A6 The BulleTin • Monday, FeBruary 21, 2022
ON THE AIR
SCOREBOARD
MONDAY
GYMNASTICS
Women’s college, arizona at California
Women’s college, utah at Washington
BASKETBALL
Women’s college, Penn St. at Michigan St.
Men’s college, american at Colgate
Men’s college, louisville at north Carolina
Men’s college, Penn St. at Maryland
Men’s college, Coppin St. at howard
Men’s college, indiana at ohio St.
Women’s college, indiana at iowa
Men’s college, Baylor at oklahoma St.
Men’s college, alabama St. at Bethune-Cookman
Men’s college, arizona St. at uCla
HOCKEY
nhl, Seattle at Vancouver
2 p.m.
6 p.m.
Pac-12
Pac-12
ON DECK
3 p.m.
3:30 p.m.
4 p.m.
4 p.m.
4 p.m.
4 p.m.
5 p.m.
6 p.m.
6 p.m.
6 p.m.
Big Ten
CBSSn
eSPn
eSPn2
eSPnu
FS1
Big Ten
eSPn
eSPnu
FS1
MONDAY
Boys basketball: Mountain View at McKay, 6:30
p.m.; Bend at South Salem, 6:30 p.m.; Summit at West
Salem, 6:30 p.m.; Gladstone at Madras, 7 p.m.
Girls basketball: McKay at Mountain View, 6:30
p.m.; West Salem at Summit, 6:30 p.m.; South Salem at
Bend, 6:30 p.m.; Madras at Gladstone, 7 p.m.
TUESDAY
Boys basketball: Redmond at Ridgeview, 7:30 p.m.;
The Dalles at Crook County, 7 p.m.; Woodburn at Sis-
ters, 5:30 p.m.
Girls basketball: Redmond at Ridgeview, 6 p.m.;
The Dalles at Crook County, 5:30 p.m.; Woodburn at
Sisters, 7 p.m.
WEDNESDAY
Girls basketball: Class 1A state playoffs, first round,
TBD.
THURSDAY
Boys basketball: Sprague at Mountain View, 6:30
p.m.; West Salem at Bend, 6:30 p.m.; McKay at Summit,
6:30 p.m.
Girls basketball: Mountain View at Sprague, 6:30
p.m.; Bend at West Salem, 6:30 p.m.; Summit at McKay,
6:30 p.m.
Wrestling: Girls state tournament, at Culver, 9 a.m.
FRIDAY
Boys basketball: Class 3A state playoffs, first round,
TBD; Class 2A state playoffs, first round, TBD; Class 1A
state playoffs, first round, TBD.
Nordic skiing: OISRA state championships, at Mt.
Bachelor Nordic Center, 2 p.m.
SATURDAY
Girls basketball: Class 3A state playoffs, first round,
TBD; Class 2A state playoffs, first round, TBD; Class 1A
state playoffs, second round, TBD.
Wrestling: Class 6A state championships, at Sandy,
9 a.m.; Class 5A state championships, at Ridgeview, 9
a.m.; Class 4A state championships, at Cascade, 9 a.m.;
Class 3A state championships, at La Pine, 9 a.m.; Class
2A/1A state championships, at Culver, 9 a.m.
Nordic skiing: OISRA state championships, at Mt.
Bachelor Nordic Center, 10 a.m.
7 p.m.
root/root+
Listings are the most accurate available.
SPORTS BRIEFING
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Michigan coach hits Badgers assistant; fracas follows
— Michigan coach Juwan Howard hit Wisconsin assistant Joe
Krabbenhoft during the handshake line, setting off a fracas be-
tween the team following the 15th-ranked Badgers’ 77-63 win
Sunday. The Big Ten said it planned to “take swift and appro-
priate disciplinary action when it completes its review.” Howard
said he was upset Wisconsin (21-5, 12-4) called timeout with 15
seconds left. Badgers coach Greg Gard said he called it because
his reserves were in the game and were running out of time to get
the ball past midcourt. Howard began arguing with Gard during
the handshake line. Howard then reached through a crowd — re-
plays showed Howard had his hand open by the time he struck
Krabbenhoft on the left side of his head. Players from each side
got involved in the skirmish, and video appeared to show Mich-
igan’s Moussa Diabate and Wisconsin’s Jahcobi Neath throwing
punches. Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel issued a state-
ment saying he had apologized to McIntosh.
