Host nation China wins its first gold of the Beijing Games
2022 Beijing Olympics - Short Track Speed Skating - Mixed Team Relay - Final A - Capital Indoor Stadium, Beijing, China - February 5, 2022. Gold Medallists Zhang Yuting, Wu Dajing, Ren Ziwei, Qu Chunyu and Fan Kexin of China
Host nation China nabbed its first gold medal on Saturday as dazzling performances on snow and ice nudged the political drama that has dominated the Beijing Olympics toward the sidelines.
"You can always trust China" began trending in posts on social media platform Weibo after its short track skaters won the mixed team relay, an event making its debut at the Olympics and that the country has dominated in international competition. The golden dream was almost cut short in the semi-final when the United States crossed the finish line ahead of the hosts, only to be disqualified along with the Russian Olympic Committee, after a lengthy video review.
"My heart was almost jumping out of my throat!" wrote "egg's heartbeating diary" on Weibo. Six gold medals were up for grabs on Saturday as athletes overcame pandemic obstacles to shine on the world's stage, even as political storylines continued to swirl around the Games.
Beijing 2022’s first gold medal won by convicted doper Therese Johaug
Therese Johaug celebrates as she crosses the finish line of the 7.5km+7.5km skiathlon at the Beijing Winter Olympics. Photograph: Odd Andersen/AFP/Getty Images
Any hope of the controversies that have dogged the Beijing Winter Games fading into a feelgood blur of medals once the torch was lit was quickly swept aside on Saturday as the first gold went to a convicted doper.
Therese Johaug, the decorated Norwegian cross-country skier who was barred from competing at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics while serving an 18-month suspension for a positive drugs test, obliterated the field to win the 7.5km+7.5km skiathlon on a windblown afternoon in the tiny village of Taizicheng in the mountains roughly 120km northwest of Beijing.
Few, if any, of the 109 gold medals that will be handed out in 15 sports over the next two and a half weeks will be won in more dominant fashion. The 33-year-old, who tucked herself into the leading pack from the mass start before opening a lead of nearly a minute on a chasing group of four during the final lap, raised her arms in jubilation as she crossed the line in 44min 13.7sec to win the contest regarded as cross-country’s ultimate test.
Photos: Beijing Olympic Games Opening Ceremony
A firework display is seen inside the stadium during the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics at the Beijing National Stadium on February 04, 2022 in Beijing, China. Lintao Zhang | Getty Images
Bach talked about how the Olympics highlight “ambition, courage and strength.” He likened those qualities to what China has done to grow Olympic winter sports to its residents. Bach also addressed the athletes of the Beijing Games directly, saying: “Dear fellow Olympians, your Olympic stage is set. You have arrived here after overcoming so many challenges. ... But now your moment has come, the moment you have been longing for, the moment we all have been longing for. Now your Olympic dream is coming true.”
Bach’s remarks immediately preceded the games being officially opened by Chinese President Xi Jinping, his words prompting the setting off of fireworks that lit up the sky over the Bird's Nest.
Beijing Winter Olympics 2022
On February 4 2022, the Olympic cauldron will be ignited, signalling the start of Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022. The events of the Games will take place in a combination of brand new structures and existing venues.
With Beijing being in the unique position as the first city to host both Summer and Winter editions of the Olympics, several venues from the 2008 Summer Olympics will be reused for the 2022 Winter Olympics as part of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIV Olympiad's (BOCOG) Sustainability Plan.
The venues for the Winter Games in 2022 have been divided into three zones, or clusters: Beijing, Yanqing, and Zhangjiakou. Here, we take a more detailed look at every competition venue for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, as well as the Olympic Villages that the athletes will call home during their stay in China.
How many countries will compete in 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics?
The 2022 Winter Olympics get started this week. On Friday, February 4th the Opening Ceremony will take place, but the events of the XXIV Olympic Winter Games started on Wednesday, February 2nd.
Beijing, China will play host, becoming the first city to host both a Winter Olympics and a Summer Olympics, which they did in 2008. The festival of sport runs until February 20th. With the Games occurring across the world, keep in mind that Beijing is 13 hours ahead of Eastern Time in the United States. All events will air live on the Peacock streaming service, and and many will be re-aired across NBC Networks including NBC, the Olympic Channel and the USA Network. The Olympics have always been a sports competition on a global scale. Athletes from across the world earn a spot to represent their home nation in the games hoping to bring pride and a gold medal back home with them.
For the 2022 Winter Olympics, there will be 91 countries represented. In 2018, Norway earned the most medals and was tied for the most gold medals. Germany came in second in the overall medal count, followed by Canada and the United States to round up the top-four.
Beijing Winter Olympics 2022
The 2022 Winter Olympics (Chinese: 二〇二二年冬季奥林匹克运动会; pinyin: Èr Líng Èr'èr Nián Dōngjì Àolínpǐkè Yùndònghuì), officially the XXIV Olympic Winter Games (Chinese: 第二十四届冬季奥林匹克运动会; pinyin: Dì Èrshísì Jiè Dōngjì Àolínpǐkè Yùndònghuì) and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (Chinese: 北京二〇二二; pinyin: Běijīng Èr Líng Èr'èr), are an upcoming international winter multi-sport event scheduled to take place from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beijing and towns in the neighboring Hebei province in the People's Republic of China.
Beijing was elected as host city in July 2015 at the 128th IOC Session in Kuala Lumpur. The 2022 Winter Olympics will be the first Winter Olympics in China, the last of three consecutive Olympics to be held in East Asia (after the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, and the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan), and the second overall Olympics to be held in China, after the 2008 Summer Olympics also in Beijing. For the first time, the Winter Olympics will be hosted by a city that previously hosted the Summer Olympics; four existing indoor venues that were originally constructed for the 2008 Games, as well as the Beijing National Stadium (which will host the opening and closing ceremonies), will be used. Concerns and controversies at the 2022 Winter Olympics have included proposed boycotts.
The bidding calendar was announced by the IOC (International Olympic Committee) in October 2012, with the application deadline set for 14 November 2013. The IOC Executive Board reviewed the bids from all applicant cities on 7 July 2014 and selected three cities, Oslo (Norway), Almaty (Kazakhstan) and Beijing (China), as the final candidates. Several Olympic committees withdrew their applications during the bidding process, citing the high costs or the lack of local support and funding for hosting the Games.
Beijing 2022 Opening and Closing Ceremonies
The Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Olympic Games represent the official start - and end - of an Olympic Games. Through music, song, dance and fireworks, the ceremonies invite people to discover the culture of the country in which the Games are taking place.
On 4 February 2022, almost 14 years on from the iconic spectacles of the 2008 summer ceremonies, Beijing’s National Stadium (also known as the Bird’s Nest) will once again stage an Olympic Opening Ceremony; this time, for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games. After two weeks of competition, Beijing 2022 will come to an end with the Closing Ceremony (which will also take place at the Bird’s Nest), at which point the Olympic flag will be passed on to the Mayors of the Italian cities of Milan and Cortina-D’Ampezzo, the hosts of the 2026 Olympic Winter Games.
The last five medals are awarded on the final day of the Games, before the Closing Ceremony in the evening. In the afternoon, the figure skaters get one final outing on the ice in the exhibition gala (12:00–14:30). The Closing Ceremony will be held on 20 February 2022, Time: 8 p.m. (China Standard Time).
US boycotts the Beijing Winter Olympics
The US has announced a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics in Beijing. The UK, France and Japan are still undecided. Palki Sharma tells you why such half-measures will do little to deter Beijing.
