The 2018 Winter Para-Olympics: Closing Ceremony Pt 6.

A continuation of Part 5; http://watchitdie.blogspot.co.uk/2018/03/the-2018-winter-para-olympics-closing_24.html

Fun With Flags:

It is IPC protocol that each Closing Ceremony must include a sequence marking the transition from one Olympic host to the next. This must be done through a lot of mucking about with flags.

The Para-Olympic flag is then taken down while the Para-Olympic anthem is played. It is then handed to a representative of the next Para-Olympic host. The flag of that nation is then raised and their national anthem performed. Finally the flag of the existing host nation is taken down.

The UK broadcaster heavily edited this sequence. They joined as the Para-Olympic flag had been lowered and handed to the military flag detail. You could just about hear the last few bars of a recording of the Para-Olympic anthem being played

Channel 4 then cut away from the sequence before the flag was handed to the next host.

However I can tell you that during the handover the RoK were represented by Mayor of PyeongChang County Shim Jae-kook. He passed the Para-Olympic flag to China's representative Mayor of Beijing Chen Jining.

As the Chinese flag was raised the Chinese national anthem was performed by the Chinese Children's Choir. 

Commercial Break:

Yes that's right. Channel 4 decided to edit out the transition ceremony so it could show commercials. 

China's Bit: 

It is IPC protocol that each Closing Ceremony includes a sequence produced by the next Para-Olympic host. In this case China.

The purpose is to briefly introduce us to that nation and identify the topics which will likely come up in the next four years preparing for their games.

China of course produced a similar sequence during the Olympic Closing Ceremony. It's main themes were really;

China's role as the sort of Country Bumpkins of Asia. That is to say poorly educated, not particularly sophisticated and generally lacking in good manners and good breeding.

China's role as the Workshop of the World. Specifically how they wish to develop their economy by moving away from simply providing cheap labour to build other people's designs to developing designs and products of their own.

It also touched on how as part of this transition China's actions have sometimes been legally questionable. They have frequently been accused of what is known as; "Intellectual Property Theft." In short stealing other people's ideas.

It must be said then that China's sequence looked remarkably similar to the South Korean designed sequences of the Closing Ceremony we'd already seen.

It began with a High School aged girl sitting in a wheelchair. She was wearing the same combination of a white tunic and red scarf as was used in the earlier; "United in Mourning" sequence.

Here as it was there this is an unusual colour combination for those guided by the Wu Xing.

The colour white represents the element Metal and the season of autumn. It's phase of development is withering and decline. It is in autumn leaves wither on the branch and fall from the trees.

So in Asian culture the colour white is associated with death and mourning.

The colour red represents the element Fire and the season of summer. It's phase of development is blooming and growth. Summer being the peak growing season.

So in Asian culture the colour red is associated with prosperity and good fortune. It is not a colour that you would wear at a funeral.

The girl was surrounded by the giant TV screens which China had used in its sequence in the Olympic Closing Ceremony. A nice gesture of parity between the Olympics and Para-Olympics.

Initially these TV screens showed astronomical images. Stars, Galaxies etc. This referenced the very heavy Physics themes which had been a major part of all the 2018 ceremonies.

It also appeared to show things orbiting a planet. Rather like satellites. This was a reference to QUESS Quantum Communications Satellite launching China's advances in science and technology.

The TV screens were present throughout the sequence. Towards the end they started showing the core Winter Para-Olympic sports.

However in a further reference to China's technological advances they showed them in the form of advanced medical imaging. Sort of digital X-Rays.

Suddenly the girl rose from her wheelchair and began to walk.

You could argue that this promoted discussion about the differing degrees of impairment and how different people are affected at different times.

Not all wheelchair users are totally unable to walk. Some of their mobility impairments allow them to stand briefly or even walk a couple of steps. That does not mean that they are faking or don't need to use a wheelchair.

However it came across like an act of mockery for all the Para-Olympians who can't suddenly rise up from their wheelchairs and walk.

A complete Country Bumpkin move from China then.

Although she has no mobility impairment this girl actually does suffer from an hearing impairment.

So when she rose from her chair and was joined by 16 other hearing impaired girls to perform a ballet routine she became yet another deaf ballet dancer.

Just like we'd just seen in the earlier; "Balhae School" sequence.

The girl returned to her wheelchair as an image of a Lotus flower was projected onto the floor.

This projection was replaced with an image of a bird. Either the Huangdong - the Chinese Phoenix - or the Vermilion Bird. One of the Four Guardians.

I've got a feeling this crash course in traditional Asian Animist religions and mythology is going to serve us well as we spend the next four years tearing around Asia.

The sequence ended with a projection of the Beijing 2022 logo.

At around 22:10 on 24/3/18 (UK date) I'll pick this up Monday.

Edited at around 16:00 (15:00 GMT) on 26/3/18 (UK date) to add;

Medal Ceremony:

It is IOC protocol that each Olympic Closing Ceremony features a medal ceremony. As a reminder of all the other medal ceremonies which have taken place throughout the games.

Para-Olympic Closing Ceremonies do not traditionally include a medal ceremony. Instead they have the Whang Youn Dai Award ceremony.

However here I'm going to talk about the medal ceremony I would have included. The Visually Impaired Women's Slalom.

The UK broadcaster also seemed to think that this should have been included in the Closing Ceremony. They flashed up an onscreen graphic showing the result like every 10 minutes.

The 2018 Winter Olympics were Britain's most successful Winter Olympics ever. In part this was due to the efforts of its athletes. However it also reflected an approval of the political positions Britain took during the games.

For example with the medal table taking on a theme of an all time list US Fake News Hoaxes there was no way the US was going to finish top. No matter how well their athletes performed.

