The long-awaited Beijing 2022 Olympic Games have finally arrived and gone by. The games took place from February 4, 2022 through February 20, 2022, they were held in China across three zones: Beijing, Yanqing, and Zhangjiakou. Each zone was dedicated to a group of sports. Across the 15 sports, there were 109 medal events. Furthermore, seven new events were featured. Due to the pandemic and its restrictions, no fans from outside the country were allowed to attend as tickets were not being offered to the public. Big Dwen Dwen and Shuey Rhon Rhon were the mascots of the Beijing Winter Games. Big Dwen Dwen, a panda, symbolizes purity and strength while Shuey Rhon Rhon is a Chinese lantern child with a glowing heart indicating warmth, friendship, perseverance, and courage.
The Olympics were originally started around 3,000 years ago, the reasons why are shrouded in mystery; according to legend, they were started by Hercules in order to honor Zeus. The first recorded instance of the Olympics was 776 BC, when a cook by the name of Cororebus won a footrace: the only event at the time. After this, scribes would document the time between each Olympic event as olympiads, counting the time for them in olympiads rather than just the standard 4 years. The Olympics in Greece were eventually terminated by the Romans after controversy with it being considered a pagan festival. Later on, the traditions of the Olympics were revived in 1896 by a French man named Baron Pierre de Coubertin.
While the Olympics are seen as a time to share culture, strengthen relationships, and promote peace, it is also a time to focus on the nations themselves. Winning at the Olympics can create national pride. Also, positive Olympic performances can help advance the careers of athletes and politicians. The intense pressure to win has led some countries to stretch the rules or cheat. Russia has had many allegations indicating that their athletes were doped while participating at the Olympics. Doping is when an athlete is heavily intoxicated for ‘better performance’. Many have tested positive in doping— resulting in approximately 46 medals being stripped away from Russia over time. There are different types of doping scandals, state-sponsored doping and athletes doping themselves. State-sponsored was when Russia gave the athletes the drugs, while athletes doping themselves got ahold of the drugs without the help of Russia. All of this inevitably led Russia to be banned from the Olympics; all Russian athletes were to be competing under the neutral flag instead of the Russian flag. Allegedly, the first state-sponsored doping occurred in 2014. As of recently, Beijing Olympics 2022, Russian figure skater Kamilia Vaieva was tested positive for doping.
Fifteen year-old Kamila Valieva, a Russian contestant, amazed everyone with her show stopping performance at the Winter Olympic sports. Being the first woman to land a quad jump in Olympic history, she has shown great promise. A quadruple jump requires four and a half rotations in the air—not being an easy feat. From an early age, Valieva was gifted in the sport of figure skating; her coaches thought her to be a brilliant child. Unfortunately, all of this was short lived as she was enrolled in a doping scandal. Kamila had tested positive for TMZ—a banned drug used to lessen fatigue and increase cardiovascular fitness. There is a speculation that it came from her grandfather's medication. Despite this, Valieva is still allowed to compete with an investigation going through. There would be no medal ceremony should she place in the top three.
In addition to the figure skater from Russia, twenty-two year old Donovan Carrillo is the first to represent Mexico in figure skating at the Olympics since the past 30 years. Placing 20th at the 2021 World Championships earned him a spot at the Beijing Winter Olympics. Carilllo started his path of figure skating at the age of 8 he would practice at an ice rink in a shopping mall in Leon, Mexico. He has made many accomplishments including being the ‘first’ of his country to do something in relation to figure skating. Examples include being the first ever Mexican to complete a triple axel and taking part in the gala at the ISU (International Skating Union). At the Olympics, Carrillo started off by participating at the Men Single Skating-Short Program. He performed his short program and scored 79.69—leading him to qualify for the next segment, Free Skating. His performance for the free skate scored him 138.44. Overall he acquired a total of 218.13 which placed him 22nd in the Men Single Skating division. Despite not placing at the top, Donovan Carrillo has inspired many, especially in the Latinx community. Being able to compete at the Olympics is already something admirable, on top of that being able to embrace and represent your culture is something even more remarkable.
As the Olympics were brought to a close, here’s a look at the final scores of the 2022 Winter Olympics. The stats of the Winter Olympics 2022 top 3 competitors are as follows: Germany at #1 with 27 medals total and 12 gold medals, Canada at #2 with 26 medals total and 4 gold medals, and the US at #3 with 25 medals total and 8 gold medals. The next Winter Olympics will be held in 2026 in Cortina d'Ampezzo, a city in Northern Italy that had previously been the site of the 1956 Winter Olympics.