Children holding festival lanterns perform at the closing ceremony. (PHOTO / IC)
With the closing ceremony held on Sunday evening, the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics came to an end. In hosting the Games, Beijing has gained the distinction of being "the city of two Olympics", not "a city" but "the city" because it is the only one to have hosted both a Summer and a Winter Games.
Much has changed in the 14 years since the Beijing 2008 Olympics. China's GDP has risen from 31.92 trillion yuan ($4.59 trillion) to 114 trillion yuan, its urbanization rate has increased from 46 to 64 percent, and its average personal income has grown almost threefold, meaning a moderately well-off society has already been built. These numbers chart China's progress along its chosen path and are markers of its growing confidence.
Based on fabricated rumors about China's policies in its Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, there were calls by some for a "diplomatic boycott" of the Games. A scene similar to that of 2008, when certain US politicians called for a "diplomatic boycott" of the Summer Olympics on the pretext of fabricated human rights violations in the Tibet autonomous region.
Ahead of the just-concluded Winter Olympics, as US athletes were about to start their trips, certain US media outlets "reminded" them to not use smartphones and US audiences not to watch it on streams, for fear of spying from Chinese networks.
China did not respond to these smears. Instead, it allowed global media outlets to conduct interviews and stream the competitions, and provided athletes with good access to the internet.
When 146 athletes held aloft the banners of 88 participating teams at the opening ceremony, the world marveled at them coming together at such a difficult time. No one spared a thought for those politicians not in attendance to witness the moment.
By doing its own job well, China has denied life to the rumors and smears targeting it.
Despite the Games being held at a time when the Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus is running rampant in many parts of the world, China kept its word and staged a simple, safe and splendid Olympics.
To quote William Frederick Blick, a member of the International Olympic Committee and former president of the Uganda Olympic Committee, "These games will forever be special as they have brought the whole world together during a pandemic. This is proof that sports can unite the world during very difficult circumstances."
The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics has come to an end, but its legacy of unity－symbolized by the indelible "snowflakes" of the opening ceremony－will carry on.