GOLF
Dustin Johnson says he’s sticking with the PGA Tour —
A proposed Saudi-financed rival golf league took a massive hit
Sunday when Dustin Johnson said he was “fully committed” to
the PGA Tour, and Bryson DeChambeau indicated he would
stay where the stars were playing. Johnson added his name to a
growing list of golf’s top players who have said they are not inter-
ested in taking guaranteed riches from the “Super Golf League”
that Greg Norman and his LIV Golf Investments are behind.
Rory McIlroy, the first to speak out against a rival league and
the guaranteed riches two years ago, said Sunday’s development
left the concept “dead in the water.” Johnson, a two-time major
champion who has spent more time at No. 1 in the world than
any of the current players — he now is at No. 6 — had kept his
intentions quiet over the last few months, leading to speculation
he would join. Johnson’s statement means no one from the top
10 in the world have indicated any interest in signing up for the
league. Some details are known, such as a schedule that includes
as many as 10 events in the U.S., with the new league targeting
courses owned by former President Donald Trump.
— Bulletin wire reports
Prep sports
BASKETBALL
Men’s college
PAC-12 CONFERENCE
Conference
All Games
W L Pct W L Pct
Arizona
14 1 .933 24 2 .923
Southern Cal
11 4 .733 22 4 .846
UCLA
11 4 .733 19 5 .792
Oregon
10 6 .625 17 10 .630
Colorado
10 7 .588 18 9 .667
Washington
8 7 .533 13 12 .520
Washington St. 7 7 .500 14 11 .560
Stanford
8 9 .471 15 12 .556
Arizona St.
6 9 .400 10 15 .400
Utah
4 13 .235 11 16 .407
California
4 13 .235 11 17 .393
Oregon St.
1 14 .067 3 22 .120
Saturday’s Late Games
Arizona 84, Oregon 81
Colorado 70, Stanford 53
UCLA 76, Washington 50
Sunday’s Games
Washington St. at Southern Cal, late
Monday’s Games
Arizona St. at UCLA, 6 p.m.
Saturday’s Late Box Score
No. 3 Arizona 84, Oregon 81
OREGON (17-10)
Guerrier 7-12 1-1 21, Dante 6-9 1-2 13, Harmon 3-6 0-0
6, Richardson 7-15 6-6 22, Young 4-10 2-2 10, Williams
4-13 0-0 9, Kepnang 0-2 0-0 0, Soares 0-1 0-0 0, Bittle
0-0 0-0 0. Totals 31-68 10-11 81.
ARIZONA (24-2)
A.Tubelis 6-11 2-5 14, Koloko 5-8 0-0 10, Kriisa 3-8 0-0 9,
Terry 5-7 1-2 13, Mathurin 9-17 2-4 24, Larsson 2-5 5-6
11, Ballo 1-1 1-2 3, Kier 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 31-58 11-19 84.
Halftime —Oregon 47-45. 3-Point Goals —Oregon
9-26 (Guerrier 6-11, Richardson 2-6, Williams 1-6,
Harmon 0-1, Soares 0-1, Young 0-1), Arizona 11-23
(Mathurin 4-7, Kriisa 3-8, Terry 2-2, Larsson 2-5, Kier
0-1). Rebounds —Oregon 32 (Dante 15), Arizona 32
(Koloko 8). Assists —Oregon 12 (Young 5), Arizona
22 (Terry 6). Total Fouls —Oregon 20, Arizona 13.
A—14,644 (14,644).
Portland
San Antonio
New Orleans
Sacramento
Oklahoma City
Houston
25
34
23
36
23
36
22
38
18
40
15
43
Sunday
2022 All-Star Game
Team LeBron 163, Team Durant 160
Monday
No games scheduled.
