The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics are underway.
Amid coronavirus surges and political controversy, the opening ceremony is slated for Friday night (Beijing time) and Friday morning (6:30 a.m. ET) in the United States — add 13 hours for the ET-to-Beijing conversion — but events began Wednesday and will continue through Feb. 20 with the closing ceremony. On Thursday, the action continued with mixed doubles curling, men’s alpine skiing and women’s ice hockey, with the U.S. women’s team playing Finland.
Thursday will also bring primetime television coverage of figure skating and freestyle skiing.
The Games have a record of 109 medal events, with Team USA featuring more than 200 athletes.
2022 OLYMPICS TV SCHEDULE:What to watch (and how to watch) today at the Olympics
SCHEDULE, MEDALS AND RESULTS: Here’s what’s happening in Beijing
Here’s up-to-date coverage from the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics on Thursday from the USA TODAY Sports staff:
U.S. women start with a win
BEIJING — The U.S. took care of business ater losing one of its leaders, winning 5-2 against Finland to start Group A play on a high note. The Americans outshot the Finns 52-12.
U.S. women dominating on the ice
BEIJING — That’s why she’s the captain.
With the U.S. leading 2-0 in the second period, Kendall Coyne Schofield gave the Americans more breathing room by gliding into the slot and snapping a goal. Sixty-four seconds later, she deftly tipped a Savannah Harmon blast past the Finnish goalie to make it 4-0.
Coyne Schofield had three goals in all of 2021 for the U.S. (13 games).
Taking a conservative approach in men’s moguls
ZHANGJIAKOU, China – Dylan Walczyk had four training days here in the pre-week of the Olympics, but the run he put down in the men’s moguls qualifiers Thursday night was something he had just practiced hours earlier.
It wasn’t an easy decision, but the 28-year-old from Rochester, New York, decided to follow his gut instincts and dial back his run.
“I didn’t train that run – until today,” said Walczyk. “I had my heart set on doing bigger tricks in the qualification round, so I pushed really hard to do that. It was going well and then yesterday it just wasn’t working out. And I thought, I know I’m going to be nervous tomorrow. I’m going to stick with what I know and what I can do. And ski a really solid first round and then go from there.
“That was my first Olympic run so I didn’t want to do anything too crazy. I wanted to ski a clean run that I knew I could do. And that was exactly that.”
Walczyk was 10th, the last man to make it through to Saturday’s final. U.S. teammate Cole McDonald was fifth.
The USA has not won a medal in men’s moguls since Vancouver in 2010 when Bryon Wilson won bronze.
– Lori Nickel
IOC president declines comment on Uyghurs
BEIJING – International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach dismissed China’s treatment of its Uyghur population – which the U.S. government has called “genocide” – as purely a matter of politics.
At a news conference on the eve of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, a reporter asked Bach what message he would offer to the Uyghurs, members of a predominantly Muslim ethnic group in the Xinjiang region that have been detained in “re-education” and labor camps. He declined to comment.
“The position of the IOC must be, given the political neutrality, that we’re not commenting on political issues,” Bach said. “Because otherwise, if we are taking a political standpoint and we are getting in the middle of tensions and disputes and confrontations of political powers, then we are putting the Games at risk.”
Bach has long clung to the idea of political neutrality, even as global politics have become one of the defining characteristics of the Beijing Games.
Several Western countries, including the United States, have declined to send an official government delegation to Beijing for Friday’s opening ceremony in diplomatic boycotts intended as a rebuke of China. White House press secretary Jen Psaki cited “ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and other human rights abuses” as the primary reason for its decision.
China, meanwhile, has said president Xi Jinping will host roughly 30 foreign leaders in Beijing for the opening ceremony and “relevant bilateral activities.” Topping the list is Russian president Vladimir Putin, who would have been barred from attending without a personal invitation from Xi, due to sanctions levied against Russia for doping.
— Tom Schad
Thomas Bach set to meet with Peng Shuai in closed loop
BEIJING – Thomas Bach said he still plans to have an in-person meeting during the Olympics with Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai, who accused a high-ranking official in the Communist Party of sexual assault on social media last year before disappearing from public view for several weeks.
Bach said the meeting will take place inside the “closed-loop system” that has been created to limit the spread of COVID-19. He did not specify when it will occur.
The IOC president also expressed, for the first time, a willingness to investigate Peng’s sexual assault allegations, but only at her request.
