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Beijing Winter Olympics 2022
SportChina

Winter Olympics: sport, politics and Covid all on display as Beijing prepares for official opening of 2022 Games

  • President Xi Jinping says eyes of world are turning to China ‘and China is ready’
  • International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach predicts Beijing Games will ‘change the scale of winter sports forever’

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A general view of the Olympic Tower in Beijing ahead of the opening ceremony. Photo: dpa
Josh Ball
Major sporting occasion, massive display of national accomplishments, or opportunity for China to showcase the success of its zero-Covid approach, the Beijing Winter Olympics officially begins on Friday as an amalgamation of all three.
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The opening ceremony at the Bird’s Nest in front of a small audience also presents China’s President Xi Jinping with an opportunity to burnish his own image at home and abroad, said analysts, but that could be easier said than done, despite his determination to deliver a “streamlined, safe and splendid Games”.

Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee, said on Thursday the Beijing Olympics would “change the scale of winter sports forever”, but he has had to repeatedly defend his organisation’s decision to make the Chinese capital the first city to host both a summer and winter Games.

International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach attends a press conference in Beijing on in Thursday. Photo: Kyodo
International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach attends a press conference in Beijing on in Thursday. Photo: Kyodo
And this year’s Olympics were already taking place against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic before the international tensions between China, the US, and others spilled over into the sporting arena.

There were 55 new Covid-19 infections among Olympic Games-related personnel on Wednesday, 29 of which were detected at the airport, with the rest among those in the “closed loop” bubble that separates all event personnel from the public.

Since January 23, there have been 287 positive tests among Games-related personnel from a total of 610,000 tests.

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China’s strict pandemic control measures, which lie in stark contrast to those in force at the Tokyo Olympics last summer, were always likely to be a feature of the Games, and infections among athletes and officials have already disrupted some plans.

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