Feb. 4: Team Canada arrives at the opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. The ceremony, directed by Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou, who kept things relatively short compared with the 2008 festivities in Beijing.Jeff Roberson/The Associated Press
There were a bunch of guys waving Day-Glo pool noodles. Did that happen or did I hit my head in the bathroom and hallucinate it? The soundtrack had the featureless unplaceability that now typifies all such events. ... Nothing stood out. Nothing stuck. Nothing aroused.
— Cathal Kelly, on his disappointment in the opening ceremony
Feb. 5: Canada's Mikael Kingsbury competes in the men's moguls finals at Genting Snow Park, where he won silver. Team Canada's first medal at Beijing came earlier from speed skater Isabelle Weidemann, who got bronze in the women's 3,000 metres.Lee Jin-man/The Associated Press
Feb. 6: Justine Dufour-Lapointe crashes at the women's moguls final, at almost the same spot where Team Canada comrade Sofiane Gagnon would fall minutes later in the course's second segment.Lisi Niesner/Reuters
Feb. 7: Canada's Max Parrot and Mark McMorris celebrate after winning gold and bronze, respectively, in men's slopestyle snowboarding. It was the second straight Olympics where the two would share the podium in that event.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
I’ve never done two triples in a row in a run, with that difficulty as well, and everything was so clean. I am extremely proud of myself and to take gold on that run means so much for me.
— Canadian snowboarder Max Parrot, on his Olympic victory
More from Rachel Brady: Now cancer-free, Max Parrot takes Olympic gold with run of a lifetime
Feb. 8: People in Beijing watch freestyle skier Eileen Gu after her gold medal performance in the Big Air final. The 18-year-old's competition for China was one of the most hyped events going into the Games.Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
[Gu] is the gift America (unwillingly) gave China – a California born, raised and trained freestyle skier who arrives here primed for multimedia stardom. ... She arrived at the big air final like Caesar coming into the forum. Every twitch elicited trills.
— Cathal Kelly, on the Gu phenomenon
More from Cathal Kelly: Eileen Gu is golden in first Beijing Olympic event – and right on cue
Feb. 9: U.S. skier Mikaela Shiffrin sits by the side of the course at the women's slalom, where she didn't finish. It took several colleagues to comfort her until she came down from the mountain.Robert F. Bukaty/The Associated Press
Feb. 10: U.S. figure skater Nathan Chen competes in the men's free skate, where he finished first. In 11th place was Keegan Messing of Canada, who arrived in Beijing late after isolating in Vancouver due to a positive COVID-19 test.Jeff Roberson/The Associated Press
It’s just absolutely amazing the level that the sport has grown in the last eight years. … This is by far the strongest I think the men’s event has ever been in the history of figure skating.
— Canadian figure skater Keegan Messing, on men's competition in Beijing
More from Rachel Brady: Nathan Chen jumps to gold at Beijing Olympics, rival Yuzuru Hanyu falters
Feb. 11: Freestyle skiers Marlon Thenault, Miha Fontaine and Lewis Irving gather on the podium after winning a bronze for Canada in mixed team aerials. This was the first Olympics for Thenault, who, four years earlier, was a self-described 'weekend skier' recruited by Freestyle Canada's national team.Dylan Martinez/Reuters
Feb. 12: Canadian snowboarders Meryeta O'Dine and Eliot Grondin hug after winning bronze in mixed team snowboard cross. Earlier in the week, they had won bronze and silver, respectively, in the women's and men's solo events.Gregory Bull/The Associated Press
Feb. 13: Impressions of people lie in snow at the sliding centre in Yangqing. This weekend featured the first real snow at the Games, which relied mostly on machine-made snow – a controversial precedent that has some sports experts worried about the Olympics' future in a changing climate.Pavel Golovkin/The Associated Press
Yes, we’ve always needed a push from artificial snowmaking, but we’ve come to an irreversible crossroad where artificial snowmaking is now carrying a heavy load. Where will we be in five years? Ten years? Fifty years?
— Canadian freestyle skier Philippe Marquis, on the long-term implications of machine-made snow
More from Kathryn Blaze Baum: What does Beijing’s machine-made snow tell us about climate change?
Feb. 14: Christine De Bruin races in the women's monobob, a new event at the Olympics. She won bronze, while the gold went to a former Canadian athlete, Kaillie Humphries, who competed as a U.S. citizen for the first time.Dmitri Lovetsky/The Associated Press
Feb. 15: Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva practices before the women's single skate. A week earlier, officials learned she had tested positive for a banned substance in December, but the Court of Arbitration for Sport cleared her to compete at Beijing anyway.Aleksandra Szmigiel/Reuters
Valieva is a child and, as such, deserves more of our consideration. Being tossed out of the Olympics would harm her psychologically. It might trail her the rest of her life. So why do we continue to put other children in the position where this can happen to them?
— Cathal Kelly, on the case for raising the minimum competition age
More from Cathal Kelly: The Valieva scandal shows why minors shouldn't compete at the Games
Feb. 16: Canadian speed skater Charles Hamelin, right reacts with teammate Jordan Pierre-Gilles, middle, after winning gold in the men's 5,000-metre short-track relay.Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press
Feb. 17: The Canadian women's hockey team celebrates with gold medals after beating the United States 3-2. It was something of a rematch of 2018's final in Pyeongchang, which the Americans won.Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press
We said that we wanted everyone on this team to be leaders. We didn’t want it to be top down. We wanted to be egalitarian, that everyone has a voice.
— Assistant captain Brianne Jenner, on the vision of the women's hockey team
Feb. 18: Skip Brad Gushue calls out to his teammates at the bronze-medal men's curling match against the United States, which Canada won 8-5. It would be Canada's only curling medal from the Games.Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters
Feb. 19: The men's 50km freestyle mass start cross-country skiing event was shortened to 30km due to extreme cold and strong wind conditions.MARKO DJURICA/Reuters
Feb. 20: Above, performers during the closing ceremony at Beijing National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest. Below, Triple medal winner Isabelle Weidemann leads Canada in the parade of athletes as flag-bearer for the closing ceremony.ELOISA LOPEZ/Reuters; David Ramos/Getty Images
In photos: All Canadian Olympic medal winners in Beijing
Team Canada players with their gold medal after a 3-2 win over the United States in the tournament final at the Beijing Winter Olympics.BRIAN SNYDER/Reuters
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