By Mg Han Tin
THE Winter Olympics are an international sports competition held every four years. The XXIV Olympic Winter Games, commonly known as the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics is scheduled to take place from 4 to 20 February 2022 in the People’s Republic of China capital Beijing and towns in the neighbouring Hebei province. The 15 sport disciplines of the Winter Olympics are categorized into three main categories: (1) ice sports (figure skating, hockey, speed skating, curling, bobsled, luge, and skeleton) events, (2) snow sports (alpine skiing, snowboarding, ski jumping, biathlon, freestyle skiing, and Big Air snowboarding/freestyle skiing) events, and (3) Nordic combined sports (cross-country skiing, ski jumping) events. Beijing 2022 Paralympics Winter Games (officially known as the XIII Paralympic Winter Games) will take place over 10 days from 4 to 13 March, with athletes competing in six sports in two disciplines: snow sports (alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, biathlon and snowboarding) events and ice sports (para ice hockey and wheelchair curling) events. The venues for the Winter Games in 2022 have been divided into three zones, or clusters: Beijing, Yanqing, and Zhangjiakou (towns in the neighbouring Hebei province). The events of the Games will take place in a combination of brand new structures and existing venues.
Beijing zone
It is located in central Beijing. This cluster will primarily stage the ice sports of the Winter Olympics, as well as the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Games.
- The National Stadium: Also known as “The Bird’s Nest” due to its unique design. While no sporting competitions will take place at the venue during the 2022 Winter Olympics, the Bird’s Nest will once again be the site of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Games. (Beijing 2008 Legacy Venue)
Events/Competitions: Opening and Closing Ceremonies.
The events will be staged at six venues in central Beijing:-
- National Aquatics Centre: For the Winter Olympics, the Water Cube has been transformed into the “Ice Cube” in preparation for the curling competition. (Beijing 2008 Legacy Venue)
Events/Competitions: Curling / Wheelchair Curling (Paralympic Winter Games).
- National Indoor Stadium: It was built for the 2008 Summer Olympics. It will share hosting duties for the ice hockey competition at the 2022 Olympics with Wukesong Sports Centre. (Beijing 2008 Legacy Venue)
Events/Competitions: Ice Hockey / Para Ice Hockey (Paralympic Winter Games).
- Wukesong Sports Centre: It will serve as the main indoor venue for ice hockey at the 2022 Winter Games alongside the National Indoor Stadium. (Beijing 2008 Legacy Venue) Events/Competitions: Ice Hockey.
- National Speed Skating Oval: It is the only new venue built on Beijing’s Olympic Green (the Olympic Park constructed for the 2008 Games) for the Winter Olympics. Events/Competitions: Speed Skating.
- Capital Indoor Stadium: It will stage the figure skating and short track speed skating competitions during the Winter Olympics. (Beijing 2008 Legacy Venue) Events/Competitions: Short Track Speed Skating, Figure Skating.
- Big Air Shougang: The most unique venue of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. It is the world’s first permanent venue for Big Air. Events/Competitions: Freestyle Skiing Big Air, Snowboard Big Air.
Yanqing zone
It is located 75 kilometres northwest of Beijing’s city centre, Yanqing is a mountainous suburb of China’s capital filled with hot springs, national parks, ski resorts, and the Badaling section of the Great Wall of China. Events/Competitions: The alpine skiing events as well as the sliding events: bobsled, luge, and skeleton. The events will be staged at two venues:-
- National Sliding Centre: It is the first sliding track in China and only the third in Asia. Events/ Competitions: Bobsleigh, Skeleton, Luge.
- National Alpine Ski Centre: It is situated in the Xiaohaituo Mountain Area in northwest Yanqing. Events/Competitions: Alpine Skiing / Para Alpine Skiing (Paralympic Winter Games.)
Zhangjiakou zone
It is a popular Chinese ski destination approximately 180 kilometres northwest of Beijing. It will stage the majority of the ski and snowboarding events, including freestyle, cross-country, ski jumping, Nordic combined, and biathlon. The events will be staged at four venues:-
- National Biathlon Centre: It is located in Zhangjiakou City in north China’s Hebei Province. Events/Competitions: Biathlon / Para Biathlon & Para Cross-Country Skiing (Paralympic Winter Games).
- National Ski Jumping Centre: The architectural design facility. Events/Competitions: Ski Jumping, Nordic Combined (Ski Jumping).
