Olympic ski season opening marred by dangerous course debate
Debate on dangerous ski training courses flares at start of Olympic season, five months ahead of Milan Cortina Games.
![Kenya's Beatrice Chebet celebrates after winning gold in women's 10,000-metre final [Phil Noble/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/2024-08-09T194055Z_1918450400_UP1EK891IO5ZJ_RTRMADP_3_OLYMPICS-2024-ATHLETICS-1723232945.jpg?resize=770%2C513&quality=80)
Advertisement
Content Feed
Arif Khan: A Kashmiri youth’s struggle for Olympic dream
Despite lack of funding and infrastructure at home, Arif Khan participated in the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Ukraine's flag bearer Vitalii Lukianenko, centre right, takes part in the closing ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympic Games at the National Stadium, known as the Bird's Nest, in Beijing, China. [Wang Zhao/AFP]
Athletes attend the closing ceremony of the Beijing 2022 winter Paralympics. [Wang Zhao/AFP]
Performers take part in the closing ceremony of the games. [Wang Zhao/AFP]
A drummer performs in front of the Paralympics symbol during the closing ceremony. [Handout: Joe Toth/OIS/IOC via AFP]
Beijing is the first city to host both the summer and winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. [Handout: Chloe Knott/OIS/IOC via AFP]
Cai Qi, president of the Beijing Organising Committee, speaks during the closing ceremony. [Handout: Joe Toth/OIS/IOC via AFP]
Controversy over whether athletes from Russia and ally Belarus should be allowed to compete overshadowed the lead-up to the games. [Wang Zhao/AFP]
The Paralympics flag flies next to China's flag during the closing ceremony. [Handout: Joe Toth/OIS/IOC via AFP]
Flag bearers wave their national flags during the closing ceremony for the games, where athletes from 46 nations competed. [Handout: Bob Martin/OIS/IOC via AFP]
+5
Beijing Winter Paralympics open after athlete ban controversy
IOC called on sporting federations to exclude Russian and Belarusian athletes after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Russian, Belarusian athletes banned from Paralympics over Ukraine
IPC says athletes cannot take part in events, calling them ‘victims’ of their governments’ actions.
Last rites for the Olympics
The Olympic Games are increasingly slipping into irrelevancy.
PODCASTS
Did politics overshadow the Winter Olympics?
Are the Games still about sports, or do they represent a geopolitical rivalry under the guise of sportsmanship?
The "Bird's Nest" stadium, which also took centre-stage when Beijing hosted the 2008 Summer Games, was the scene for a celebratory, snowflake-themed closing ceremony attended by President Xi Jinping and a socially distanced crowd seated among red lanterns [Eloisa Lopez/Reuters]
Teams arrive during the closing ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics. [Bernat Armangue/AP Photo]
Mayor of Milano city Giuseppe Sala and Mayor of Cortina d'Ampezzo City Gianpietro Ghedina wave the Olympic flag next to IOC President Thomas Bach during the closing ceremony. [Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters]
A crowd of socially distanced spectators, separated by red lanterns, watched as the Olympic flag was lowered. [Bernat Armangue/AP Photo]
The Beijing Games, contained inside a "closed-loop", were the second Olympics in six months to be deprived by COVID-19 of much of its festivity. [Bernat Armangue/AP Photo]
The event was masterminded by acclaimed Chinese film director Zhang Yimou, who was also responsible for the 2008 Summer Games ceremonies. [Jae C. Hong/AP Photo]
Fireworks lit up the night sky as the ceremony reached its crescendo, spelling out the words "ONE WORLD". [Jeff Roberson/AP Photo]
Children representing Cortina and Milan perform during the closing ceremony. [Jae C. Hong/AP Photo]
Declaring the Games closed and handing over to 2026 hosts Milano-Cortina, Bach hailed an "unforgettable Olympic experience". [Evgenia Novozhenina/Reuters]
The Italian flag is raised alongside the Greece flag and the China flag during the closing ceremony. [Annegret Hilse/Reuters]
Unlike the first pandemic Olympics in Tokyo last summer, which featured all but empty seats at the opening and closing, a modest but energetic crowd populated the seats of Beijing’s “Bird’s Nest” stadium. [Brynn Anderson/AP Photo]
A map of Italy is displayed during the closing ceremony. [Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters]
+8
Beijing 2022: Who won most golds and who topped the medals table?
We look at who won the most gold medals and which country took home the most medals overall from the Winter Olympics.
Politicians should stop wasting time on doomed Olympic boycotts
The ‘diplomatic boycott’ of 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics will most likely have no impact on China’s domestic policies.
Beijing Olympics: Russian skater cleared after failed drugs test
Valieva can compete in the Olympic women’s event from Tuesday after CAS upheld the lifting of a provisional suspension.
