And so it ends. The 2022 Paralympic Games in Beijing, China, wrapped up on Sunday, concluding a nearly year-long extravaganza of global athletic competition. It’s been a wild ride and I wish it could continue but I think it’s fair to say that’s what makes the Games so special. We’ll now have to wait 870 days until the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, begins. In the meantime, there’s plenty to enjoy (more on that later.)
The Closing Ceremony featured a record player motif throughout that showcased memories from the Games—I thought it would’ve been better at the end if it was a time capsule, but that’s just me. Highlights included a special medal ceremony for the volunteers, during which they got stuffed Shuey Rhon Rhons and knitted flowers, and the Milano-Cortina handover. Also, we saw the return of the Skating Shueys! Sadly, the bad music returned for the Parade of Athletes. It was a short program, little more than an hour. With that over, I thought I’d share some thoughts on the Paralympics overall and some favorite moments from the last few days.
Ukraine: No nation better exemplified the Paralympic spirit than Ukraine. They overcame travel woes to even just make it on time, fought hard on the field of play, and came out with messages of peace and overcoming adversity. This is the kind of story I live for at the Olympics and Paralympics. Outside, a nation might be reeling but at the Games, they are transcendent. The country was second on the medal table with 29 medals, including 11 gold, all in Biathlon or Cross-Country Skiing.
Cross-Country Skiing: Team USA rocked the end of the competition here, taking gold in the Mixed Relay. It was a solid race to the finish and Oksana Masters became the most decorated Paralympic champion in American sports history. A day before that, there was a party at the finish line as the men of the 10km sitting event grouped and stayed to cheer on the women’s event wrap up. It was adorable! I’ll miss the short-sleeved Captain America–looking skiers like Colin Cameron of Canada.
Broadcast Coverage: NBC did a pretty good job of covering the events, although you could tell they were relying more on the OBS feed than capturing their own content. That made scheduling hard, meaning as a viewer I wasn’t really sure what was going to watch on a given night. In addition, there was a lot of repetition with pre-recorded segments, which I could thankfully skip with my DVR. Had I been watching live, I probably would’ve gone insane. That being said, the commentators did a wonderful job explaining classifications and focusing on the athlete’s complete story rather than their disability.
A Scandal Could Be Brewing: China has dominated the medal table all week, and on Saturday, someone finally said what I’d been thinking but too nervous to say out loud: is the Chinese doping program at play here? Perhaps, instead, many athletes are being misclassified (meaning they are competing fairly but the sport governing body is mistakenly giving them an advantage). Or, possibly, they are just that good. In 2018, China scored one medal. In 2022, they scored 61. With a home field advantage and plenty of time to train (and a pandemic-related disadvantage to athletes who hadn’t visited Beijing yet for test events), this isn’t super shocking. Still, the gap between 1st and 2nd in the medal table is gargantuan. I truly hope that’s not the case but suspicions have been raised.
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