- National Cross-Country Centre: The new one. Events/ Competitions: Cross-Country, Nordic Combined (Cross-Country).
- Genting Snow Park: It is an existing ski resort. Events/ Competitions: Freestyle Skiing, Snowboarding / Para snowboarding (Paralympic Winter Games).
Winter Olympics Sports Events
Winter Olympics Sites up to now are:-
1924: Chamonix, France | January 25-February 4
1928: St. Moritz, Switzerland | February 11-19
1932: Lake Placid, New York | February 4-15
1936: Garmisch Partenkirchen, Germany | February 6-16
1940/1944: No Olympics because of World War II
1948: San Moritz, Switzerland | January 30-February 8
1952: Oslo, Norway | February 14-25
1956: Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy | January 26-February 5
1960: Squaw Valley, California | February 18-28
1964: Innsbruck, Austria | January 29-February 9
1968: Grenoble, France | February 6-18
1972: Sapporo, Japan | February 3-13
1976: Innsbruck, Austria | February 4-15
1980: Lake Placid, New York | February 14-23
1984: Sarajevo, Yugoslavia | February 7-19
1988: Calgary, Canada | February 13-28
1992: Albertville, France | February 8-23
1994: Lillehammer, Norway | February 12-27
1998: Nagano, Japan | February 7-22
2002: Salt Lake City, Utah | February 8-24
2006: Turin, Italy | February 10-26
2010: Vancouver, Canada | February 12-28
2014: Sochi, Russia | February 7-23
2018: Pyeongchang, South Korea | February 9-25
2022: Beijing, China [February 4-20]
The Olympic Games are an athletic festival that originated in ancient Greece and were revived in the late 19th century. They are the world’s foremost sports competition and include athletes from all over the world. The Summer Olympic Games and Winter Olympic Games are each held every four years. After 1992, when both the Summer and Winter Games were held, they have been held on an alternate two-year schedule so that the Olympic Games occur every two years in either summer or winter.
The seven Olympic and Paralympic values: friendship, respect, excellence, equality, determination, inspiration, and courage are important values for everyone, not just at Olympics time. Olympic athletes can compete and practice the sport without any discrimination based on their colour, race, age, sex, religion, disability, or any other unchangeable status. It confines equal and fair gender representation as well.
The hosting process usually begins some 11 years before the Games are held as cities within various countries vie to become national candidates. (Comparably it also takes more than a decade to prepare FIFA World Cup). After two years of evaluating cost estimates and high-end marketing campaigns, national applicants make their bid to the International Olympic Committee on the ninth year for an entry fee of $150,000. Three to five cities are chosen as finalists with more-elaborate proposals. International Olympic Committee (IOC) chooses the location of each Olympic Games. (The IOC is an organization that was formed in Paris in 1894. It conducts, promotes, and regulates the modern Olympic Games). The choice is based on applications made by the chief authority of a city, with the support of the national government.
Hosting the Olympics is an enormous, high-risk undertaking. Many cities have found that welcoming the world’s athletes and their fans for two weeks produces far fewer benefits than what was anticipated in the heady days when the city first made its bid. Unlike most other megaprojects, Olympic facilities have a rock-solid completion date that must be met. Dams, courthouses, and highways can be completed late; Olympic facilities can’t. Neither athletes nor competitors like wet concrete. As a result, finishing construction has often involved extra crews working around the clock, which means costs running over.
Winning a bid to host the Olympic Games has been considered a major boon for any city. Most people believe that hosting the Olympic Games can increase valuable tourism, boost local economies, and grow a host country’s global trade and prominence. But in reality, the Olympics are a financial drain on host cities and force them to create expensive infrastructure and buildings, while streets and bridges are refurbished or, like mass-transit lines and public buildings, constructed anew. After the Olympic Games celebrations, most of the sports stadiums and parks are left behind in decommission or disuse. Refurbishing them as tourist sites or training centres are the future plans that can be implemented.
The budget for hosting the Olympic Games usually gets busted, but then there’s a big reward. Tourists will come to see the competition, stay in hotels, eat in restaurants, and buy stuff. On the other hand, some tourists will visit other interesting tourist attractions based mainly on their stay, worthiness, and time availability.
