Winter Games: Norway leads the medal count
After 16 days of competition and months of diplomatic negotiations, the 23rd edition of the Winter Games ended this Sunday with a closing ceremony that perfectly summed up these 'Games of Peace': in the presence of a high-level North Korean delegation, but without the Russian flag, and with a great winner, little Norway, who led the medal count, breaking the record for medals (39), fourteen of them gold.
The ceremony was attended by Ivanka Trump, the eldest daughter and advisor to the President of the United States, Donald Trump, as well as a North Korean general, whose presence was very controversial.
As the ceremony began, the President of South Korea, Moon Jae-in, shook hands with this general, Kim Yong Chol, considered a "war criminal" by the South Korean opposition.
The President of the IOC, Thomas Bach, thanked in his speech the gestures of the two Koreas, marching together in the ceremonies and even forming a joint women's ice hockey team.
"Marching together, they have shared with us their faith in a peaceful future," said the German.
"They have shown how sport, in our fragile world, brings people together; they have shown how sport builds bridges," said Bach.
The President of the IOC highlighted Pyeongchang-2017 as the Games of new horizons.
"These Games have brought new tests that attract young generations. Digital technology has allowed a greater number of countries to watch winter sports in multiple ways. Pyeongchang-2018 is the Games of new horizons," he said.
Russia remains suspended
On the other hand, the IOC decided this same Sunday to maintain the suspension of Russia, so its flag could not be waved in the stadium at the closing ceremony.
The maintenance of the suspension was influenced by the two cases of doping by Russian athletes in the Games, which frustrated the European country's hopes of returning to the Olympics.
The Olympic Games will continue in Asia, as the summer ones in 2020 will take place in Tokyo and the next winter ones in 2022 in Beijing.
After the joint parade of the two Koreas during the opening ceremony, the creation of a unified ice hockey team, and the prominent presence of the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the opening ceremony and the North Korean cheerleaders throughout these fifteen days, a delegation of eight members from North Korea, led by General Kim Yong Chol, was present at the end of the Games.
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The presence of Kim Yong Chol, who arrived in Seoul on Sunday morning, divided the host country, where this general is seen as a war criminal.
Kim Yong Chol is responsible for inter-Korean relations in the ruling Workers' Party of Korea.
South Koreans suspect that he was the one who gave the order to torpedo the South Korean corvette Cheonan in 2010, causing the death of 46 sailors.
Norway leads the medal count
There was no scheduled contact between Ivanka Trump and the North Korean representatives.
The power of diplomacy and sport as a bond of union was reflected despite everything in this ceremony, 24 hours after Trump announced "tough" sanctions against North Korea.
The future will tell whether this historic rapprochement between the two Koreas, still officially at war since 1953, is only an Olympic truce or a solid foundation for the reduction of tensions in the region.
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After 16 days of competition and 102 titles, the big winner was Norway, a small nation of just over five million inhabitants.
In the last event of the program, this Sunday, Norwegian Marit Björgen set a new record of medals in the Winter Games by winning her 15th medal, the gold in the 30-kilometer cross-country skiing event.
With that victory, Norway confirmed its first place in the medal count, with 14 gold medals, as many silver medals, and 11 bronze medals, for a total of 39, a new record of podiums in the Winter Games, surpassing the 37 of the United States in Vancouver-2010. (D)