BEIJING WINTER OLYMPICS LOW AND HIGH LIGHTS

 I'm not a winter fan of anything.  I don't like cold weather, my skiing is limited to the bunny hill and I once sprained both ankles while attempting to skate.  

When I was in college I got close to the 1960 Squaw Valley Winter Olympics.  There were 665 athletes from 30 countries and 27 events.  The Soviet Union won with 21 medals, the USA placing second with 10.

Watch the Disney produced highlights about an hour and a half long.  Bing Crosby, Janet Leigh, Tony Curtis and future president Richard Nixon.

I was on sabbatical at the Tokyo University of A&T in February of 1998 when the games were held in Nagano.  I breezed by that city on the bullet train to Niigata, but didn't stop off to get a flavor of those Olympics.  There were 2,176 athletes from 72 countries and 68 events.  Germany won 29 medals, with the USA placing #5, earning 13 medals.  

Watch the entire opening ceremony.  If you enjoyed that, here is the closing ceremony.

For the Beijing Winter Olympics, 2871 athletes from 91 countries competing in 109 events.  So far, the Russian Olympic Committee leads with 10 medals.  The USA is tied for 8th place with 5 medals.  However, Sweden has captured the most gold medals, 5.  USA?  Zero.

Earlier today 32 athletes were in isolation after testing positive for COVID-19.  So far 50 athletes have been discharged from isolation.  Say the organizers, their Olympic bubble regularly tests everyone and nearly just about every person has been vaccinated, so the odds of catching this disease here is less than anywhere else in the world.

What about meals in the bubble?  Robots do all the cooking and delivering, with dividers separating each seat at tables.  The dumplings and broccoli were okay, but the rice was dry.  Robots nag people to properly wear masks.

Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir were again in fine form.  They first appeared together for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.  They are the star team for commenting on figure skating...and fashion.  Tara actually won a gold medal in this sport in the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics.  Johnny is a two-time Olympian and world medalist.

Speaking of figure skating, did  you see 18-year old Russian Mark Kondratiuk free-style to Jesus Christ Superstar dressed like Jesus?

Mascot Bing Dwen Dwen keeps selling out, at a cost of $45.28.  For some reason, his female counterpart Shuey Rhon Rhon is not as popular.  Bing means ice in Chinese, while Dwen Dwen means health and vitality.  Rhon means to include, to tolerate, and the second Rhon means to melt, fuse and warm.

They're back!  While the 2-man and women's teams have appeared since the original, the Jamaican 4-man bobsled team qualified for these Winter Olympics for the first time in over 20 years.  They miserably failed in the 1988 Calgary games, but made out in the follow-up 1993 film, Cool Runnings (this is the whole movie). 

The soundtrack with Jimmy Cliff performing I Can See Clearly Now is especially memorable.  This was also John Candy's last movie.  He passed away at the age of 43 of a heart attack.  He had a problem of binge-eating, reaching a weight in excess of 300 pounds.

One highlight so far was Nathan Chen's world record in the short program.  He is now a favorite to win the gold.

Last week I identified Eileen Gu as a person to watch:

...Eileen Gu was born in San Francisco of an American father and Chinese mother, but will be skiing for China.  See her first on Monday.  She last year became the new ambassador for Tiffany & Company.  Eileen is 18, and headed for Stanford University.

In third place, she came through dramatically and spectacularly, pulling off a 1620 (four and a half rotations) in her third and final attempt.  She had never before ever tried this freeski big air jump in competition. She became the youngest-ever gold medalist in the Olympic sport of freestyle skiing.

Watch her epic battle against 20-year old Tess Ledeux from France, who jumped last and would have won the gold if she had landed properly on her third jump.  This is worthy of your viewing.

While Gu still has two more events coming up (in women's slopestyle and halfpipe events), she has already earned the nickname of Snow Princess.  In the limited audience were IOC President Thomas Bach and Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai.

Eileen grew up with her mother Yan, who came to the U.S. around 30 years ago and studied biochemistry and molecular biology at Auburn, plus molecular genetics at Rockefeller University.  She has worked as a ski instructor and in investment banking.  There is a lot of mystery about her dad, who is said to be American.  One story is so weird that it could well be true, and will come out in time.  In the meantime, Eileen, through her modeling and saleswomenship, already has a net worth of $15.8 million.

-