sniper
His sport could not make him happy at these games, on the contrary, he even gave difficult moments to this experienced biathlete. About after rank 67 in the individual competition, after which Eric Lesser explained in his podcast that you usually just want to cry, but: “The disappointment is just too great that even crying doesn’t help anymore.” This already announced that Lesser was mastering another discipline these days: making humorous remarks and clever tips – especially against this completely non-Olympic event and the pseudo-neutral IOC. For example: “Somehow I envy Arnd Peiffer, who said last season: Bye bye, Beijing I won’t give myself anymore.” Or, in DLF, towards IOC boss Thomas Bach: “The fact that the games are apolitical is complete nonsense.” And finally, looking to the future, in which one can always say comfortingly, no matter how moodless and heart-pounding events: “No matter what happened, Beijing was worse.” It’s a shame that Erik Lesser will no longer be at the Olympics.
final runner
The Norwegian’s list of medals and other winners Therese Johaug, is so long that if you lined it all up it would take up too much space for this text. In addition to her art as a cross-country skier for 25 years, Johaug had also participated in distance races in athletics. In winter she competed in racing suits, in summer in narrow tops and with a steely torso. And yet her sporting past includes not only medals, but also the lip cream thing. She was banned for 18 months after the steroid clostebol was found on her; Johaug explained that he did not recognize this as part of a sunburn ointment. She still missed the 2018 games, but in 2022, at her last games, she came back with apparently even greater ambition. Because Johaug did what she could: she achieved gold in the two big distance races at the beginning – and on the last day, the planned last Olympic final day of her career, gold again over 30 kilometers.
Tricksters and Screwdrivers
Many tears flowed when he said goodbye, although he had resolved not to cry. but Shaun White couldn’t help it in Zhangjiakou’s halfpipe. “Sorry I’m crying so badly,” he said after his last Olympic appearance, laughing and sobbing at the same time. “Snowboarding was the love of my life. It was such a long journey.” The 35-year-old Californian has shaped his sport like no other. White entered the stage as a child and became one of the most famous winter sports athletes around. He invented more and more difficult tricks and thus steadily raised the level, which made the competition despair. That brought him a lot of recognition in the scene – and three Olympic gold medals: 2006, 2010, 2018. In China he was 2.25 points short of bronze and finished fourth like in 2014. So what’s next for the quintessential snowboarding? melancholy? Grief? Not at all! “I have so much to do, for me life is just getting started.”
Cigar for two
From track and field to bobsleigh: made the way from the vastness of summer stadium competitions to the narrowness of a narrow and cold carbon cigar on runners Mariama Jamaica once deliberately chosen, and yes, although this was “definitely” her last Olympic ride in Beijing – she was happy in the bobsled. However – actually in the bob, and not in the monobob. In the opinion of the Berliner, the latter stands for an undesirable development in women’s bobsleigh – at least as a base in the world class. The fact that her mono mission actually failed was not intentional and nevertheless indicated that she is a two-person team rider: “My brakewomen dragged the sled for me, polished the runners and had nothing from the competition,” she said. She still enjoys the exhilarating speed in the box, working with her team, maybe still at World Cups and World Championships, even though she has now ended her Olympic career – with gold in 2018 and now silver in Beijing 2022.
The Runaway Sailor
Basically heard Simon Ammann not in this category. The Swiss is neither in the stage of the final Olympic farewell nor in that of staying. Ammann has already said goodbye twice and then twice just stuck with it. Nevertheless, this ski jumper should appear here because he is already 40 years old and could retire to his farm with his family at any time, and also because he has too good an Olympic history. Ammann isn’t just a ski jumper, he’s also an inventor. In 2002 and 2010 he won double gold, first as a 21-year-old, underestimated newcomer, then as a brilliant technology inventor. Nicknamed “Harry Potter” when he first appeared because of his pale boyish face, Ammann later turned out to be a magician indeed. In Vancouver 2010, he unwrapped the curved binding bar that turns skis into wings and sailed away from them all.
Orange on ice
Once again Heerenveen, the World Cup home final in March, once again the whole Oranje celebration program. Then do Ireen Wust, 35, over. The Dutch speed skater then dragged off the ice six times gold at five different Winter Games – not even the eternal Claudia Pechstein, 50, can imitate her (who, however, gathered her five golden plaques in eight games and left a ninth demonstratively open). Wüst’s last appearance at the Olympics: sixth place in the 1000 meters. To get over after she had previously won gold over 1500 meters and bronze in the team pursuit in Beijing. “Age is just a number,” she said afterwards, “it’s about how you feel.” Now she feels like quitting. But: If she leaves, it doesn’t leave a gap. The dominance of the orange runners remains overwhelming, speed skating is and will remain a popular sport in Holland, even without Ireen Wüst.