“If she wants to have an inquiry, of course we would also support her in this,” Bach said. “But it must be her decision. It’s her life. It’s her allegations.”
— Tom Schad
U.S women’s hockey star Brianna Decker leaves with injury
U.S. women’s hockey assistant captain Brianna Decker was stretchered off the ice less than 10 minutes into the team’s opening game against Finland on Thursday.
Decker collided with a Finnish player behind the net and went down screaming in pain.
She will not return to the game.
The U.S. has no reserve players with the team in Beijing but could make a roster move to replace Decker if the three-time Olympian misses time this tournament.
About one minute after Decker left the ice, Amanda Kessel put the U.S. up 1-0. The U.S. added another goal 2 minutes and 23 seconds later when Alex Carpenter snuck one past Finnish goaltender Anni Keisala on the stick side.
In 146 appearances for the national team, Decker has amassed 170 points (81 goals, 89 assists).
‘There are still plenty of reasons to be optimistic’
One down, one to go.
Bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor told USA TODAY Sports on Thursday night that she has had one negative COVID test and is awaiting the results of another done earlier in the day. The three-time Olympic medalist needs to produce consecutive negative tests within a 24-hour span in order to be released from isolation and compete.
Meyers Taylor is a gold-medal favorite in both bobsled events, ranked No. 1 in the world in both monobob and two-man. But she tested positive for COVID-19 on Jan. 29, two days after she and her family arrived in Beijing.
Her husband, Nic Taylor, an alternate on the U.S. men’s team, and their toddler son Nico also tested positive.
“There are still plenty of reasons to be optimistic,” Meyers Taylor said. “I’m going to study as much as possible, I’m going to prepare myself as much as possible so when I do get out, I’ll be ready to go and hopefully still be in a position to win some medals.”
Meyers Taylor has won silver medals as a driver at the last two Games, as well as a bronze as a brakeman in 2010. She was chosen by her fellow U.S. teammates to be the flag bearer at Friday’s opening ceremony along with curler John Shuster.
Speedskater Brittany Bowe, who was second in the voting, will walk in place of Meyers Taylor.
— Nancy Armour
American moguls skier injured in crash
ZHANGJIAKOU, China – American moguls skier Kai Owens missed the first women’s qualifier on Thursday after being injured in a crash here in training.
The competition kicked off the day before the opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympics without Owens, the seventh-ranked skier in the world.
Owens, 17, made her first Olympic team this year after winning World Cup Rookie of the Year in 2021.
A U.S. Ski & Snowboard spokesperson said Owens is undergoing medical evaluation for a crash here on Tuesday. Owens posted a photo to Instagram on Wednesday showing one eye swollen shut, bruised and with a cut.
“I’m doing well, in high spirits, and working with our medical team to evaluate and make the best decisions,” she wrote in the post.
Owens is still eligible to compete in the second women’s qualifier on Sunday. The Beijing Olympics official open on Friday.
— Rachel Axon
Today’s biggest Olympic stories
Some links for your reading enjoyment …
‘TED LASSO’ type: US women’s hockey coach has his own style
CRAM SESSION: Watch out. Speed skiers get little time to test course
TEAM USA GEAR: Cheer on America with these finds
IN ISOLATION: Team USA bobsled star tests positive for COVID
WINTER GAMES BE GONE?: Climate change isn’t a hypothetical for Winter Olympics
Bobsledders chosen to be flag bearers
Bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor and curler John Shuster were chosen by their U.S. teammates to be flag bearers for Friday’s opening ceremony at the Beijing Olympics.
Meyers Taylor remains in isolation after testing positive Saturday for COVID-19. Speedskater Brittany Bowe, who was second in the voting, will walk with Shuster in her place.
“Being voted by my peers as the flag bearer is the biggest honor of my career,” Meyers Taylor said in a statement. “Brittany is very deserving of the opportunity to lead our delegation on my behalf. She is an incredible person with an exemplary character, and I’m excited to watch her and John lead Team USA at the Opening Ceremony.
“I’m honored to be a part of this team, and coming from a military family, it’s really special to have been chosen to carry our flag.”
Meyers Taylor is a four-time Olympian and three-time medalist, winning silvers as a driver in 2014 and 2018 and a bronze as a brakeman in 2010. Shuster is a five-time Olympian, winning gold in 2018 and a bronze in 2006. He is the first curler to be chosen as a flag bearer.
— Nancy Armour
