Comment This is now known: the Chinese Communist Party is the big winner of the Beijing Winter Olympics

Beijing the closing ceremony of the winter olympics will not be celebrated until sunday, but the biggest winner of the Games can already be named.

It is not Norway that has set an all-time record in the number of gold medals won by one country for the Winter Games.

The Communist Party of China, which won the Winter Olympics, has fared even better in Beijing what they want.

The main goal of the party that has ruled China since 1949 is to justify its own sovereignty over China’s 1.4 billion inhabitants and thus keep its grip firmly on the grip of power.

Central to the struggle for legitimacy is nationalism. Chinese leader Xi Jinping often speaks of the “historical revival of the Chinese people” achieved under Xin and the party “after a century of humiliation”.

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Xin and to the delight of the rest of the party leadership, China has achieved the largest medal in its history in Beijing. It has left far behind traditional winter sports powers like Finland, Russia and Canada in the medal table.

It’s a tough performance for a country that only participated in the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid in 1980 and finished last in roughly every sport.

Thus, during the Beijing Games, viewers of the Chinese state television CCTV sports channel have seen a wild number of Chinese medal performances, award ceremonies and, of course, their remakes and remakes.

At appropriate intervals, it has also been remembered to remind the people that behind the success is the Communist Party.

One of the biggest Chinese stars of the Games is the freestyle skier Gu Ailingwho won two gold and silver. Born and raised in the United States, Gu, 18, changed to represent his mother’s homeland a few years ago and has tried to stay out of the relentless geopolitical struggle between China and the U.S.

However, China has not just listened to this wish. After both gold medals, the Chinese Ministry of Sports sent a letter of congratulations to Gulle hoping that he would “continue to win the honor of the party and the people and continue to work for the superpower dream of Chinese sports”.

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Soldiers from the Chinese People’s Liberation Army brought the country’s flag to the Beijing Olympic Stadium at the opening ceremony. Picture: Tobias Schwarz / AFP

Communist the party has also avoided embarrassing incidents during the Games, when no athlete has demonstrated due to the appalling human rights situation in the country.

In addition to the strict rules of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the athletes’ suits were blocked by intimidation by China before the Games: it said protesters might also face criminal responsibility for their words.

Before the Games, China repelled all criticism, stating that the sport should not be politicized.

The only delusion on the political playing field was made by a spokesman for the Beijing Organizing Committee Yan Jiarongwhich on Thursday rumbled in Taiwan to be an integral part of China and data on Uighur oppression in Xinjiang Province to be lies.

Chairman of the IOC Thomas Bach had to rumble from Yan’s speeches, but the Chinese Communist Party is hardly moved by Bach’s speeches.

From a party perspective, the politicization of sport is wrong – except when it is done by China itself.

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