▲ On February 18, the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics freestyle skiing women's U-shaped track skills final, The Chinese team's Gu Ailing celebrated winning the championship
The pattern of Norway and Germany continuing to lead the gold medal list is difficult to be broken, and the third place in the gold medal list of the United States, China and Sweden will be extremely fierce.
This article was first published in Southern People Weekly
Text / Southern People Weekly reporter Xu Mei
Photo / Courtesy of Xinhua News Agency
Gu Ailing won another gold! The eighth gold medal of the Chinese delegation! The gold medal also lifted the delegation to fourth place in the gold medal table.
On February 18, the Beijing Winter Olympics had three last match days left, resulting in a total of 17 gold medals. After Gu Ailing's freestyle skiing women's U-shaped track skills won the gold, the Chinese delegation also has two gold points for the speed skating men's 1000 meters and figure skating double skating, is it possible to take another step forward and squeeze into the top three of the gold medal list?
▲ On February 4, the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics Figure Skating Team Competition pair skating short program competition, The Chinese team players Sui Wenjing (top) and Han Cong in the competition
The day before the Beijing Winter Olympics, the famous sports data company Gracenote announced their medal table predictions for the Winter Olympics. The data agency's forecast shows that the Chinese delegation will win 6 gold medals, 2 silver medals and 5 bronze medals, and if you look at the gold medal list alone, the Chinese delegation can rank 9th among all participating countries ahead of France, Japan and Austria.
Today, the performance of the Chinese delegation has far exceeded forecasts.
As of 11:00 a.m. on February 18, Norway (14 gold), Germany (10 gold), the United States (8 gold and 8 silver), and China (8 gold and 4 silver) ranked in the top 4.
Norway has four gold points in the three race days – cross-country skiing men's 50 km group start, cross-country ski women's 30 km group start, biathlon men's 15 km group start, biathlon women's 12.5 km group start. Germany is also likely to have gold medals in the four events of the ruddered snowmobile men's quadruple, the ruddered snowmobile women's double, the freestyle ski men's steeplechase, and the biathlon women's 12.5 km collective departure.
The pattern of their continued leadership is difficult to break, and the third place in the gold medal table of the United States, China and Sweden (6 golds) will be extremely fierce.
▲ February 5, 2022, Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province, 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics cross-country skiing women's doubles pursuit, Norwegian athlete Tres Johaiyug (center) won the first gold medal at the Beijing Winter Olympics Photo / Visual China
The speed skating men's 1000-meter duel is crucial for China and the United States, in addition, the United States also has the strength to compete for gold in the women's double event of rudder snowmobiling, and it is likely to win another 1 gold, a total of 9 gold. The United States has more silver and bronze medals than China, and if the number of gold medals between the two sides is equal, it will still rank ahead of the Chinese delegation.
Sweden, currently ranked fifth, has a strong backtrack with as many as four gold points - curling men, curling women, freestyle ski men's steeplechase pursuit, cross-country skiing women's 30 km collective departure.
This afternoon speed skating men 1000 meters 16:30 gun, watch Ning Zhongyan and Lian Ziwen Avenue galloping, fighting for the country! Their decisive "Ice Ribbon" arena has already produced a number of Olympic records and world records. We look forward to their success in this venue as well!
▲ On January 29, China's Ning Zhongyan, Lian Ziwen, Xu Fu and Wang Haotian (from right to left) were in training
The Chinese delegation has already created the best record in history. Outside the arena, the Beijing Winter Olympics also created a new situation in the organization and television broadcasting of the event. On February 13, at a regular press conference held at the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, Yang Shu'an, vice chairman of the Beijing Winter Olympic Organizing Committee, said, "As of now, the Winter Olympics have repeatedly broken Olympic records in the two sports of short track speed skating and speed skating. Among them, short track speed skating broke a total of 5 Olympic records and 1 world record, and speed skating competitions broke a total of 8 Olympic records and 1 world record. "In the eight matchdays prior to the launch day, 58 minor events have completed the competition, resulting in 58 gold medals, accounting for about 53% of the total number of gold medals. Athletes from 20 countries won gold medals and athletes from 26 countries took the podium. "The risk of the epidemic is under control, and the overall success of epidemic prevention so far."
▲On February 11, 2022, during the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games, the Olympic Broadcasting Service (OBS) main control room at the Beijing International Broadcasting Center (IBC) was located at a glance Photo/Visual China
The Beijing Winter Olympics will also set a new record for the winter Olympics ratings, and Ioannis Exacos, CEO of the Olympic Broadcasting Service, pointed out that for the first time, the Beijing Winter Olympics broadcast service uses UHD and HDR technology, that is, ultra-high definition and high dynamic range 4K technology, which is also due to China's world-leading 5G technology. In addition, another feature of the Beijing Winter Olympics is cloud broadcasting, which can remotely produce content without going to the scene to achieve timely transmission of signals.
Exacos revealed that the Olympic broadcast service company will provide broadcasters with more than 6,000 hours of content during the Beijing Winter Olympics, of which as many as 1,000 hours of competition content. While TV ratings are declining, online streaming is soaring, said Michael Sokolo, a media historian at the University of Maine, "coupled with widespread attention to China, the Beijing Winter Olympics could become the highest-rated video program in world history." ”
In the two years since the COVID-19 pandemic, the Summer and Winter Olympics have been, as IOC President Bach said, like "the light at the end of the tunnel", providing a spiritual inspiration for human solidarity and strength, and the value of the Beijing Winter Olympics far exceeds the gold medal winners.