Women’s college
PAC-12 SCHEDULE
Sunday’s Games
Washington 74, Arizona St. 69
Washington St. 72, No. 8 Arizona 67
Oregon St. 68, California 59
Utah 75, UCLA 70
Colorado 67, Southern Cal 54
No. 2 Stanford 66, Oregon 62
Monday-Tuesday
No games scheduled.
.424
.390
.390
.367
.310
.259
23½
25½
25½
27
30
33
HOCKEY
Sunday’s Box Scores
Oregon St. 68, California 59
NHL
CALIFORNIA (11-10)
Lutje Schipholt 1-4 0-0 2, Curry 8-23 4-4 23, Daniels 1-7
0-0 2, Green 6-18 2-3 17, McIntosh 3-9 2-2 10, Onyiah
0-1 0-0 0, Samb 0-1 0-0 0, Crocker 1-4 2-2 5, Mastrov 0-1
0-0 0, Totals 20-68 10-11 59
OREGON ST. (13-10)
Aquino 1-1 0-0 2, Corosdale 3-7 4-5 10, Codding 1-1 0-0
2, Kampschroeder 1-4 0-0 2, von Oelhoffen 4-8 0-0 9,
Brown 3-10 3-4 9, Mack 5-7 3-4 14, Mitrovic 4-6 1-2 9,
Adams 2-2 1-2 5, Mannen 0-0 2-2 2, Marotte 2-5 0-0 4,
Totals 26-51 14-19 68
California
19 16 12 12 — 59
Oregon St.
21 12 19 16 — 68
3-Point Goals—California 9-31 (Curry 3-10, Daniels
0-1, Green 3-12, McIntosh 2-6, Crocker 1-1, Mastrov
0-1), Oregon St. 2-12 (Corosdale 0-2, Kampschroeder
0-3, von Oelhoffen 1-4, Brown 0-1, Mack 1-1, Mitrovic
0-1). Assists—California 10 (Curry 3), Oregon St. 16
(Adams 4). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—California
31 (McIntosh 8), Oregon St. 44 (Corosdale 9, Mitrovic
9). Total Fouls—California 17, Oregon St. 11. Technical
Fouls—California Team 1. A—4,401.
No. 2 Stanford 66, Oregon 62
STANFORD (23-3)
Brink 3-10 2-4 8, Lexie Hull 1-6 7-7 9, Lacie Hull 2-6 0-0
5, Jones 7-17 4-4 18, Wilson 2-6 1-1 6, Belibi 2-3 1-4 5,
Prechtel 0-3 0-0 0, Jump 0-3 0-0 0, Emma-Nnopu 1-1
1-2 4, Iriafen 5-9 1-2 11, Van Gytenbeek 0-1 0-0 0, Totals
23-65 17-24 66
OREGON (18-9)
Sabally 3-8 2-2 8, Paopao 8-20 3-4 23, Parrish 4-10 2-2
13, Rogers 4-14 2-3 10, Scherr 0-2 0-0 0, Prince 2-3 0-0
4, Watson 2-2 0-3 4, Hurst 0-1 0-0 0, Kyei 0-0 0-0 0, Pinto
0-0 0-0 0, Totals 23-60 9-14 62
Stanford
10 21 15 20 — 66
Oregon
14 22 11 15 — 62
3-Point Goals—Stanford 3-16 (Le.Hull 0-2, La.Hull 1-4,
Wilson 1-3, Prechtel 0-3, Jump 0-2, Emma-Nnopu 1-1,
Van Gytenbeek 0-1), Oregon 7-17 (Paopao 4-6, Parrish
3-7, Rogers 0-2, Scherr 0-1, Hurst 0-1). Assists—Stan-
ford 10 (Wilson 3), Oregon 13 (Paopao 5). Fouled
Out—Stanford Brink, Oregon Sabally, Watson. Re-
bounds—Stanford 40 (Jones 9), Oregon 42 (Sabally 7).
Total Fouls—Stanford 14, Oregon 21. Technical Fouls—
None. A—8,981.
NBA
EASTERN CONFERENCE
W
L
Pct
Miami
38
21
.644
Chicago
38
21
.644
Phila.
