Waiting for Bing Dwen Dwen Keith Bradsher��Reporting from Beijing A week into the Winter Games, I went to the flagship store in downtown Beijing that sells Olympics merchandise. I was in search of souvenirs of Bing Dwen Dwen, an ice-suit-clad panda and the Games’ mascot. I joined the end of a long line → NYT
The U.S. broadcast coverage of the 2022 Winter Games continues on Wednesday with medal events in Alpine skiing and women’s hockey, as curling continues. All times are Eastern. FREESTYLE SKIING The qualification round in women’s halfpipe will air live at 8:30 p.m. on USA Network and Peacock, with a portion also airing live on NBC. Brita Sigourney, the 2018 Olympic bronze medalist, will lead the American group of contenders with Hanna Faulhaber. Eileen Gu of China, who won silver in the slopestyle event, is also a strong medal contender. The…
U.S. Men’s Hockey: Last-Minute Olympians Alan BlinderWatching hockey in Beijing �� Elsa/Getty Images The oldest player, the goalie Pat Nagle, is 34. Another netminder, Drew Commesso, is just 19, but he’s not the youngest member of the American roster. That distinction belongs to Matty Beniers, who turned 19 in November. NYT
Follow our latest coverage of the 2022 Winter Olympics. BEIJING — In the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, which has sweltering temperatures for much of the year, children are ditching their flip flops for skis and hitting the indoor slopes. Out west, high up on the Tibetan Plateau, Qinghai Province has become an unlikely center for curling, the traditional Scottish sport known as “ice kettle” in Chinese. Over in the northeastern province of Liaoning, a group of retired men gather every day in the winter to strap on helmets and…
ZHANGJIAKOU, China — Eileen Gu, the 18-year-old from California who is representing China at the Beijing Games, will be looking for a second gold medal at the women’s freeski slopestyle final on Tuesday. It will not be easy. Gu’s biggest rival is Kelly Sildaru of Estonia, who finished first in qualifying rounds, and several other women have reasonable expectations to reach the podium. The slopestyle course — a series of rails and obstacles followed by three big ski jumps — has been difficult to complete. Marin Hamill of the United…
After more than a week of competition on courses lined with machine-made snow, actual snow and high winds forced the postponement or cancellation of at least three Olympic events on Sunday as flurries blanketed courses and slippery roads made getting to them difficult. Yes, the Winter Olympics can be too wintry — even in Beijing and its surroundings, a region that gets little natural snow and had seen barely a dusting of it thus far during the Games. A steady snow that began Saturday intensified on Sunday in Zhangjiakou, a…
The announcement that Kamila Valieva, the 15-year-old Russian figure skating star, had tested positive for a banned substance echoed another dark Olympic era. And it sent a chilling reminder that female athletes in certain sports have long been considered disposable in countries that support state-sponsored doping. From the late 1960s until the late 1980s, East Germany, a country of fewer than 17 million people, kept pace in the Olympic medal chase with the United States and the Soviet Union with systematic doping known by the bland euphemism “Supporting Means.” The…
As the Beijing Games began, one question was whether China would show sudden competitiveness in events where it had little traction or tradition. The answer, it turns out, was yes. China placed its first skeleton athlete in the Olympics only four years ago. On Friday, Yan Wengang collected the country’s first medal in a sliding sport by winning bronze with a four-run total time of 4:01.77. He trailed only Christopher Grotheer (4:01.01) and Axel Jungk (4:01.67), both of Germany. Yin Zheng of China nearly joined Yan on the podium with…
BEIJING — In speedskating’s team pursuit, the three team members skate single file, so close together that they move as if they were one six-legged skater, pushing and gliding in perfect unison. The race hasn’t changed much through the years. But when the men’s team pursuit races begin here on Sunday, several countries will deploy a strategy that has upended conventional skating wisdom and helped the United States set a world record. Traditionally, the lead skater peels off the front of the train every lap or two and reattaches to…
In his final practice before skating for the Olympic gold medal, Nathan Chen made sure to take in the moment. He stood alone at the edge of the rink in Beijing on Thursday and looked around at the stands and the arena, and at the Olympic rings at every turn. Unlike at the 2018 Winter Games, when he finished fifth overall, he was soaking in the experience of competing at the Olympics, win or lose. And with that new appreciation, and also a well deserved rush of joy, Chen won.…