Czech Olympic Team finishes 2022 Games with two medals

Ester Ledecká and Martina Sáblíková were the Czech Republic's lone medal winners at this year's Olympic Games in Beijing, as the country closes out the 2022 Winter Olympics with a total of two medals.

Snowboarder Ledecká took home a gold in the women's parallel giant slalom, while speedskater Sáblíková won bronze in the women's 5000 meter race.

Ledecká has now won three medals - all gold - at the Winter Olympics, following her victories for the snowboarding parallel giant slalom and the Alpine skiing super-G in 2018. With those victories, Ledecká became the first athlete to win gold in two separate sports at the Winter Olympics.

Sáblíková, meanwhile, has now won seven medals at the Winter Olympics dating back to 2010, with a silver in 2018, a gold and silver in 2014, and two golds and a bronze in 2010 in speedskating events.

The Czech Republic tied with Slovakia and Belgium for 21st in medal rankings in the official medal table, with each country scoring one gold and one bronze.

Slovakia's men's hockey team defeated Sweden yesterday in a surprise upset in the bronze medal game, giving them their first-ever hockey medal at the Olympics; skiier Petra Vlhová previously won gold for the country in the women's slalom.

Despite sending a record number of athletes to the Winter Games this year at 115, the Czech Republic won its fewest medals at any Olympics since being shut out at the 1994 Winter Games in Lillehammer.

At the 2018 Winter Games in 2018 Pyeongchang, the Czech Republic won seven medals to finish 14th in the medals table. At last year's Summer Olympics in Tokyo, the country scored 11 medals to finish 18th overall.

Norway dominated the 2022 Olympics with a total of 37 medals, including 16 golds, 8 silvers, and 13 bronzes. The country is always a favorite at the Winter Olympics, and has now topped the medal chart nine times in the 24 Olympics held since 1924. They haven't finished below third since 1988.

Norway previously won a record-high 39 medals at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

In the overall medal count, the Russian Olympic Committee finished second behind Norway with 32 medals. With six golds, however, the Russian athletes placed ninth in the official medal chart, which gives precedence to higher medal levels.

Germany, with 12 golds and 27 total medals, placed second in the official medal chart, while home country China came in third with nine golds and 15 medals overall.

The 2022 Olympic Games have officially come to a close this morning, with final events taking place this morning. In one of the final events, Finland's hockey team defeated the Russian Olympic Committee to take home their first Olympic gold in the sport.

The closing ceremony will begin today at 8 p.m. in China, which is 1:00 p.m. Prague time. Chinese officials will pass the Olympic flag to mayors from Italian cities Milan and Cortina-D’Ampezzo, who will host 2026 Olympic Winter Games.