The Beijing Games will perhaps be indelibly remembered for Kamila Valieva's ordeal – but that was far from the only controversy
The Beijing Games closing ceremony on Sunday brought an end to a Winter Olympics which became as high-profile for developments away from the stadiums and slopes as it did for sporting action.
Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva had already returned to Russia as the flame went out at the 'Bird's Nest', ending a 16-day event that was dominated by the 15-year-old's anti-doping case.
Here, we look at what happened to the pre-Games gold medal favorite and some of the other moments that made headlines at a Games like no other.
Biden leads diplomatic boycott
The White House confirmed its boycott over "ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang" , as well as other human rights abuses, on December 6, leading to a long list of countries joining them over alleged atrocities against the Muslim Uighurs in north-west China, which Xi Jinping's government has always denied.
China promised counter-measures. Its diplomats rubbished the boycotts, calling them a politicization of the Games – a view shared by leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin , who was one of the dignitaries at the opening ceremony.
Human rights campaigners and critics of the gesture alike cited the Olympic charter of unity as they articulated their strongly-held beliefs. One result that everyone could perhaps agree on was a Games that had a distinctly political feel to its build-up and beginning.
Environmentalists ask questions over fake snow
Uighur athlete and army commander carry the Olympic flame
"lovely concept" , adding that she was "perfectly entitled" to play a key part in the opening.
took exception to an army commander acting as a torchbearer for the relay because he had been among the troops who fought in a territory disputed by India, China and Pakistan, calling it a "regrettable" politicization.
Athletes told to use burner phones amid fears of spying
warned American athletes to leave their personal devices at home to reduce the risk from "malicious cyber activities” .
China dropped censorship of western sites such as Facebook and Google, but a report by cybersecurity group Citizenlab claimed personal data could be accessed and passed on to third parties.
"widespread lack of security" in the app was more likely to be a reflection of software developer priorities than a "vast government conspiracy" .
Team USA denies telling athletes not to give opinions
"ruthless" Chinese government "might do to their reputations, to their families."
Ski suit violations lead to disqualifications
Strict measures around ski jumping suits have never caused as much consternation as they did at the team ski jump in Beijing, when Norway, Austria, Japan and Germany were among the teams to fall foul of rules stipulating that suits must not give athletes an unfair advantage.
“For me, it is a puppet theater,” raged German national team coach Stefan Horngacher. “I am unbelievably angry and I don’t understand it."
Kamila Valieva's anti-doping saga
Kamila Valieva , the teenager regarded as the world's best figure skater and a red-hot favorite to take individual gold as part of a formidable Russian team.
became the first woman to land a quad at the Olympics as part of a world record score that helped her team win the team competition on February 7.
dismissed the IOC and International Skating Union's bid to have Valieva suspended from the rest of the Games, but she was clearly badly affected in a misfiring final performance under huge pressure in the individual competition. The sorry saga overshadowed the Olympics and is yet to be settled, with the team result still not confirmed.
Alexandra Trusova makes history, then threatens retirement
“I hate this sport," she said , appearing to be angry at finishing second behind compatriot Anna Shcherbakova. "I won’t go onto the ice again.”
Shcherbakova and Valieva had endured in the run-up to the final event cannot have helped ease the intense pressure the teenage trio were under at the Capital Indoor Stadium.
Thomas Bach takes aim at Tutberidze
IOC president Thomas Bach has often been criticized for blustering and pulling his punches on key issues. The lawyer did not hold back on one of Russia's most successful figure skating coaches.
"You could feel this chilling atmosphere, this distance," he said of footage of Eteri Tutberidze's reaction to her star pupil, Valieva, after the individual event, describing what he perceived as "tremendous coldness" from the woman who has also masterminded Trusova's success.
Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) president Stanislav Pozdnyakov pointed to the effort it takes Tutberidze to add to her long catalogue of success year after year, and legendary Russian ice dancer and coach Alexander Zhulin accused Bach of speaking "cruelly and incorrectly" about Tutberidze and the Russian team.
Tutberidze reacted pointedly to Zhulin's remarks. “At this moment, I find myself at a loss over the assessment of our work by the esteemed Mr. Bach," she replied , thanking Zhulin for his support.
Media accused of mistreating Mikaela Shiffrin
portrayed in despair on the slopes at one point in a campaign she will want to forget in a hurry.
"haters" at the end of her underwhelming Games.
"You just need to get up," she said of her approach to recovering from the succession of setbacks, thanking reporters for their support and observing their part in strengthening her connection with her supporters.
Trio commit doping violations
positive test for a banned steroid.
"ups and downs" for him and acknowledged that his drug shame had denied him the "happy ending" he wanted for his career.
Valentyna Kaminska also retired after testing positive for a steroid.
Skeleton racer pleads for help
"totally unacceptable" following the emergence of the shocking clip showing the distraught athlete pleading to leave isolation.
