Where is the 2022 Winter Olympics?
The 24th Olympic Winter Games will officially begin on February 4, 2022. Having hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics, Beijing will be the first city to host both the Summer and Winter Games.
Beijing saw off competition in the bidding process from Kazakhstan’s Almaty to host the 2022 Games. The events will be split between the capital city Beijing and the city of Zhangjiakou, which is 118 miles northwest of Beijing and will host the snow events.
As mentioned, Beijing hosted the Summer Olympics in 2008, and the Winter Olympics will reuse several venues from 14 years ago as part of their sustainability plan – a plan which convinced many voters to award Beijing the Games.
How many Winter Olympic sports are there?
The 2022 Winter Olympics will feature 109 events across 15 different disciplines in seven winter sports.Here is a breakdown of the seven sports featured at the 2022 Winter Olympics:
• Biathlon
• Bobsleigh
• Curling
• Ice hockey
• Luge
• Skating
• Skiing
Beijing 2022: New events
The 2022 Winter Games are set to feature seven brand new Olympic events: Women’s monobob; Men’s and Women’s Freestyle skiing big air; and Mixed Team events in speed skating, ski jumping, Freestyle skiing aerials, and snowboard cross.
As a result of the new events, specifically the team events, there will be a higher rate of female participation (45.44%) in Beijing than at any previous Winter Games.
Beijing 2022: Additional information
Beijing 2022 will be another major sporting event taking place under the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic. Athletes who are not fully vaccinated will be required to serve a 21-day quarantine on arrival in Beijing, which will surely be less than ideal preparation for athletes looking to contest for medals in their chosen discipline.
Tickets for the Games will be sold “exclusively to spectators residing in China’s mainland” who meet the terms of China’s counter-Coronavirus measures. Athletes who are fully vaccinated will be allowed to move only between official venues for training, media commitments, and competition.
The 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing hasn’t been without its share of controversy. The International Olympic Committee has been heavily criticised for awarding the Games to China due to alleged human rights abuse in the country and concerns over air pollution in the capital.
Organisations are calling on governments from participating countries to boycott the games. The UK, Canada, and Australia are just some of the countries that have announced a diplomatic boycott of the Games with no ministers or officials set to attend.
To contribute to the success of the Games itself, businesses and the Chinese government are set to contribute $3.9 billion to the events in and around Beijing, and neighbouring cities.
Organisers have also sprayed over 1.2 million cubic meters of artificial snow onto the competition sites, with so little natural snowfall in the city of Beijing.
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