THE HULA REPORT: Beijing in the rear view mirror

The retreat from Beijing is nearly complete. Athletes, officials and media have 48 hours from the end of their Olympic functions to leave China, and the bubble world meant to curb the spread of COVID-19.

After all the travails of life in a bubble, there may be more than a few Olympic visitors happy to see Beijing fade into the rear view mirror of the bus to the airport. But the memories will linger from these most unusual Winter Games. There’s unfinished business started in Beijing to be settled in the coming months.

First, Beijing will play host to the Winter Paralympics starting March 4. The nine days of competition will bring about 600 athletes to Beijing, six sports on the program. It’s back to the bubble for the Paralympians as well as officials and media covering the Games. The short duration and smaller athlete footprint of the Winter Paralympics should make the task easier for Beijing organizers and a less onerous experience for participants.

As with the Winter Olympics, no overseas spectators will be allowed to cheer from the grandstands. Plans to allow Chinese citizens to attend Paralympic events have yet to be announced.

Whatever controversies await from the Beijing Winter Paralympics, unsettled issues from the Winter Olympics will have to be confronted.

Tops on the list may be the fallout from the teams figure skating fiasco involving 15-year-old Kamila Valieva from Russia. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has yet to announce a date for a deferred medal ceremony that will not include the ostensible gold medal team from the Russian Olympic Committee. Legal challenges to the IOC effort to disqualify the Russian team could persist for years.

Meanwhile, official inquiries may expose how the teenager Valieva was dosed with banned heart medicine. The IOC Entourage Commission, chaired by Ukraine’s Sergey Bubka, seems to be a logical pigeonhole for this knotty problem. IOC President Thomas Bach’s shock at the verbal assault directed against Valieva by her coach may prod further action. Whether 15-year-olds are suitable for the mental and physical pressures of Olympic-level competition is the question to be answered by the IOC and the International Skating Union.

The figure skating scandal may also fuel the fire for continued, perhaps harsher sanctions against Russia. Already in the sin bin for massive doping fraud involving Summer and Winter Olympians, Russia should be banned outright from anything to do with the Olympics for the next two Games IOC doyen Richard Pound said earlier this month.

If Pound is serious about pursuing Russia, he has until May 20 to take action as an IOC member. That’s the day scheduled for the remainder of the IOC Session begun in Beijing earlier this month. The meeting will mark Pound’s final appearance at an IOC Session after 44 years of membership.

Now 80, he remains one of the IOC’s highest profile members. As doyen, Pound will deliver customary closing remarks as the last item on the agenda of the session. More than a recounting of what happened in a forgettable Session dogged by COVID-19 protocols, on this occasion Pound might deliver a powerful farewell.

The end of the Beijing Olympics is triggering the next steps the IOC will take to select a 2030 Winter Games host. Within a few months we may get word from the IOC that a favorite is emerging. Salt Lake City, Vancouver, Sapporo and Barcelona are the serious contenders. It’s up to the IOC Future Winter Olympic Host Cities Commission to make a recommendation. Any of the four sound appealing after the slog of Beijing 2022.