PARIS — It was a cold night in an outdoor stadium in the mountains of South Korea, the closing ceremony to the 2018 Winter Olympics.
Athletes walked in the Parade of Nations, all with beaming smiles, some wearing shiny medals around their neck. A K-pop boy band performed. So did a local children's choir. International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach declared the prior 16 days a grand success, dubbing them “The Games of New Horizons.”
Little did anyone know what was on that horizon.
COVID-19. Controversy. Isolation. Absurdity.
The Olympics haven’t been the Olympics since that night near PyeongChang, making Friday’s rekindling of the cauldron in Paris even that much more anticipated.