'Not a blockbuster' but Olympics give China plenty to tout

SHANGHAI: The Beijing Winter Olympics had loomed as one of the most politically contentious in memory and with fears about COVID-19, but most of that receded once the skis and skates were put on.

The Chinese capital on Sunday (Feb 20) wraps up its second Olympics, pulled off with a cold precision and authoritarian muscle that puts it tentatively on the map of winter sports nations and gives its ruling Communist Party plenty to celebrate.

"These were the most politically charged Games coming into them with so many controversies," said Richard Baka, co-director of the Olympic Research Network at Victoria University in Melbourne.

"But we come out of them without much fanfare, partly because China controlled everything quite well."

The United States led a diplomatic boycott over China's rights record, especially allegations of widespread abuses in Xinjiang, and there were fears about the more contagious Omicron variant of COVID-19.

Chinese authorities had also warned of repercussions if foreign athletes spoke out against Beijing and there were environmental concerns over a Winter Games taking place almost entirely on man-made snow.

But in the end, the episode which tarnished the Games most was a Russian doping scandal that engulfed 15-year-old figure skater Kamila Valieva.

It even snowed so much one day that events were disrupted, while another major talking point before the Games - the fate of Peng Shuai - was carefully stage-managed with the tennis player making fleeting appearances.

In November she accused a former vice-premier of sexual assault, but she told the French sports newspaper L'Equipe in Beijing that her allegations had been a "huge misunderstanding". Fears for her safety nevertheless remain.

International Olympic