Norwegians enter as the reigning world champions, and were also on the podium four years ago with bronze in PyeongChang. 

 🏒 Ice hockey final: Finland vs. ROC: One of the highlights of the final day is set to be the men’s ice hockey final, where reigning Olympic champions Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) will try to defend the title against Finland. Russia have not retained the title since the glory days of the ‘Big Red Machine’ when a Unified Team won gold at the 1992 Albertville Winter Games, after the former Soviet Union took the honors at Calgary 1988 and Sarajevo 1984. Finland have made regular appearances on the podium, returning home with a medal from five of the previous seven Games, but are yet to reach the top step. Finland is the most successful hockey nation without an Olympic gold medal, with 10 silver or bronze medals between the men’s and women’s teams.  

🥌 Curling: Can Great Britain’s women go one better than the men? Twenty years after Rhona Martin skipped Britain to victory in Salt Lake City, the women’s curlers are in the running to win gold in Beijing after Eve Muirhead led her team to the final. They hope to go one better than the men, who finished with silver after falling short against Sweden on Saturday. Team GB face Japan, who finished fourth in the standings, but upset Switzerland at the National Aquatics Centre to reach their first ever Olympic final in the sport. This happens to be a rematch of the 2018 Olympic bronze-medal game, which was won by Japan for its first curling medal. Britain had not picked up any medals at these Beijing Games until the men guaranteed themselves at least silver, ending concerns there would be no podium finish for the first time since 1992. 

🛷 Germany goes for further glory in the bobsled: Germany is poised to win a ninth gold medal in 10 sliding events. A four-man bobsled driven by Francesco Friedrich leads Johannes Lochner’s four-man sled by 0.03 seconds after the first two of four runs, which is a closer battle than anticipated. Friedrich, bidding to become the first driver to win two- and four-man gold at multiple Olympics, won 14 consecutive international four-man races up until a runner-up at the last World Cup. Starting in 2017, Friedrich has won the last five Olympic or world championships four-man titles. 

Saturday — the penultimate day of the Winter Olympics — was a busy day in Beijing, with more medals and a place in Olympic history for Elana Meyers Taylor.

Here’s a recap of the biggest Olympic moments that happened on Saturday:

🛷 US bobsledder makes history: USA’s Elana Meyers Taylor extended her medal record, in possibly her last race, grabbing bronze for the fifth medal of her Olympic career (the most by any women’s bobsledder at the Olympics). In the process, the American bobsledder also became the most decorated Black athlete in Winter Olympics history. Before leaving China, Meyers Taylor will serve as Team USA’s flag bearer during the closing ceremony. She had initially been set to walk alongside curler John Schuster as a flag bearer at the Parade of Nations during the opening ceremony, but had to drop out after testing positive for Covid.

⛸️ Chinese figure skaters put host nation ahead of US on medals: China’s Sui Wenjing and Han Cong captured the Olympic gold medal that eluded them by a razor-thin margin four years ago, this time winning the pairs figure skating program by nearly as narrow an edge. The duo finished with a world record total score of 239.88, while silver went to Russian Olympic Committee’s (ROC) Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov. The ROC also won bronze. Wenjing and Cong’s win gave China its ninth gold medal at these Beijing Games, nearly double its previous Winter Games best of five, and put it ahead of the US on the medal table. The host’s current tally of 15 medals in total is their best in Winter Olympics history.

🥈US figure skaters’ medal appeal dismissed: The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) dismissed the appeal filed by Team USA figure skaters for a ruling that would have awarded them the Olympic team event silver medal from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) before the conclusion of Sunday’s closing ceremony. Team USA finished second in the figure skating team event on Feb. 7. The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) claimed gold with Kamila Valieva becoming the first-ever woman to land a quadruple jump in an Olympic competition. However, the next day, Valieva was notified she had tested positive for a banned substance in December. As a result, the medal ceremony was postponed. The IOC later said it would “not be appropriate” for the medal ceremony to take place at the Beijing Games until Valieva’s case had concluded. 

📺 Most watched Winter Olympics in history: Two billion viewers worldwide have tuned into the Beijing 2022 Olympics, making it the most-watched Winter Games ever, a Chinese official said on Saturday. The 2008 Beijing Summer Games saw the largest TV audience for an Olympics on record, with 4.7 billion viewers, according to Guinness World Records.

There were seven gold medals up for grabs on Saturday at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

Here’s a breakdown of who took home gold for their delegations on day 15 of the Games.

Bobsleigh

Cross-country skiing

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Read more stories from this year’s Winter Olympics here.

American bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor became the most decorated Black athlete in Winter Olympics history after she won the bronze medal in the two-woman bobsleigh on Saturday.

The medal is the fifth for Meyers Taylor, who passed Shani Davis’ four medals. The 37-year-old also is now the most decorated woman Olympic bobsledder of all time.

When asked about passing Davis’ record, Meyers Taylor said:

“That is overwhelming. It’s so crazy to hear that stat and to know that I’m part of a legacy that’s bigger than me. Hopefully, it just encourages more and more Black athletes to come out to winter sports — and not just Black athletes, winter sports for everybody,” she said.

“We want everybody to come out regardless of the color of your skin. We want winter sports to be for everybody, regardless of race, regardless of socio-economic class. I think the more diversity we have, the stronger our sport can be. So hopefully this is just the start of more and more people coming out and trying winter sports,” she added.

The four-time Olympian is a three-time silver medal winner (at Sochi 2014, PyeongChang 2018, Beijing 2022) and a two-time bronze medalist (at 2010 Vancouver and Beijing 2022). 

Meyers Taylor, who nearly missed the Olympic Games after testing positive for Covid-19 upon her arrival, hinted this would likely be her last Olympics.

“I’m going to take some time to really think about this. It’s going to be really hard to top this Olympics. Two medals and now closing it out with flag bearer, it’s going to be really, really hard to top that,” she said. 

She will conclude the Beijing Winter Olympics as the flag bearer for the US at the closing ceremony Sunday.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has dismissed the appeal filed by Team USA figure skaters that sought a ruling that would have awarded them the Olympic team event silver medal from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) before the conclusion of Sunday’s closing ceremony.

“The decision of the IOC Executive Board of 14 February 2022 not to hold the medal ceremony for the figure skating team event during the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 stands,” CAS said in a statement.

Team USA finished second in the figure skating team event on Feb. 7. The Russian Olympic Committee claimed the gold with Kamila Valieva becoming the first-ever woman to land a quadruple jump in an Olympic competition.

Japan claimed the bronze. However, the next day, Valieva was notified she had tested positive for a banned substance before the games started in December. 

As a result, the medal ceremony was postponed. The IOC later said it would “not be appropriate” for the medal ceremony to take place at the Beijing Games until Valieva’s case had concluded.

The 15-year-old finished in fourth place in the women’s individual figure skating event on Thursday, leaving the ice in tears after falling and faltering during jumps in her routine, despite having previously been the favorite to take gold.