So that’s it for the warm-up: the pyrotechnics and the puffer jackets, the calls for unity and the power politics, the Italians in their tricolor Armani capes and the American Samoan in, well, not much of anything.
Hours after host China opened its first Winter Olympics with an opening ceremony that was so meticulously choreographed that no one saw coming its selection of an athlete with a Uyghur name to help light the cauldron, it is, at long last, time for some medals.
What’s your pleasure? Skiing? Shooting? Skating? Sliding? The Olympics spring to life on Saturday with competition in nearly every sport.