Amazing fireworks bring the curtains down for Beijing Winter Olympics 2022; the Italian city of Milano Cortina gears up for the 2026 Games.
International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach handed the flag to the mayors of Milan and Cortina of Italy to complete the handover process of the 2026 Winter Games. Italy has twice hosted Winter Olympics in the past — Cortina in 1956 and Turin in 2006. Bach praised the organizers for hosting the Games amid the pandemic, urging world leaders to “give peace a chance”.
The European countries swept the gold medals that were up for grab on the closing day. Austria won gold in the Alpine Skiing Mixed Team Parallel beating Germany in the final. Norway won the bronze beating the US.
Francesco Friedric finished off a dominating Olympics when he and his team of Thorsten Margis, Candy Bauer and Alexander Schueller finishedthe Four Man Blobsled. The second Germany team comprising of Johannes Lochner, Florian Bauer, Christopher Weber and Christian Rasp finished in the second position while the bronze went to Canadian team of Justin Kripps, Ryan Sommer, Cam Stones and Benjamin Coakwell.
Therese Johaug finished first in the Women’s 30km Cross Country Skiing to win Norway’s 16th gold. Johaug had won the 10km Classical and 15km Skiathlon events earlier in the Beijing Games.
The Women’s Curling team gave Great Britain its only gold medal of Beijing Winter Games. Team GB ended the Games with two medals after Bruce Mouat’s Men won Curling silver.
Finland won its first ever Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey gold medal with a 2-1 victory over the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) in Beijing. Finland remained undefeated in six games in Beijing. The nation won silver in 1988 and 2006 and captured bronze four times in 1994, 1998, 2010, 2014.
