The 2022 Winter Olympic games in Beijing, China will not be soon forgotten; not for the record breaking feats from the athletes, but for the plethora of controversies surrounding the games.

The American pairs figure skating couple of Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier find themselves in a spot of bother from the musicians who perform the song the couple used for their short program. Heavy Young Heathens have filed a suit againt the skaiting pair over their use of the band’s version of “House of the Rising Sun” which was originally recorded by The Animals in 1964. Heavy Young Heathens members Robert and Aron Marderosian claim that the skaters did not contacted to get permission to use the song.

Normally, a band would be overjoyed to have the free exposure of such a large audience; however, the brothers are claiming the skaters “cause great harm” saying, “these violations cause great harm to the value of (the Marderosians) command for such a well known piece of their recording catalog, and insults the integrity of their professional reputation. While Knierim/Frazier, USFS, NBC, USA, Peacock are all profiting from the revenue the 2022 Winter Olympics generate, (the Marderosians) have been and continue to be deprived of what their creation ‘House of the Rising Sun’ earns them per license.”

The U.S. skating team has filed a grievance of their own when they filed a petition with the Court of Arbitration for Sport to have their silver medals awarded before the end of the Olympic games. The CAS has denied the petition. While giving no immediate reason for the decision, the CAS has said that they will elaborate on the decision at a later date.

After it was revealed that Russian ice skater Kamila Valieva tested positive for a banned substance, the CAS allowed the 15 year old to skate but added that there would be no medal ceremonies for any event in which she would be on the podium. The doping incident will be further investigated before it is determined whether or not, the Russian skaters, including Valieva, will be allowed to keep their gold medals earned in the team event or have them taken away. No medals will be awarded until that investigation has been completed.

The Germans continue their winning ways in the sliding events when the women’s two person bobsled event. They have now earned eight of the nine gold medals – and a total of 14 medals in the sliding events.

Elana Meyers Taylor added to her Olympic medal count when she earned the bronze medal for her fifth medal of the Beijing games. A woman of colour, Meyers Taylor has made Olympic history as winning the most Olympic medal in bobsled by any American. She called the stat, “overwhelming”.

In other events:

In the men’s 30k mass start cross-country ski event, Russia’s Alexander Bolshunov took the gold on a frigid and windy day.

In the men’s curling event, the Swedish team takes the gold; beating the United Kingdom 5 to 4.

In the women’s curling event, Sweden defeated Switzerland to win the bronze medal. This is the fifth time that Sweden has won an Olympic medal in curling for the women’s team.

In the pairs figure skating event, Sui Wenjing and Han Cong of China continued their winning ways by placing first in the free skate after setting a new world record in the short program.

In the men’s halfpipe freestyle skiing event, athletes had to battle fierce winds along with their fellow athletes. New Zealand’s Nico Porteous was successful in topping the leaderboard and earning the gold medal.

In the men’s hockey event, Slovakia takes home the bronze for their first ever Olympic medal in hockey. Slovakia beat the American team to move into a medal game.

In the final speedskating event, the men’s mass start speedskating event, Belgium’s Bart Swings won the gold medal.

In the women’s mass start speedskating event, Dutch skater Irene Schouten won the gold for her third medal in these Olympic games. This was the final event in the speedskating competition.

Norway and Germany remain the only countries to have reached double digits in the gold medal count. Norway continues to hold on to the lead in the overall medal count with 34.

2022 Beijing Olympics February 18 medal count:
Norway – 34
ROC – Russian Olympic Committee – 27
Canada – 24
Germany – 22
United States – 21
Austria – 17
Japan – 17
Italy – 16
Sweden – 16
Netherlands – 16
People’s Republic of China – 14
France – 14
Switzerland – 14
Slovenia – 7
Republic of Korea – 7
Finland – 6
Australia – 4
Hungary – 3
Czech Republic – 2
Belarus – 2
New Zealand – 2
Poland – 1
Slovakia – 1
Spain – 1
Latvia – 1
Poland – 1
Belgium – 1
Estonia – 1
Ukraine – 1