The sports on the winter Olympic program are at least not easy, and in many places, largely impossible to practice in at least half of the world’s countries. Therefore, sports are not universally practised by people in every country across the globe. Only countries that are situated approximately north of N.350 latitude, where there is enough snow to hold the athletic events, can host the Winter Olympic Games. As a result, aside from the United States, Canada, Russia, China, Japan, and South Korea, the majority of northern and central European countries are eligible to host the Winter Olympic Games. Australia, New Zealand, and a handful of countries which are situated approximately south of S.350 latitude have to join the winter Olympic Games celebrations held in the north due to the opposite season. The countries situated in those regions mostly send their national teams to compete in the tournaments. But the other countries not from those regions could also send their eligible athletes to participate in the winter Olympic Games. These challenges make the Olympic Winter Games a compelling event.
The Winter Games have grown from approximately 250 athletes competing in 16 events at the first competition in 1924 to over 2,800 athletes competing in 102 events from 93 nations at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Twelve nations (Austria, Canada, Finland, France, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States) have participated in all twenty-three previous winter Olympic Games to date. But for this forthcoming twenty-fourth winter Olympic Games, the US, the UK, Canada, and Australia have said they will not send government representatives to the February games because of concerns over China’s human rights record.
The United States confirmed that diplomatic boycott on December 6, 2021, that it would not send government officials to next year’s Beijing Winter Olympic Games because of the ongoing genocide against minority Muslims, which includes allegations of abuse against Uyghurs in the Chinese region of Xinjiang, and other minorities. Athletes will still be able to attend, and they will have the country’s “full support”. Chinese officials point out they have received more than 1500 applications from the US Olympic Committee, which is responsible for submitting names of American athletes to attend the Winter Games in February.
Australia, Canada and Britain have joined the United States in announcing a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics as a protest against alleged human rights abuses in China.
Australia has said it will join the US in a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in China, which means that no Government officials will attend the Games in the Chinese capital. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the decision was in response to “human rights abuses” in China’s Xinjiang region and “many other issues that Australia has consistently raised”. PM confirmed that Australian athletes will still be able to attend and compete in the Games.
UK PM Boris Johnson confirmed in Parliament on December 8, 2021, that “there will be a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics Games.” Meanwhile, the PM said he did not support a sporting boycott of the Games but admitted there were “no plans to send any government ministers or officials to Beijing in 2022.”
Canada’s PM, Justin Trudeau, also said of the diplomatic boycott on 8 December, 2021. He said that “We have been very clear over the past many years of our deep concerns around human rights violations and this is a continuation of us expressing our deep concerns for human rights violations.” The Canadian Olympic Committee and Canadian Paralympic Committee said in response that they “remain concerned about the issues in China but understand the Games will create an important platform to draw attention to them,” but that “athlete boycotts only hurt athletes without creating meaningful change,” so it was correct for them to send teams to Beijing in 2022.
New Zealand is also joining the diplomatic boycott, with Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson saying today that the country had informed China in October that no government ministers would attend the Beijing Winter Olympics Games, in February, citing COVID-19 as the reason. China said that New Zealand athletes are welcome at Beijing Winter Olympics despite no ministerial representation.
France’s President, Emmanuel Macron, has said that the boycott is insignificant and that he has no plans to join a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. (France is due to hold the Summer Olympic Games in 2024). China reacted by saying that countries that boycott the games “will pay the price for their mistaken acts”, and hope that “all parties” can “stop politicizing sports”. Nonetheless, they cite strict COVID-19 restrictions for plans to limit spectator attendance and Chinese state media says Beijing does not intend to invite Western politicians who have threatened a boycott. Russia President Vladimir Putin is the only leader of a major country who has accepted China’s invitation to attend. Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he had accepted an invitation to attend the opening of the games.
China’s Olympic Organizing Committee would allow athletes to speak their minds at press conferences. It has given the guarantee that there will be freedom of speech for athletes. According to IOC rules, competitors cannot stage protests during sporting events or medal ceremonies. Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter is strictly against any form of propaganda or political statements made during the Games.
Beijing is now ready as the game preparations have been finalized. During the 7 December 2021, International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board (EB) meeting, the Beijing 2022 Organizing Committee reported its highlights on readiness and anticipation as it prepares to welcome the world for next year’s Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, which will take place between 4 February and 20 February 2022, and the Paralympic Winter Games, which will be held from 4 to 13 March 2022.
References
Internet: https://olympics.com/en/beijing-2022/venues
https://www.teachervision. com/olympic-games/events-winter-olympic-games
Wikipedia
https://www.bbc.com/news/ world-us-canada-59559703
