U.S. ranked fourth with 25 medals after final day
Team USA ranked fourth in the Beijing 2022 Olympics taking a total of 25 medals: eight gold, ten silver and seven bronze. Norway took the number one spot in this year’s Olympics, taking a total of 37 medals: 16 gold, eight silver and 13 bronze.
The Winter Olympics 2022 featured a number of historic and noteworthy moments, including when U.S. snowboarder Chloe Kim took the gold, scoring 94.00 points on her first run. Kim became the youngest snowboarder ever to take the gold when she claimed the halfpipe title at PyeongChang 2018.
Additionally, U.S. figure skater Nathan Chen took the gold in free skating, scoring a world record of 113.97. Chen’s victory comes after a disappointing stumble cost him a shot at a gold medal in 2018.
China’s Ailing (Eileen) Gu is said to be perhaps the biggest star of the Beijing Olympics. First Gu won the “gold and silver in freestyle skiing big air and slopestyle respectively before stepping onto the slopes for the halfpipe competition,” reported Olympics.com The 18 year-old scored 95.25 points on her second run and became the first freestyle-skier to win three medals in three different events at an Olympic Winter games.
At 24 years-old, the Netherlands’ Suzzane Schulting is becoming a legend in short track. After she set a world record in the quarters, she took the gold in the 1,000-meter final event.
Another highlight, Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron took the gold in the figure skating ice dance competition, setting a new world record of 226.98.
The last time the Olympic games were held in Beijing was in 2008. During the last 16 days, the greatest athletes in the world have displayed their skill and endurance while competing in a myriad of different Olympic events. During the closing ceremony, the Olympic flame was extinguished and fireworks formed the shape of the Olympic rings. During the parade of the nations, a virtual reality “chinese knot” filled the stadium as a symbolic gesture of the Olympic spirit of togetherness.
Additionally, video montages of the last two weeks played on the screens “acting as an important demonstration that, however different we are, if we believe in each other, we will be Stronger Together,” said Olympics.com.
In a hat tip to the opening ceremony, the giant snowflake cauldron remained suspended in the air. The snowflake highlights the theme of continuity and children joyfully danced underneath to cheerful music, while holding snowflake lanterns.
The ceremony closed with the lowering of the Olympic flag, which was then passed from “the Mayor of Beijing to the President of the International Olympic Committee Thomas Bach and then on to the Mayor of Milan Cortina d’Ampezzo, the hosts of the next Winter Games in 2026.
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