IOC President Thomas Bach spoke the corresponding formula at 9:31 p.m. local time (2:31 p.m. CET) in the National Stadium in Beijing, six minutes later the Olympic flame went out. Johannes Strolz carried the Austrian flag into the arena at the closing ceremony. The ski racer from Vorarlberg was Austria’s most successful athlete at these games with two gold medals and one silver medal.
“These were really exceptional Winter Games,” said Bach in his speech. “Let’s welcome China as a winter sports country.” The German thanked the “Chinese friends” around the head of state and party leader Xi Jinping, who was also present. The next Winter Olympics will take place in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo in 2026. Bach therefore handed over the Olympic flag, which he had taken over from Beijing’s mayor Chen Jining, to two mayors for the first time.
18 medals for Austria
Austria’s athletes won 18 medals in China, seven in gold, seven in silver and four in bronze. In the end, that meant seventh place in the medal table, which Norway won with a record haul. With his two titles in the combination and in the final team competition as well as silver in the slalom, Strolz finished tenth in the ranking of the most successful athletes of the Beijing Games.
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The Austrian delegation at the closing ceremony in the “Vogelnest” stadium, which was already the scene of summer games in 2008, consisted of 20 athletes. In addition to Strolz, his ski colleagues Stefan Brennsteiner, Michael Matt, Katherina Huber, Katherina Liensberger and Katherina Truppe were present after the team gold won in the morning. There were also figure skaters Olga Mikutina, Miriam Ziegler and Severin Kiefer, speed skater Gabriel Odor, ski freestyler Marco Ladner, bobsleigh pushers Robert Eckschlager and Markus Glück and the entire ski cross camp. The majority of the 106 Austrian Olympic athletes had already left after their respective competitions – also to take the Corona protocol into account.
In addition to the strict corona measures, the international games were also overshadowed by the doping affair involving Russia’s 15-year-old figure skating favorite Kamila Valiyeva. The medals in the team competition, which the Russians won, have therefore not yet been awarded when the games are over. Critical reports on the human rights situation in China were limited – especially since foreign journalists such as Olympic participants and supervisors were only allowed to move within the “closed circuit” due to the corona.
You can see more flops from Beijing in the picture gallery:
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However, the measures were effective against the virus. Within the “bubble” there were fewer and fewer infections as the games progressed, and China saw its restrictive entry policy as justified. High-ranking western politicians stayed away from the games anyway. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin paid his respects to Xi at the opening and demonstrated his support.
In his closing speech, however, Bach also touched on the danger of war in the Ukraine. “You hugged each other, even if your countries are in conflict,” said the 1976 Olympic fencing champion of the athletes, in this case the Ukrainian ski freestyler Oleksandr Abramenko and his Russian opponent Ilya Burov. The unifying power of the Olympic Games is stronger than the forces that want to separate people. “You give peace a chance,” emphasized Bach in the direction of all athletes. “Hopefully the political leaders of this world are inspired by your solidarity.”
China’s head of state Xi said he wanted to use the games to get around 300 million people to do winter sports. The Chinese athletes exceeded expectations with nine gold medals and third place in the medal table. Their compatriots were only allowed to cheer them on occasionally. Due to Corona, local spectators were only allowed to a limited extent, fans from abroad were completely excluded.
The Milan/Cortina Winter Games are scheduled for February 6-22, 2026. In Beijing and the surrounding mountain region, which is characterized by extremely cold weather, the Winter Paralympics are still on the program from March 4th to 13th under corona conditions. The next Olympic Games are those in summer 2024 in Paris. Their OC boss Tony Estanguet promised Olympic “light at the end of the tunnel” in two years.
The tops at the Olympics:
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Source: Nachrichten