35
23
.603
Cleveland
35
23
.603
Milwaukee
36
24
.600
Boston
34
26
.567
Toronto
32
25
.561
Brooklyn
31
28
.525
Atlanta
28
30
.483
Charlotte
29
31
.483
Washington
27
31
.466
New York
25
34
.424
Indiana
20
40
.333
Detroit
13
45
.224
Orlando
13
47
.217
WESTERN CONFERENCE
W
L
Pct
Phoenix
48
10
.828
Golden State
42
17
.712
Memphis
41
19
.683
Utah
36
22
.621
Dallas
35
24
.593
Denver
33
25
.569
Minnesota
31
28
.525
L.A. Clippers
30
31
.492
L.A. Lakers
27
31
.466
GB
—
—
2½
2½
2½
4½
5
7
9½
9½
10½
13
18½
24½
25½
GB
—
6½
8
12
13½
15
17½
19½
21
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Atlantic
GP W L OT Pts GF GA
Florida
50 35 10 5 75 208 145
Tampa Bay
49 32 11 6 70 169 139
Toronto
48 32 13 3 67 174 132
Boston
49 28 17 4 60 140 138
Detroit
51 23 22 6 52 147 176
Ottawa
49 18 26 5 41 130 156
Buffalo
51 16 27 8 40 138 182
Montreal
50 10 33 7 27 112 195
Metropolitan GP W L OT Pts GF GA
Carolina
49 34 11 4 72 172 118
Pittsburgh
52 31 13 8 70 173 140
N.Y. Rangers
50 32 13 5 69 151 127
Washington
52 28 15 9 65 171 145
Columbus
49 25 23 1 51 163 180
N.Y. Islanders 45 18 20 7 43 111 126
Philadelphia
49 15 25 9 39 125 172
New Jersey
50 17 28 5 39 146 182
WESTERN CONFERENCE
Central
GP W L OT Pts GF GA
Colorado
49 36 9 4 76 198 138
St. Louis
49 29 14 6 64 175 137
Minnesota
46 30 13 3 63 176 140
Nashville
50 28 18 4 60 153 143
Dallas
49 27 20 2 56 143 145
Winnipeg
49 22 19 8 52 144 147
Chicago
52 18 26 8 44 126 176
Arizona
50 13 33 4 30 114 186
Pacific
GP W L OT Pts GF GA
Calgary
48 29 13 6 64 166 113
Vegas
50 28 18 4 60 165 149
Edmonton
49 28 18 3 59 165 154
Los Angeles 50 26 17 7 59 147 141
Anaheim
52 24 19 9 57 156 158
Vancouver
51 23 22 6 52 135 146
San Jose
48 22 21 5 49 130 150
Seattle
51 16 31 4 36 133 180
NOTE: Two points for a win, one point for overtime loss.
Top three teams in each division and two wild cards per
conference advance to playoffs.
Saturday’s Late Games
Calgary 2, Seattle 1
Anaheim 7, Vancouver 4
Sunday’s Games
Carolina 4, Pittsburgh 3
Montreal 3, N.Y. Islanders 2, SO
Florida 5, Chicago 2
N.Y. Rangers 2, Ottawa 1
Columbus 7, Buffalo 3
Arizona 3, Dallas 1
Minnesota at Edmonton, late
Vegas at San Jose, late
Monday’s Games
Colorado at Boston, 10 a.m.
Carolina at Philadelphia, noon
Winnipeg at Calgary, 1 p.m.
Toronto at Montreal, 4 p.m.
Seattle at Vancouver, 7 p.m.
GOLF
PGA Tour
Genesis Invitational Scores
Sunday at Riviera Country Club
Pacific Palisades, Calif.
