The Winter Olympic Virus: Day 1, The First Day of Medal Competition

• The first seven sets of medals will be given today.
• A lot of the word I have seen in the American media about the Opening Ceremonies is "China has a lot to hide", etc.
• NO SHIT!  A lot of people who have seen first-world cities refuse the Games, on the basis of economic disaster, have foretold that the future of the movement, if any, is totalitarian.  Even with the Italian cities as the next Winter, and Paris and Australia up on deck for Summer (there's no idea what LA or the USA are going to look like in 2028 in that regard!), I think it's clear people are not getting the ramifications of so many free-world cities saying no.  
• Getting a quick look at this men's downhill course in final training for tomorrow's event:  This looks to have disaster written all over it.  It is a first-time created course especially for Beijing 2022, and it's highly technical.
• And the training got about three runs in before winds on the course called it off for the day.  This is not unusual.  I do remember taking at least two trips up the hill in Salt Lake to see the Women's Downhill at the 2002 Games.  Picabo Street actually got a favorable draw for the first attempt -- but we all knew she was screwed from getting a medal when a re-draw occurred on the second day and put her well back into an unclean course.  (The medal contenders usually go first, because the course begins to get choppier as more skiers run it.)   

From Inside the Games, early news on Day 1:

• Two-time defending normal-hill ski-jumping champion and defending Nordic Combined champion Eric Frenzel of Germany is out of defending at least the former title.  COVID positive.  Teammate Terence Weber is also positive.
• Ice hockey and skeleton athletes have also tested positive for the Germans, forecast to be near the top of the medal table, largely on their sliding and Nordic exploits.
• The illegal Russian team strikes again, wearing their country's colors on their sleeves in the Opening Ceremony. As part of the agreement to allow any Russians to compete at all in the Olympic movement, no technical representation of the Russian flag or colors is allowed.
• Like Salt Lake, the medal ceremonies will be held in a centralized plaza.  Event sites will have a flower ceremony, mimicking the medal ceremony.

And some Day 1 news:

• Drama in the short-track relay competition.  USA disqualified for having too many skaters on the inside in the semifinal.  (There's a restricted area in the relays and you can only have a certain number of skaters, to prevent obstruction -- and the Russians were actually disqualified during the same race for that obstruction as well.)  And China wins the gold medal, their first of the Games.
• Elana Meyers Taylor will compete in the one-woman bobsled competition, cleared from her previous COVID positive.
• The first gold medal of the Games went to Therese Johaug of Norway in the 15 km cross-country skiathon, where half the race is run in classical style, and half in freestyle.

Medal Count:

• Norway won the first two cross-country gold medals (that skiathlon and the mixed biathlon relay) to be the only country to win multiple of those first six golds.  (There was apparently a postponement -- the Olympics website had listed seven events to give medals on Day 1.)
• China, Slovenia, the Netherlands, and Sweden also won events in Day 1.
• Five countries won multiple medals in Day 1.
• The United States - shut out.