The countdown on the official Olympic site for the Beijing 2022 Winter Games shows 365 days to go, but, in Beijing itself, there’s little sign – or feeling – that the Olympics are coming into view.
That will all change, of course, but, for now, it’s all quiet on the eastern front. The reasons for that are obvious: Tokyo and COVID-19. The world’s Olympic focus is very much on Japan right now, with newly released pandemic guides just the latest in the PR campaign to insist that The Games Must Go On.
As an aside, an obvious question from a Chinese perspective is: if the Tokyo Olympics do in fact proceed – and that surely still remains a big “if” – would China and others send their athletes with seemingly no fixed quarantine rules in place? But with all that going, Beijing is sensitive enough to realize that its own time in the spotlight has not yet arrived, and so huge celebrations to mark the one year countdown might not go over all that well.
Additionally, while China is aiming to manage its COVID-19 cases to zero rather than implement damage control as seen elsewhere, there is continuing uncertainty over what the state of the world will look like one year from now, in terms of COVID-19 prevalence, vaccines, travel restrictions, quarantine, and so on. As a result, health is taking top priority, with China’s messaging changing from a “fantastic and extraordinary” Games to “simplicity, safety and excellence” as the three key words mentioned when President Xi toured the Olympic sites recently (see below).
Weekly Roundup
After a long hiatus for China Sports Insider, I plan to post weekly updates with links to all the key stories, so please (re)subscribe if that is of interest. This week’s stories:
One Year Countdown
- There has been limited coverage of the one year countdown so far, for reasons listed above, but there may well be more in the coming days, which I’ll round up next week. This piece by SportsPro’s Editorial Director Michael Long has some good background and context: Beijing 2022 one year to go: Coronavirus, controversy and China’s troubled Games [SportsPro]. See also: Chinese athletes in final sprint ahead of one-year Beijing 2022 countdown [Xinhua], Norwegian delegation warms up for 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics & Paralympics [Global Times], All Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic competition venues ready for test events [Xinhua], Countdown to Beijing 2022 | Key milestones of Beijing 2022 preparation [Xinhua]
Xi Jinping inspects Olympic venues
- President Xi went to inspect the Olympic venues 10 days ago, the timing of which was hugely significant. Not only did his visit – which received extensive coverage domestically even compared to the usual standards – stand in stark contrast to the on/off drama in Tokyo, but his presence in Hebei province, which saw hundreds of new COVID-19 cases in January, was designed to reassure the world that China has the pandemic under control. See my comments in the Twitter thread below, plus these links: Xi inspects Zhangjiakou competition zone of Beijing 2022 [Xinhua] China’s stringent approach to curb COVID-19 spread boosts confidence in Olympics: IOC [Global Times], Bach calls Beijing 2022 preparations “almost a miracle” [Xinhua], Xi’s visit inspires Chinese athletes [China Daily], Brick by brick, Olympic excitement builds [China Daily]
Breakout performance for China’s new freestyle skier
- Eileen Gu (Chinese name: Gu Ailing 谷愛凌) grew up in San Francisco, but naturalized as a Chinese national in 2019 so she could compete in the 2022 Olympics. She’s smart (and is heading to Stanford once she’s done winning medals), says all the right things from a US-China perspective, will have sponsors falling over themselves to sign her up – oh, and she’s really, really good. She doesn’t even have an English-language Wikipedia page at the time of writing, but expect to hear a LOT more about her over the next year: New star Eileen Gu wins second gold, third medal in historic X Games Aspen debut [Aspen Times]. See also: A 17-year-old daredevil could be China’s next Olympic star [AP], CHINA’S YOG CHAMPION GU LOOKS AHEAD TO BEIJING 2022 [Olympic.org], Naturalized Chinese teenage athlete has sights set on Olympics [Global Times] and expect plenty of articles from China emphasizing her heritage: 17-year-old Eileen Gu, next Chinese sports icon? [Xinhua], Grandma key to Gu Ailing’s greatness [China Daily]
Other stories and links
- Feature: Crossover athletes eye Beijing Winter Olympics [Xinhua], Appliance of science giving China an edge [China Daily], Waxers smoothing skiers’ path to Olympic success [China Daily], Chinese cross-country skiers look ahead with optimism [Xinhua], National cross-country skiing championships starts in NW China [Xinhua]
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