Yardage: 7,322; Par: 71
Purse: $12 Million
Final Round
Joaquin Niemann (550), $2,160,000 63-63-68-71—265
Collin Morikawa (258), $1,068,000 67-67-68-65—267
Cameron Young (258), $1,068,000 66-62-69-70—267
Adam Scott (128), $540,000
68-65-71-66—270
Viktor Hovland (128), $540,000
71-64-65-70—270
Justin Thomas (105), $435,000
67-64-70-70—271
Maverick McNealy (92), $390,000 68-68-67-69—272
Scottie Scheffler (92), $390,000
66-72-65-69—272
C.T. Pan (83), $351,000
Chez Reavie (73), $303,000
Rory McIlroy (73), $303,000
Max Homa (73), $303,000
67-70-69-67—273
74-68-66-66—274
69-70-67-68—274
66-70-67-71—274
MOTOR SPORTS
NASCAR Cup Series
Daytona 500 Lineup
After qualifying; race Sunday
At Daytona International Speedway
Daytona Beach, Fla.
Lap length: 2.50 miles
(Car number in parentheses)
NASCAR Cup Series
Daytona 500 Results
Sunday
At Daytona International Speedway
Daytona Beach, Fla.
Lap length: 2.50 miles
(Start position in parentheses)
1. (5) Austin Cindric, Ford, 201 laps, 45 points.
2. (16) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 201, 43.
3. (9) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 201, 34.
4. (7) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 201, 33.
5. (38) Aric Almirola, Ford, 201, 32.
6. (10) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 201, 31.
7. (6) Michael McDowell, Ford, 201, 30.
8. (34) David Ragan, Ford, 201, 29.
9. (3) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 201, 44.
10. (11) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 201, 28.
11. (26) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 201, 26.
12. (33) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, 201, 0.
13. (14) Martin Truex Jr, Toyota, 201, 44.
14. (24) Corey Lajoie, Chevrolet, 201, 23.
15. (27) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, 201, 0.
16. (4) Chris Buescher, Ford, 200, 25.
17. (32) Cody Ware, Ford, 200, 20.
18. (21) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 199, 19.
19. (17) Kurt Busch, Toyota, 199, 22.
20. (31) Cole Custer, Ford, 199, 17.
21. (20) Joey Logano, Ford, 198, 31.
22. (40) Jacques Villeneuve, Ford, 198, 15.
23. (25) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 198, 14.
24. (2) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 197, 13.
25. (36) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 197, 17.
26. (35) Kaz Grala, Chevrolet, 196, 0.
27. (37) BJ McLeod, Ford, 196, 10.
28. (18) Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Chevrolet, accident, 194,
22.
29. (13) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, accident, 191, 11.
30. (22) Kevin Harvick, Ford, dvp, 191, 10.
31. (39) Noah Gragson, Chevrolet, accident, 190, 0.
32. (1) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, accident, 190, 9.
33. (29) Todd Gilliland, Ford, accident, 190, 13.
34. (12) Christopher Bell, Toyota, accident, 152, 3.
35. (15) Tyler Reddick, Chevrolet, accident, 151, 2.
36. (28) Greg Biffle, Chevrolet, 136, 0.
37. (30) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, accident, 63, 1.
38. (23) William Byron, Chevrolet, accident, 62, 1.
39. (8) Harrison Burton, Ford, accident, 62, 1.
40. (19) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, accident, 62, 1.
Race Statistics
Average Speed of Race Winner: 142.302 mph.
Time of Race: 3 hours, 31 minutes, 53 seconds.
Margin of Victory: .036 seconds.
Caution Flags: 7 for 37 laps.
Lead Changes: 35 among 13 drivers.
Lap Leaders: K.Larson 0; B.Keselowski 1-6; Ky.Busch 7;
B.Keselowski 8-26; Ky.Busch 27-31; B.Keselowski 32;
Ky.Busch 33-37; R.Stenhouse 38; H.Burton 39; J.Loga-
no 40; Ky.Busch 41-57; W.Byron 58; H.Burton 59-60;
M.Truex 61-67; A.Dillon 68; E.Jones 69-71; R.Blaney 72-
107; M.Truex 108; B.Wallace 109; B.Keselowski 110-124;
K.Larson 125; B.Keselowski 126-129; M.Truex 130-132;
B.Wallace 133; B.Keselowski 134-155; B.Wallace 156;
A.Cindric 157-162; B.Wallace 163-166; A.Cindric 167-
168; B.Wallace 169-170; A.Cindric 171-175; B.Wallace
176-177; R.Stenhouse 178; B.Wallace 179; R.Stenhouse
180-193; A.Cindric 194-201
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Led, Laps Led): B.Ke-
selowski, 6 times for 67 laps; R.Blaney, 1 time for 36
laps; Ky.Busch, 4 times for 28 laps; A.Cindric, 4 times for
21 laps; R.Stenhouse, 3 times for 16 laps; B.Wallace, 7
times for 12 laps; M.Truex, 3 times for 11 laps; E.Jones,
1 time for 3 laps; H.Burton, 2 times for 3 laps; J.Logano,
1 time for 1 lap; A.Dillon, 1 time for 1 lap; K.Larson, 2
times for 1 lap; W.Byron, 1 time for 1 lap.
