Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony Review: China Sets Off Propaganda Fireworks; NBC Awkwardly Balances Sports & Geopolitics

The 2022 Beijing Olympics concluded Sunday with icy fanfare,  a spirited speech from International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach and an audience count that pales in comparison to previous Winter games.

Despite all the high-tech tricks, political posturing and pyrotechnics, the best part of the Closing Ceremony of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics proved to be the athletes.

Coverage of the 2022 Winter Olympics wraps up Sunday with the Closing Ceremony, which will air live from Beijing National Stadium on Peacock, NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app beginning at 7 a.m. ET/4 a.m. PT. NBC and Peacock will rebroadcast the finale gala in an “enhanced primetime presentation” beginning Sunday night at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.

EXCLUSIVE: NBCUniversal, amazingly, is now in its fifth decade of carrying the Olympic Games. With this month’s Beijing Winter Olympics, though, all of that accumulated institutional knowledge is colliding with a media landscape in massive flux.

Out French ice dancer, Guillaume Cizeron, won a gold medal Monday at the Beijing Winter Olympics.Cizeron skated with his longtime skating partner, Gabriella Papadakis.

Focusing on the positive. After a difficult start at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Mikaela Shiffrin offered a glimpse at how she approached her remaining time at the international sports competition.

Hoda Kotb took to social media to reveal an incredible bit of news that had fans feeling as elated as she was.MORE: Jennifer Lopez teases Hoda Kotb about Joel Schiffman split live on Today showThe Today Show star shared a picture on Instagram featuring the two athletes who had brought the United States gold at that point at the 2022 Winter Olympics.WATCH: Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie share how to watch the Winter Olympics GamesThe post highlighted Nathan Chen and Chloe Kim in competition, and Hoda happily wrote: "Good morning GOLD!!! Congrats @nathanwchen @chloekim."One fan excitedly commented: "Thank you Nathan and Chloe for an amazing job - it was so exciting and enjoyable watching you- your hard work and dedication certainly paid off!!"MORE: Hoda Kotb makes rare revelation about home life with daughters Haley and HopeAnother wrote: "Way to go guys!!!! So proud of you," with many others sharing congratulatory messages as well and sharing love for Hoda.While Hoda is currently dealing with the ramifications of her split from longtime fiancé Joel Schiffman, she has maintained that the two are still quite amicable.A post shared by Hoda Kotb (@hodakotb)Hoda celebrated the athletes that won gold for USA at the Winter OlympicsShe has been keeping herself busy by throwing herself into coverage for the 2022 Winter Olympics, which are being held in Beijing.While Hoda did attract a huge amount of fan love for her warm and enthusiastic coverage of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, this year the pandemic and ongoing fears of a resurgence have forced NBC to alter plans. MORE: Inside Hoda Kotb's stylish home where she will co-parent her kids with ex Joel SchiffmanMORE: Hoda Kotb announces split from fiancé Joel Schiffman live on

Figure skater Nathan Chen and snowboarder Chloe Kim both brought gold for the U.S. Olympic team during Wednesday’s primetime coverage of the 2022 winter games in Beijing. Chen, fresh off his world-record-shattering men’s short program performance, nabbed the top prize in the men’s singles while Kim won gold for the women’s halfpipe. Each added to their tallies of Olympic medals, while also helping to provide a nice boost to NBC’s primetime coverage.

kicked off their opening day, tweeting her thoughts about the city’s alleged human rights violations.“There is no reason to watch a Winter Olympics that is holding up and spreading propaganda for a regime that is committing actual genocide and ethnic cleansing,” she claimed. “On top of poisoning the world and killing 6 million people.

With the first full day of games tucked away, NBC posted some early numbers from the Beijing Winter Olympics and the glass seems to be half full.

Hanging up his board. Ahead of Shaun White’s upcoming snowboarding events in the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, the athlete has confirmed his retirement.

Go team go! Team USA has a long history of winning at the Winter Olympics and the 2022 Beijing Games are no different.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterNBC Sports says 16 million viewers tuned in to watch the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics opening ceremony on Friday, an all-time low for Olympic ceremonies on linear television.That’s around 43% down compared to the 28.3 million viewers that watched the PyeongChang Winter Olympics opening ceremony in February 2018.Friday’s torch-lighting in Beijing aired live on NBC and the streaming service Peacock beginning at 6:30 a.m. ET yesterday morning and was replayed again in primetime.

It’s early days at the XXIV Olympic Winter Games, but NBC must already be praying for some Gold medal glory or the Super Bowl to give them a boost. Right now, coming off record low viewership in the first night of primetime coverage, the billions the Comcast-owned network fork out to broadcast the Games until 2032 isn’t looking like money well spent.

The opening ceremony for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics has happened and we have tons of great photos from the event.

2022 Winter Olympics are underway! The opening ceremony was held on Friday, at Beijing's National Stadium, which is also known as the «Bird's Nest,» and signaled the official start of the Games.The Parade of Nations, the part of the ceremony that highlights each competing nation in the Games, featured many standout moments including a shirtless skeleton competitor, a long-awaited moment for Jamaica, and a Ralph Lauren-clad Team USA.While the U.S. counted its second-largest Olympic delegation in history, other countries had just one athlete set to compete on their behalf. It all came to a close with an epic torch lighting that differed from years past.Keep reading for the five biggest moments from the opening ceremony.With Tonga's Pita Taufatofua sitting out the Olympics for the first time since 2014, fans worried that the cross-country skier's absence would mean they'd be deprived of a shirtless, oiled-up athlete during the Parade of Nations.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticTwo hours of parading nations later, IOC president Thomas Bach stood on the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony stage and did his best to justify the Olympic ideal in 2022, a year more surreal than most. “Division, conflict, and mistrust are on the rise,” Bach said.

NBCU is going all-in on the Opening Ceremony for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Not only is it broadcasting the event four times in 24 hours on the NBC flagship, it’s promising “full-day coverage” beginning with the first-ever live morning presentation of a Winter Games opening ceremony. Mike Tirico and Savannah Guthrie will anchor the coverage.

The 2022 Olympic Winter Games are kicking off this week and we have the streaming schedule available for you right here! – Just Jared Jr When did Gisele Bundchen actually want Tom Brady to retire? – Celebitchy Jason Ritter is defending his wife Melanie Lynskey – Popsugar Find out who is reprising one of their big roles – Just Jared Jr