Saturday, 19 March 2022
Beijing 2022 Paralympics Days Eight/Nine/Closing Ceremony (Catch-Up)
Thursday, 17 March 2022
Beijing 2022 Paralympics Days Five-Seven (Catch-up)
A busy few days offline means a catchup with Days Five-Seven featuring 23 medal events.
Medals
Wednesday, 9 March 2022
Beijing 2022 Paralympics Day Four
After the hosts regained top spot in the Medal Table, Day Four action saw just six events as the slopes took a break for the day.
Medals
Beijing 2022 Paralympics Day Three
Sunday, 6 March 2022
Beijing 2022 Paralympics Day Two
After a good opening day for GB and Ukraine topping the medal table, day two sees eight medal events.
Medals
Alpine Skiing- The Women's Super-G Vision Impaired saw GOLD won by A.Rexova (Guide- E.Trajckova) (SVK) as she finished ahead of GB's Menna Fitzpatrick who with Guide- Gary Smith extended her reign as GB'S most decorated Winter Paralympian in taking SILVER. D Zhu (Guide- H.Yan) (CHN) collected BRONZE while GB duo Millie Knight (Guide-Brett Wild) finished fourth.
In the Women's Super-G Standing, M.Zhang (CHN) won GOLD ahead of M.Bochet (FRA) who took SILVER while A.Ramsay (CAN) claimed BRONZE.
The Women's Super-G Sitting saw GOLD won by M.Muraoka (JPN) who finished ahead of A.L.Forster (GER) who scooped SILVER while W.Zhang (CHN) collected BRONZE. GB's S.Brownlee finished in sixth.
GOLD for GB's Neil Simpson (Guide- Andrew Simpson) in the Men's Super-G Vision Impaired as he finished ahead of G.Bertagnolli (Guide-A.Ravelli) (ITA) who scooped SILVER while J.Aigner (Guide-M.Fleischmann) (AUT) crossed for BRONZE.
In the Men's Super-G Standing, J.Liang (CHN) won GOLD by narrowly finishing ahead of M.Salcher (AUT) who sealed SILVER while A.Guimond (CAN) collected BRONZE. GB's J.Whitley finished in 19th.
The Men's Super-G Sitting GOLD was won by J.Pedersen (NOR) who finished ahead of C.Peters (NZL) who took SILVER while T.Morii (JPN) claimed BRONZE.
In the Women's Long Distance Sitting, H.Yang (CHN) won GOLD ahead of O.Masters (USA) who took SILVER while P.Li (CHN) collected BRONZE.
Saturday, 5 March 2022
Beijing 2022 Paralympics Day One
After a superb Opening Ceremony, the Winter Paralympics got underway with twelve medal events on day one.
Medals
Friday, 4 March 2022
Beijing 2022 Paralympics Opening Ceremony
The ceremony began with a flash back to previous Winter games before the centre of the arena focused on a countdown around a Curling rink and once the countdown ended, the dignitaries were introduced to the arena crowd alongside the entry of the Chinese flag which was carried by both impaired and unimpaired flag bearers.
Centre stage then lit up to welcome the Games Mascot - Shuey Rhon Rhon and begin the Athletes parade with 600 entering the arena overall who will compete in six different sports and the musical accompaniment fanged from classical to upbeat. The GB flagbearers were Wheelchair Curlers-Meggan Dawson-Farrell and Gregor Ewan as they led out a team of 25 for the games and China closed the parade with the largest group of Athletes numbering 96.
The next segment was the speeches by the dignitaries -Cai Qi, President of the Beijing 2022 Organising Committee and Andrew Parsons, President of the International Paralympic Committee. This was followed by Chinese President Xi Jinping announcing the Games officially open leading into a huge firework display.
Performers entered the arena stage with a mix of impaired and unimpaired in a feature entitled 'Beautiful People' with an array of light across the arena floor and whimsical choral music with a meeting of the emotions between both unimpaired and impaired groups and showcasing the Paralympic logo and the message ' Change Starts With Sport'.