Olympics
Daytona
Continued from A5
Continued from A5
The local volunteers, as is usually the
case, were delightful, helpful and engag-
ing, and they received high-profile acco-
lades at the closing.
There was snow — most of it fake,
some of it real. The venues — many
of them, like the Bird’s Nest and the
Aquatic Center, harvested from the
2008 edition of the Beijing Olympics —
performed to expectations. One new
locale, Big Air Shougang, carved from
a repurposed steel mill, was an appeal-
ingly edgy mashup of winter wonder-
land and rust-belt industrial landscape.
TV ratings were down, but stream-
ing viewership was up: By Saturday,
NBC had streamed 3.5 billion minutes
from Beijing, compared to 2.2 billion in
South Korea in 2018.
There were no major unexpected
logistical problems, only the ones cre-
ated deliberately to stem the spread of
COVID in the country where the coro-
navirus first emerged more than two
years ago.
And stemmed it seemed to be. As
of Saturday, the segregated system that
effectively turned Beijing into two cit-
ies — one sequestered, one proceeding
very much as normal — had produced
only 463 positive tests among thousands
of visitors entering the bubble since Jan.
23. Not surprisingly, the state-controlled
media loved this.
“The success in insulating the event
from the virus and keeping disruption
to sports events to a minimum also re-
flected the effectiveness and flexibility
of China’s overall zero-COVID poli-
cies,” the pro-government Global Times
newspaper said, citing epidemiologists
who say “the COVID-19 prevention ex-
perience accumulated from this Olym-
pics can also inspire Chinese cities to
adjust their policies.”
Look deeper, though, and a different
story emerges about these Games.
Internationally, many critiqued them
as the “authoritarian Olympics” and de-
nounced the IOC for holding them in
concert with a government accused of
gross human rights violations against eth-
nic Uyghurs and Tibetans in its far west
and harsh policies against Hong Kong
democracy activists off its southeastern
coast. Several Western governments boy-
cotted by not sending any official delega-
tions, though they sent athletes.
For its part, China denied such alle-
gations, as it typically does, and featured
a Uyghur as part of its slate of Olympic
torch-carriers for the opening ceremony
“What could have been,
right?” Wallace said. “Just de-
jected.”
A trio of Ford drivers
rounded out the top five with
Chase Briscoe third, followed
by Blaney and Aric Almirola.
Kyle Busch was sixth to join
Wallace as the only Toyota
drivers in the top 10. Michael
McDowell was seventh, fol-
lowed by David Ragan and
Keselowski, and finally Chase
Elliott in the only Chevrolet to
finish inside the top 10.
Cindric, meanwhile, gave
his family another one of the
crown jewel trophies in mo-
torsports. He’s the son of Tim
Cindric, the president of Pen-
ske’s racing organization, and
the maternal grandson of the
late Jim Trueman, who fielded
Bobby Rahal’s winning car
in the 1986 Indianapolis 500.
Trueman died of cancer 10
days after the win at age 51.
Tim Cindric watched the
finish from a suite high above
the speedway alongside Pen-
ske and other team executives.
Penske said his longtime ex-
ecutive finally showed some
emotion during overtime.
“I always kid him, I say,
‘You’ve got to be a little more
excited.’ Well, he was excited
today, really,” Penske said. “He
even got out of his cool, calm
way. I think he said, ‘I’m going
to really celebrate; my boy won
the Daytona 500.’”