Speed skater Daniil Aldoshkin fires insult after win over US rivals
The thrill of success got the better of Daniil Aldoshkin, a 20-year-old speed skater who raised his hands with his middle fingers extended as his team crossed the line to beat Team USA and guarantee themselves the silver medal they ultimately earned behind Norway.
outburst of emotion”, according to Alexei Kravtsov, the president of the Russian Skating Union.
"I'm sorry if this offended anyone," added the athlete.
Veronika Stepanova asks reporter to 'check my undies'
media depictions of female athletes , claiming she would have performed better with a kiss from her boyfriend and offering her hope that Putin would take a greater interest in her sport as a result of his nation's cross-country success.
helped the ROC team secure gold with an exhilarating show of endurance, Stepanova was unimpressed by one reporter who she believed had accused her of using a banned lubricant.
"I have a suggestion... why don't you demand to do a check in my undies?" the 21-year-old sensation asked , joking that her purported accuser might have discovered a motor in her briefs.
said she would boycott Norwegian media over a comment that Russian athletes should have been barred from appearing in Beijing.
Row breaks out after Asian Americans are called 'vividly overrepresented'
claimed a description of Asians as being "vividly overrepresented" in figure skating was a term based on conversations with "multiple Asian American sociologists" .
"almost uniformly white" during the 1990s, adding that their dominance was disproportionate to the seven percent of the US population made up by Asians.
Its choice of words did not go down entirely well online, with accusations of exceptionalism, divisiveness and even racism greeting the articles.
The outlet called figure skating in the US "plainly an Asian American sport" , observing that, for the second successive Games, four of the six figure skaters in singles events on Team USA were Asian-American.
US-born China star Eileen Gu accused of treachery
delivered spectacularly by becoming the first athlete in her sport to win three medals in a single Olympics and the youngest Games champion in the discipline, but questions around the California-born crossover star's switch from Team USA to China in 2019 linger.
Gu, who has Chinese grandparents, is accused by some of taking worryingly little heed of China's human rights record when she made the change in 2019, failing to address whether she has changed nationality and appearing to defend the country she competes for against legitimate charges of censorship.
Part-time model Gu has faced accusations of treachery towards the US. There has also been a debate around the credibility of her claims to be a realistic role model for girls, with critics pointing to what they describe as an unusually privileged background that is unattainable to all but the most fortunate of youngsters aiming to follow her lead.
Women’s ice hockey teams wear Covid masks
A women's group stage match between the ROC and Canada then descended into farce when the start was delayed by more than an hour because the Canadian players reportedly refused to take to the ice while the results of the ROC team’s Covid tests taken earlier in the day remained unclear.
Russian goaltender Maria Sorokina said her team agreed to play in masks to avoid embarrassment, removing them when the results arrived before the third period. Canada kept their masks on anyway, and Finland followed suit in their match against Russia.
"It is very difficult to play in masks," the ROC's Polina Bolgareva told Match TV, saying that denser Chinese masks and a lack of supplied oxygen had made players feel dizzy. "But both teams were in the same conditions."
Tennis ace Peng Shuai appears
seen alongside Bach at the big air freestyle skiing final and at a mixed curling match between China and Norway, shortly after she gave an interview to L'Equipe in which she again denied making her in-depth post detailing alleged abuse by the politician, which swiftly disappeared from her account.
"thoughts remain" with Peng, reiterating his call for a formal investigation into the allegations and a chance to meet the player privately.
Teams find the Olympic menu hard to digest
In the age of specialist dietitians and quarantine meals, complaints about nutrition seem inevitable at major events.
described the catering as non-existent, understandably arguing that crisps, chocolates and nuts are no substitute for hot meals when it comes to elite sport.
Tensions and joy between Russian and Ukrainian athletes
"provocations" against a backdrop of political tensions between the countries.
The issue occasionally flared again in Beijing. Russian figure skating icon Alexei Yagudin claimed Ukrainian representatives were guilty of a "real abomination and disgrace" after what he perceived as their failure to recognize Valieva's achievement in her stunning performance in the team competition.
Freestyle skier Oleksandr Abramenko did not hesitate to congratulate Ilya Burov after claiming silver for Ukraine and finishing ahead of the Russian for a second consecutive Games, with the pair enthusiastically hugging under his country's flag in a repeat of their 2018 embrace.
Harrowing weather conditions strike
The weather in Beijing was savage at times. Six-time World Championships medalist Frida Karlsson was "completely destroyed" by temperatures which Anders Bystroem, who was also part of the Sweden team, could have dropped as low as -35C with wind chill.
There were concerns that events were being held later in the day, when temperatures were colder, in order to appease European TV schedulers rather than put the health of athletes first.
The cross-country skiing mass start race, won by Russian skier Alexander Bolshunov, was delayed and reduced in length from 50km to 30km as athletes covered their faces with tape and found frost forming on their lips in brutal cold – although Brit Andrew Musgrave angrily called those decisions a "f*cking joke" in response to conditions being "a bit cold and windy" .
Brave Remi Lindholm might not have shared those views. The Finnish competitor suffered a frozen penis in "one of the worst competitions I’ve been in" , describing the pain as his appendage warmed up afterwards as "unbearable" .
