Arthur Noble 
The Games were in turmoil before they even began, as President Biden announced a diplomatic boycott of the games in December of 2021, due to the imprisonment, torture, and possible genocide of the Uyghur Muslim population of China. Despite this, American athletes still attended the games, however there were not as many athletes from team USA present. Almost 3,000 athletes from 91 nations will compete to get their hands on one of 109 gold medals on offer across seven sports.
The Scandals:
Athletes had to quarantine before the Olympics, and according to many athletes the food was terrible. “My stomach hurts, I’m very pale and I have huge black circles around my eyes, an athlete posted on Instagram. “I want all this to end. I cry every day. I’m very tired.”
If you thought Russia would learn its lesson to stop doping its athletes post-Olympic ban, you thought wrong. Under the Russian Olympic Committee, they continued to risk it all. Kamila Valieva, a 15-year-old Russian figure skater, was praised for being the first woman to land a quad — a jump that requires four rotations mid-air — in the Olympics. Just days later, the story broke that she failed a drug test prior to the Games. As a minor, the news of her positive test for trimetazidine — banned heart medication dubbed sports enhancement drug — was protected for an extended time, but not long enough to go unnoticed during the Games. Controversy ensued around the morality of letting Valieva compete. Ultimately, as a minor under 16 years of age, she was allowed to continue as a “protected person” deemed by WADA’s doping code. Thus, Valieva skated after the media outbreak, and understandably, the crushing pressure resulted in a less-than-optimal performance followed by a meltdown.
At the Winter Olympics, there was controversy surrounding the tactics employed by the Dutch skating team, as many claim that they have been putting pressure on the icemakers to make them change the ice for their advantage.
“They want it to be a good ice so there are fast times so they can take more medals. So, they have a guy whose job is to measure the conditions of the ice and put pressure on the ice maker in order to change the ice for the benefit of Netherlands. I think there’s a very clear line that it’s unethical to act like this and I believe we aren’t speaking about this publicly. We have to take care of the sport we want to be doing.” The Swedish skater also called this the ‘biggest scandal in our sport’ and ‘As bad as doping’, highlighting the seriousness of this issue.
There were also some great achievements at this Winter Olympics as well, such as Norway’s dominance and overall victory at the games, leading by 10 medals, the historic winning spree of the 18 Eileen Gu, who faced enormous criticism for competing for China despite being an American citizen, who won 2 gold medals and 1 silver medal.
This year’s winter Olympics showed how diplomacy effects sport, the often unhealthy will to win at all costs, the impact conditions have on athletes and above all, these games showcased the controversial, scandalous spirit the games has sadly become known for.
Les jeux olympiques de 2022 était vraiment scandaleux, mais c’était passionnant pour le gens du monde, après ne pas avoir les jeux depuis Pyongyang en 2018.On a distribué plus de 300 médailles à ces jeux. Le prochaine Olympiques sont en 2026, en Milan et Corina en Italie, ce serait époustouflant !