Cindric is considered the
first rookie to win the Daytona
500, although Trevor Bayne
won in 2011 but was not eli-
gible to run for rookie of the
year in the Cup Series. Cindric
made his Daytona 500 debut in
last year’s race, which was de-
cided by a last-lap collision that
collected Cindric and his Pen-
ske teammates. All the Penske
cars ended last year’s race in a
ball of fire.
“I just wanted one of them
to win. When they were com-
ing to the line, I was afraid
we were going to end up like
last year,” Tim Cindric said. “I
just wanted one of our guys to
bring it home.”
Jae C. hong/aP
Fireworks explode over the stadium during the closing ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing on Sunday.
Feb. 4.
And then, of course, there were the
Russians. And doping. Again.
The 15-year-old Russian figure skater
Kamila Valieva tested positive for using
a banned heart medication. The result
wasn’t announced by anti-doping offi-
cials until after she’d won gold as part of
the team competition, even though the
sample was taken weeks earlier.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport
cleared her to compete in the individ-
ual discipline, ruling that as a minor
she had protected status. But Valieva,
although heavily favored to win, fell sev-
eral times during her free skate routine,
landing her fourth place and prompt-
ing a cold reception from her embattled
coach, Eteri Tutberidze.
“Rather than giving her comfort,
rather than to try to help her, you could
feel this chilling atmosphere, this dis-
tance,” Bach said the next day, proclaim-
ing his outrage.
American skier Mikaela Shiffrin also
came to Beijing with high expectations,
only to see them dashed when she failed
to finish three races. She left without
any medal at all. In an image to remem-
ber, the TV cameras captured Shiffrin
sitting dejectedly on the snow, head in
hands, for several minutes.
The 2022 Games were controversial
from the moment the IOC awarded
them to Beijing, the frequently snow-
less capital of a country without much
of a winter sports tradition. Almaty, Ka-
zakhstan, was the only other city in play
after four other bids were withdrawn
due to lack of local support or high cost.
Geopolitical tensions also shadowed
these Games, with Russia’s buildup of
troops along its border with Ukraine
spurring fears of war in Europe even
as the “Olympic Truce” supposedly
kicked in. In the closing, Bach said ath-
letes “embraced each other even if your
countries are divided by conflict,” an
apparent reference to a hug captured on
camera between a Russian athlete and a
Ukrainian one.
China swelled with pride, and its so-
cial media swelled with comments, as
Eileen Gu, an America-born freestyle
skier who chose to compete for China,
her mother’s native country, became an
international superstar. Her three medals
— two gold, one silver — set a new re-
cord for her sport, and adulation for Gu
literally broke the Chinese internet at one
point, briefly crashing the servers of Sina
Weibo, the massive Twitter-like network.
Moments to remember from Beijing
• With a nearly perfect free skate
and a record-setting short program, the
22-year-old figure skater Nathan Chen
became the first American gold medal-
ist in his sport since 2010.
• Snowboarding’s best known rider,
Shaun White, called it a career after fin-
ishing fourth in the halfpipe in his fifth
Olympics, passing the torch to athletes
like Su and the halfpipe gold medalist,
Japan’s Ayumu Hirano.
• American boarder and social me-
dia figure Chloe Kim won the gold in
halfpipe for the second time, adding to
her 2018 medal from Pyeongchang.
• Norway, a country whose total
population of 5 million is less than one
half of 1% of the host country’s, led the
medal count, as it often does. Russia
was second, followed by Germany, Can-
ada and the United States.
These third straight Games in Asia,
after Pyeongchang in 2018 and the
delayed Tokyo Summer Games six
months ago, were also the second pan-
demic Games. And the 16,000 athletes
and other international visitors who
spent the entire time segregated from
the host city behind tall chain-link
fences couldn’t help but see the count-
less signs trumpeting unremitting itera-
tions of the Olympic slogan: “Together
for a Shared Future.”
But for much of these austere and
distant Games, wintry not only in
their weather but in their tenor itself,
a post-pandemic shared future — the
hug-and-harmony variety that the
Olympics builds its entire multinational
brand around — seemed all but out of
reach.