China sets Winter Olympics benchmark with one week to go

Sitting on a healthy haul of five gold medals, Team China has already far surpassed its result from Pyeongchang four years ago, when it won only one gold, and equaled its best showing ever, from Vancouver 2010.

China also has three silvers and two bronzes. Its 10 total medals is one short of its best ever — it secured 11 medals in Vancouver and at Turin 2006. China is expected to surpass that total and then some.

While a lot of the focus has been on Eileen Gu (谷爱凌 Gǔ Àilíng), both for her exploits in Big Air and as a symbol of U.S.-China rivalry, one of China’s key performers has been the short-track speed skater Rèn Ziwēi 任子威.

The 24-year-old Harbin native is currently sitting on two gold medals: first from the 1000m mixed team relay, and then the men’s 1000m. He captured the latter after a judge’s decision went against Hungary’s Liu Shaolin, when the two of them got tangled up at the finish line in the final:

Ren now has a chance to win a third gold in the men’s 5000m relay on Wednesday, after his team received a reprieve in the semifinals, advancing on a controversial judge’s ruling.

With 10 laps to go in the semifinal, China found itself in a close second before Lǐ Wénlóng 李文龙 wiped out while attempting to overtake a Canadian skater. After a lengthy and confusing judge’s review, China was advanced into the final, despite finishing as the slowest of all four semifinal teams. Replays did show that Li may have clipped the skate of the Canadian in front of him.

South Korea skater Kwak Yoon-gy questioned the fairness of the result. “I was watching that race unfold. I figured China, ROC, and the U.S. would get penalized. The Dutch skaters who were watching it with me said the same thing,” he told reporters on the sidelines.

“But as the review dragged on, I figured China was going to be allowed to progress. And when the call was finally made, I found it difficult to accept it.

“If it had been any other country than China in that situation, I wondered if that team would still have been allowed to reach the final like that?”

While China was fortunate in the speed skating arena, the same luck didn’t go to teenage snowboarding sensation Sū Yìmíng 苏翊鸣, who missed out on a gold in slopestyle after a poor judge’s decision.

The youngster, who had been immaculate all week, just missed out on his first-ever gold medal after judges awarded Max Parrot a top score of 90.96, despite the Canadian missing a grab off one of the big booters.

Su was gracious in defeat. “To be able to take part in the Winter Olympics in my home country, to be able to compete with my childhood idol and stand with them on the podium, this is a very precious moment in my life,” Su told Chinese state broadcaster CCTV after the event. “To me, this is very special.”

This sentiment was echoed by Su’s Japanese coach Sato Yashiro.

“To be honest, I was disappointed when Su Yiming and I, after the awarding ceremony, knew about this and thought that we might have been in second place due to a misjudgment. However, I immediately thought that this is part of the game, and respect the score given by the judges.”

“Above all, we aimed to show everyone the best performance of Su Yiming and we are very happy with that,” Yashiro wrote in an open letter. “The culture of snowboarding is created by everyone together. All the people active in this sport are a family. People sometimes make mistakes, which is very natural, that’s all. Please stop criticizing the judges and please extend warm congratulations to the gold medalist Max Parrot.”

Elsewhere, Yán Wéngǎng 闫文港 made history as the first Chinese athlete to claim a skeleton medal. The 24-year-old former long-jumper shocked the world after he improved on his sixth place in the penultimate heat to win bronze.

But the best gold medal of the week — certainly the most emotional — was claimed by Xú Mèngtáo 徐梦桃, who won in the women’s aerials on Monday night.

Prior to Xu’s victory, China had won seven medals in women’s aerials, the most of any country — including four straight Olympic silvers. Never, however, gold.

Xu, 31, was competing in her fourth Olympics. She previously won silver at Sochi in 2014, and earlier in the week won silver again as part of China’s mixed team aerials (which lost to the U.S. in an upset). But she came into Monday’s event ranked No. 1 in the world, with all the pressure that implies.

On her final run, Xu went for a triple-twisting triple backflip. When she landed, she threw both hands in the air, took off her goggles, and let out a scream of relief. She broke into tears when she saw her score of 108.61.

American Ashley Caldwell was the last competitor to go. When she was unable to stick her landing, Xu knew she had China’s first-ever women’s aerials gold. She and Caldwell embraced in one last emotional moment of this event. Xu thanked Caldwell, who said she was proud of Xu.

“Taotao has been pushing triples for longer than I have, and I respect her wholeheartedly,” Caldwell said. “For her to win the gold medal in her own country is an incredible accomplishment and it brought tears to my eyes just as much as sadness did.”

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What to watch for in the final week of Beijing 2022

The focus of these Games will once again shift to teenage freeski sensation Eileen Gu as she attempts to claim a second and third gold.

After a solid third place in slopestyle qualifying, Gu will head into Tuesday’s final — which begins at 9:30 a.m. local time — full of confidence. NBC should be thrilled for this primetime start, too — they can broadcast live on Monday, 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time.

Following the slopestyle final, Gu will turn her focus on her favored halfpipe event, with qualification starting Thursday.

Su Yiming will also try to go one better in the men’s snowboard Big Air tomorrow, after qualifying in a comfortable fifth after lacing the highest-scoring trick in his first jump. Róng Gé 荣格, 19, will also feature in the women’s Big Air tomorrow.

In short track, China has a chance for further medals in the men’s 5000m relay and women’s 1500m on Wednesday.

While in speed skating, China will have a shot at medals in the team pursuits tomorrow, as well as the women’s 1000m, men’s 1000m, and the mass start events from Thursday to Saturday.

The closing ceremony is on Sunday, February 20.

Stay up to date with The China Project’s Beijing 2022 coverage here, and check out the China Sports Column, which runs every week.