The 2022 paralympics were held in Beijing this year on March 4th, 2022- March 13, 2022. There were many countries that competed like China, Ukraine, Canada, France, and the USA. This year marked the 13th winter paralympic games and had over 500 people competing. Paralympics is for athletes who are amputees, have visual impairment, spinal injuries, cerebral palsy and other physical disabilities. The three countries who won the most medals this year were China, Ukraine, and Canada. 

China had came out of the paralympics with 18 gold medals, 20 silver, and 23 bronze all adding up to 61 total medals. On a news website called France 24 they said, “China had emerged as a new winter paralympic powerhouse at their own Beijing games, topping the medals table in a stunning success.” They had won the most medals in their own home this year and were represented by 251 athletes to compete for them. Zheng Peng who won gold for China in the sprint sitting said,”all the fans have been cheering us, we’ve been encouraged and gained strength from it”.  In the end, China  won cross country skiing, sled hockey, wheelchair curling, alpine skiing, and the biathlon. 

Ukraine came in second place with 11 gold medals, 10 silver medals, and 8 bronze medals coming out to 29 medals in total. They had many athletes who won gold for them and Nbc sports gave the following the information, O. Shyshkova won the women’s individual para biathlon, O. Kononova won the middle distance free standing cross-country ski, and D. Suiarko won middle distance free men’s cross-country skiing. During the olympics they still managed to come out in second even through they may not have been in their home country they are still  feeling and hurting with the war against Russia. Nbc olympics interviewed one of  Ukraine athletes and said, “Dmytro Suiarko and he said he had a difficult time focusing because his house had been destroyed by Russian shelling a day earlier.” Despite the circumstances, they all pushed through and did it for their country and home. 

In third place was Canada who  won 8 gold medals, 10 silver medals, and 11 bronze medals totaling to 25 medals all around. This Paralympics was their second best performance in history considering the hurdles posed by COVID (they couldn’t travel as much due to restrictions and limited opportunities due to covid). Canada did not set a medal target and still managed to stack up a good amount of medals against the world. 22 year old Mollie Jepsen was named Canada’s flag-bearer for the closing ceremony after winning gold for Alpine skiing. Another great success for them was when the men’s para ice hockey team breezed by South Korea to qualify for the tournament finale. Around 50 athletes had competed for Canada in these games and overall was a success for the country. 

Throughout 2021-2022 this has definitely been a crazy year for all the countries and olympians due to COVID. Beijing was the first city to have hosted both the summer and winter editions of the paralympic games. This year China has taken Paralympics to new and better heights and people are already excited for the future ahead.