The Winter Olympics in Beijing ended on February 20. Kazakhstan's national team, which won only one bronze medal in the previous competitions in Sochi in 2014 and in Pyeongchang in 2018, this time lost to Beijing. While some of our athletes, whom the spectators had high hopes for, stumbled halfway through the race, our figure skaters could not get a ticket to the Olympic Games at all.

       At the Winter Olympics in Beijing, most of the medals were won by European countries, the United States, Canada, Russia and the organizers of the competition, China and Japan. As for the results, in the overall standings of the Olympics, the top three included Norway (16 gold, 8 silver, 9 bronze), Germany (12-10-5), China (9-4-2). While Norway and Germany have recently become leaders in winter sports, China, which hosted the Games, celebrated its historic success at the Winter Olympics.

       Neighboring Russia won 6 gold, 12 silver and 14 bronze medals at the Olympic Games, setting a record for the number of medals. Among the post-Soviet countries, Belarus - 2 silver, Ukraine - 1 silver, Latvia and Estonia - one bronze.

       Kazakhstan, which won one bronze medal at the Sochi and Pyeongchang Olympics, failed to win a medal in Beijing. The best result among domestic athletes was shown by Abzal Azhigaliyev, a short track athlete who finished fourth, and the mixed short track team of Kazakhstan, who took fifth place.

       Kazakhstan has allocated about 600 millions tenge from the state budget for the preparation and participation in the Beijing Olympics. And on social networks there were many people who criticized the return of athletes who went to the Olympics without state prizes. Their criticism seems reasonable.