Ski Racer Nina O’Brien’s Crazy Fast Comeback From an Olympic Crash

Before she could think about walking normally, she had to practice using the small muscles in her calf to rotate her foot once again. The idea of pointing her foot and jamming it into a ski boot — a miserable experience for recreational skiers who wear relatively soft and flexible boots but a whole other level of awful for elite ski racers — seemed preposterous. She returned to Dartmouth, where she attends college in the off-season. She limped around campus, went to physical therapy nearly every day and tried to…

Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine Tests China’s ‘Sovereignty’ Rhetoric

As Russian troops have poured into Ukraine, officials in Beijing have fumed at any suggestion that they are betraying a core principle of Chinese foreign policy — that sovereignty is sacrosanct — in order to shield Moscow. They will not even call it an invasion. “Russia’s operation” is one preferred description. The “current situation” is another. And China’s leader, Xi Jinping, says his position on the crisis is perfectly coherent. “The abrupt changes in the eastern regions of Ukraine have been drawing the close attention of the international community,” Mr.…

Beijing Olympic Ratings Were the Worst of Any Winter Games

An average of 11.4 million viewers watched the Beijing Olympics on NBC Universal platforms each night — the smallest prime-time audience on record for any Winter Games and well off the 19.8 million nightly viewers for the Pyeongchang Games in 2018. More than two weeks of coverage, starting with the frigid opening show on Feb. 4 and ending Sunday, drew 160 million total viewers across the NBC television channel, the Peacock streaming service and other platforms, NBC Universal said on Monday. Dramatic story lines proliferated during NBC Universal’s 2,800 hours…

Times photographers sought to…

Our Photographers’ Favorite Olympic Images Times photographers sought to capture every aspect of the Olympic Games in Beijing. These pictures were special to them. Over the last several weeks, a team of New York Times photographers sought to capture every aspect of the Olympic Games in Beijing. Gabriela Bhaskar I thought a lot about the implications of photographing women, many of whom are still teenagers, figure skating in revealing costumes as they executed incredible feats of athleticism. Nicole Schott, 25, of Germany, wore a costume with a massive cutout on…

Your Monday Briefing: Shelling in Ukraine intensifies

Russia’s imminent invasion? U.S. intelligence learned last week that the Kremlin had ordered an invasion of Ukraine to proceed, prompting a dire warning by President Biden that President Vladimir Putin had made the decision to attack. The new intelligence reveals that 40 to 50 percent of the Russian forces surrounding Ukraine have moved out of staging and into combat formation. Russian artillery fire escalated sharply in eastern Ukraine this weekend, deepening fears of an imminent attack and potentially giving Russia a pretext to invade. Ukrainians reluctantly left their homes, some…

Beijing Olympics: Why Mikaela Shiffrin Stumbled, and Why We All Stumble

Watching a two-time Olympian and three-time Olympic medalist skier stumble — not once, not twice, but three times — at the Beijing Olympics was both extraordinary and painfully ordinary. No matter how well we prepare ourselves, how focused we are, what mental exercises we do to get ready, the reality is: These things happen. Mikaela Shiffrin herself seemed baffled as she talked to reporters after tripping on a gate and failing to finish the women’s Alpine combined race on Thursday, her third disastrous mishap at the Games. “I didn’t feel…

See Pivotal Moments From the Beijing Winter Games

In a Winter Olympics full of unexpected victories and losses, decisive moments often happened in just a fraction of a second. These are some of the most visually stunning high-speed scenes captured by New York Times journalists. Women’s Figure Skating Short Program Karen Chen, 22, of the United States, competed in both the women’s short program and the free skate event. Throughout her career, Chen has worn sparkling skate dresses meticulously sewn by her mother. She won a silver medal in the team event. Photographs and composite image by Jeremy…

Why Companies Struggled to Navigate Olympics Sponsorships

WASHINGTON — Companies usually shell out for Olympic sponsorship because it helps their business and reflects well on their brands. But this year, with the Olympics in Beijing, Procter & Gamble paid even more to try to prevent any negative fallout from being associated with China’s repressive and authoritarian government. The company, one of 13 “worldwide Olympic partners” that make the global sports competition possible, hired Washington lobbyists last year to successfully defeat legislation that would have barred sponsors of the Beijing Games from selling their products to the U.S.…

How to Watch Figure Skating, Skiing, and Curling Tonight

The U.S. broadcast coverage of the 2022 Winter Games continues on Thursday with medals in skiing, speedskating and figure skating up for grabs. All times are Eastern. FREESTYLE SKIING USA Network will rebroadcast the men’s halfpipe qualifiers starting at 7 p.m. The Americans competing include Aaron Blunck, Birk Irving, David Wise and Alex Ferreira. And Eileen Gu of China, who has already collected two medals in Beijing, looks for her third, this time in the women’s halfpipe final, which will air live at 8:30 p.m. on USA Network and at…