Going into the games Britain's objective was to win at least 6 medals. Ideally all of them Gold.

However the British athletes were let down very badly on the political side of things. This resulted in a distinctly lacklustre performance.

Prior to the games the UK poisoned Russian MI6 agent Sergei Skripal in the British city of Salisbury. This was actually a good opening move by the UK. Although rather loud it did invoke many of the political topics being discussed at the games.

For example Skripal was recruited to MI6 by someone who now works in the private sector for Christopher Steele. Despite being asked to leave MI6 under a cloud over his judgement Christopher Steele complied the dossier that alleges Russian interference in the 2016 US Election.

That is now considered the greatest Fake News Hoax in US history. Dislodging Orson Welles' 1938 production of; "The War of the Worlds" into fourth place.

Unfortunately Britain was unable to stick to its own script.

On the third day of the games UK Prime Minister Theresa May formally accused Russia of carrying out attack. Displaying the sort of delusional thinking that got Christopher Steele kicked out of MI6.

Prime Minister May went on to set a deadline of the fifth day of the games for Russia to respond.

Although Russia did respond Prime Minister May started the sixth day taking dramatic action in terms of expelling diplomats claiming it was punishment for Russia failing to respond.

At this point the British team were one medal short of their target of six. Unfortunately their chances of winning that sixth medal died amid Prime Minister May's rantings.

As is often the case in games of strategy the key moment came in the Wheelchair Curling.

At the end of league play Britain needed Slovakia to beat Norway to progress to the medal matches. Slovakia threw the game to keep Britain from winning any more medals.

This came just hours after Slovak Prime Minister at the time Robert Fico offered his resignation.

Prime Minister Fico was under pressure over the murder of journalist Jan Kuciak on February 25th (25/3/18). So his eventual resignation seemed to be something of an inevitably.

What was interesting about his first offer to resign is that it was on condition Slovakia's coalition government would be allowed to continue without him. This was to ensure that the government would not collapse and there would be no need for a fresh election.

This seemed to be the European Union (EU) calling for the resignation of UK Prime Minister May over her false accusations in the Skripal case.

The only thing preventing the EU making that demand explicit is concerns that it would plunge the UK into fresh elections mid-way through the Brexit negotiations. An area where Britain is falling far short diplomatically already.

The following day Slovakian Prime Minister Fico did resign.

Desperate for that sixth medal the UK then threw everything it had at the Visually Impaired Women's Slalom held on the final day.

During the final day there was a incident at a nightclub in the British town of Gravesend in Kent. Having been refused entry to a tented area at the rear of the venue a man then drove a vehicle into that tented area. Creating very dramatic scenes.

The Olympic Closing ceremony made much of the Games' role as a massive, 15 ring circus. In the "George Smiley" spy novels Britain's MI6 is referred to as; "The Circus."

Prime Minister May's constituency is in Kent. Her decision to wreck the Para-Olympics by breaking away from MI6's Skripal script was a lot like someone driving a 4x4 through the middle of a circus tent.

The main argument put forward that Russia must have poisoned Skripal is that Britain would never do something like that.

The problem with that argument is that Britain most certainly would do something like that before. It has done almost the exact same thing on several occasions.

One notable recent British poisoning incident played a major part in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations leading up to 2015.

Those negotiations resulted in the creation of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) based in the RoK. That buildings stands as a monument to the last time Britain poisoned someone.

As part of the Skripal investigation the UK sealed off the Skripal family graves amid talk that they would exhume the bodies to perform autopsies. That was an offer to finally perform an autopsy and resolve the case of the person the UK poisoned during the UNFCCC negotiations.

The Gravesend incident withdrew that controversial offer. By making clear that things would end at the grave. After of six years of decomposition and decay an autopsy would cause huge amounts of disruption but contribute nothing in terms of data.

Also on the final day of the games there was a large fire at the Stalybridge Ray Mill in the UK city of Manchester.

That invoked the imagery of the Grenfell Tower fire. It also invoked the May 22nd 2017 (22/5/17) Manchester Evening News Arena (MENA) bombing.

The Mill fire also restated the role of the Bishop's Mill Pub in the Skripal case. Particularly as it links to the TV shows; "The Pillars of the Earth" and; "Agents of Shield." Links Prime Minister May's actions have made it almost impossible to discuss.

The Visually Impaired Women's Skiing has seen one of the huge rivalries of these games.

Between British Skiers Menna Fitzpatrick and Millie Knight along with their guides Jen Kehoe and Brett Wild. Against Slovakia's Henrieta Farkasova and her guide Natalia Subrtova.

In all other skiing events the podium has looked the same; Farkasova Gold, Fitzpatrick Silver and Knight Bronze.

This rivalry has caused a far bit of amusement in the UK because "Farkasova" can be pronounced a bit like; "F*ck Us Over." As in; "Slovakia have F*cked us over again!"

Unlike in the Curling in this race Slovakia did not Farkasova. Fitzpatrick won Gold, Farkasova took Silver and Knight again took Bronze.

As a result the UK not only hit but exceeded its medal target as Fitzpatrick became the UK's most decorated Winter Para-Olympian ever.

So there was no need for a public inquiry as to why Britain did so badly.

That falls to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

Who will discuss the actual issues rather than the sporting metaphor.

17:10 (16:10 GMT) on 26/3/18 (UK date).

Edited again at around 18:45 on 26/3/18 (UK date) to add;

Between me starting this post and finishing it Britain has moved onto British Summer Time (BST). Calculating how that affects the time difference with places like the RoK and the US is a big part of why I hate this.

Initially I wrote the wrong times.