The Paralympic flag was then carried into the arena accompanied by the Paralympic anthem and the procession of the Paralympic torch which culminated in the lighting of the Paralympic Snowflake which was formed of each of the mini signs introducing each nation in the earlier parade. The sky above the Bird's Nest stadium lit up with a huge firework display as the Snowflake rose to signal the end of the ceremony.
Monday, 21 February 2022
Beijing 2022 Days 16/Closing Ceremony
The final medal events of Day 16 and the Closing Ceremony form the final catch-up post of the current blog.
Medals
Closing Ceremony
The Closing Ceremony began alike its predecessor with the dignitaries being seated including Thomas Back (IOC) and Xi Jinping (President of China). The staging opened with a cheery childlike celebration below the huge Olympic Snowflake which ended with the BEIJING 2022 logo appearing atop the Olympic Rings.
The stage then became a sheet of ice featuring twelve giant skates each representing a sign of the zodiac and creating a spiralling snowflake combining the air and stage floor. The flag bearers entered the arena with GB represented by Men's Curling Silver Skip Bruce Mouat.
Athletes then began to parade into the arena accompanied by classical music and after parading into centre stage, the procession moved into the stands. Highlights of the games themselves then played showing triumph and joy.
Next up, the final medal ceremonies with the Cross Country Skiing Women's 30km mass start free with Kerttu Niskanen (FIN) claiming BRONZE, Jessie Diggins (USA) scooping SILVER and Therese Johaug (NOR) winning GOLD. The Men's 50km mass start free followed with Simen Hegstad Krueger (NOR) taking BRONZE, Ivan Yakimushkin (ROC) collecting SILVER behind team-mate Alexander Bolshunov who won GOLD.
Applause filled the arena to thank a group of six Games volunteers before welcoming the newest addition to the IOC Athletes Commission in Martin Foucault (FRA). Each of the volunteers were presented with a Chinese Lantern to symbolise all of the work and effort put in by the mass of volunteers across the last 16 days.
The stage lit up with to showcase a huge group and a pillar of light that transformed the snowflake into spring before a montage of the action and the national anthem of Greece and the Olympic anthem with the latter sung by a choir.
Ahead of the next Winter Olympics, the transition from Beijing to Milano Cortina took place with Thomas Bach presenting the Olympic flag to the representatives from Italy before the playing of the Italian national anthem. The Italian flag was then raised with a globe being pushed across a figurative sheet of thin ice to reval the message - 'Duality, Together'.
A montage of the landscapes in Milan and Cortina played before the meeting of both in the form of dance with Milan (Orange) and Cortina (Pink) combining to then reveal the emblem for the 2026 games. The flags of the 91 countries were brought into the arena before the speeches to thank the athletes and everyone involved in the games.
before Thomas Bach declared the 24th Winter Olympic games closed. Centre stage saw the Olympic Rings form and raise to meet the Flame Snowflake and pass through while the flagbearers congregated around in a circle as the Olympic flame was extinguished.
A huge firework display above the arena included the message of 'One World, One Family' and officially ended the ceremony with the invitation to reconvene in 1440 days as the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony.
Of course as this blog covers both Summer and Winter games for both the Olympic and Paralympics, the posting will resume with the upcoming Paralympics from March 4th.
Beijing 2022 Days 13-15
Another catch up post after a busy few days offline sees Days 13-15 with a combined 18 medal events.
Medals
The Men's Mass Start saw Bart Swings (BEL) win GOLD ahead of Korean duo Won Jae Chung who sealed SILVER while Hoon Seung Lee claimed BRONZE.
Friday, 18 February 2022
Beijing 2022 Days 10-12
A busy few days mean a need for a catch-up post covering days 10,11 and 12 with a total of 22 medal events.
Medals
Norway won GOLD in the Men's Team Pursuit as they defeated ROC who took SILVER while USA sealed BRONZE after defeating Netherlands.