Olympia 2022 in Beijing: Opening ceremony, sports, participants - all information about the Winter Games
Created: 01/12/2022, 09:42 AM
The Olympic flame for the Olympic Winter Games 2022 © Zhang Chenlin / dpa
From February 4 to 20, 2022, the 24th Winter Olympics will take place in sports history.
For 16 days, the Chinese metropolis Beijing will be the focus of attention.
Beijing - The 24th Winter Olympics will take place in and around Beijing in February 2022. After Pyeongchang (South Korea), the major event is taking place on Asian soil for the second time in a row. The first venue for an Olympic tournament was the French town of Chamonix (1924). At that time, 16 nations took part. The number of participating delegations has now grown to almost 100. The competitions held have also multiplied. Up until 1992, the Summer and Winter Olympics were always held within a year. Meanwhile, the Winter Games alternate with the Summer Games every two years. The next Winter Olympics are scheduled for 2026. The Italian cities of Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo will act as hosts.
Olympic Winter Games in Beijing 2022: The opening ceremony
The opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing is scheduled for Friday, February 4th.
The competitions start two days earlier.
On Wednesday, February 2nd, the sport of curling will be the focus of the events.
There will also be curls on Thursday, February 3rd.
In addition to ice stock sport, the first decisions are made in ice hockey (women) and freestyle skiing.
The actual opening ceremony will take place in the National Stadium in Beijing, where the Olympic flame will be lit as a sign of the onset of the sporting competition.
It then burns for a period of 16 days and goes out at the end of the games on February 20th.
Spectacle or Spartan ceremony?
At the center of the opening ceremony is the invasion of the athletes. They walk through the national stadium of the Chinese capital, representing their nations. Athletes from 86 national associations are expected. The entry and exit of the Olympians is traditionally complemented by a supporting program. In addition to a sporting block, there could also be an official block that is primarily dedicated to the spoken word. Details are not known as the organizers are planning one or two surprises. This also applies to the show block, which is subject to strict secrecy. Much will be due to the pandemic development, so changes or modifications can be expected at short notice. Given the occasion, a reduced,A shortened opening ceremony with a slimmed-down staff is conceivable.
Olympic Winter Games in Beijing 2022: The Sports
The competitions at the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing 2022 serve the following sports:
biathlon
Bobsledding
Ice skating
Curling
ice Hockey
tobogganing
Skiing
Individual sports have subdivisions into disciplines.
In bobsleigh, a distinction is made between bobsleigh and skeleton, in ice skating between figure skating, speed skating and short track.
When skiing there are competitions in freestyle skiing and alpine skiing, snowboarding and Nordic skiing.
The Nordic skiing section also has the sub-groups cross-country skiing, ski jumping and Nordic combined.
A total of 109 competitions will be held, with seven more competitions than the Winter Games in Pyeongchang (2018).
Monobob and big air skis
Modifications exist, for example, in biathlon.
In Beijing there is only one mixed relay (4 x 6 kilometers) instead of two.
There is also something new in ice skating and Nordic skiing: a mixed team competition has been set up for the short track and ski jumping disciplines.
When it comes to bobsleigh, there will be a sub-item "Monobob for women" in the future.
The snowboard section, which is part of skiing, receives a mixed competition in the cross category.
The skiing discipline freestyle skiing is also coming up with innovations: A mixed team competition in jumping has been initiated as well as a jumping hill competition called Big Air.
Olympic Winter Games in Beijing 2022: The Nations
More than 800 athletes will be there for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
They are divided between 86 nations.
The lion's share of the active and participating countries is on the European continent.
49 countries are sending 406 athletes to China, including renowned winter sports nations such as Switzerland, Finland, Sweden and the Czech Republic.
While Switzerland sends 65 women and men to Beijing, 35 represent the colors of the Federal Republic of Germany.
The nations of Cyprus, San Marino, Kosovo, Malta, Monaco, Azerbaijan and Albania delegate only one athlete each.
80 Chinese against a Kyrgyz
A total of 174 athletes come to the Chinese metropolis from the American continent.
They represent twelve countries.
By far the greatest number of Olympians come from the USA and Canada (76 each).
Haiti, Ecuador, Peru and Puerto Rico are each represented by a singular athlete.
As expected, the People's Republic of China stands out from the group of Asian countries (18).
She has a home game and with 80 men and women most of the participants on board.
One athlete each from India, Taipei, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan will join the pool of athletes.
In this context, the lone fighters from East Timor and Kyrgyzstan also have exotic status.
Russia is armed
Competitors from Africa are also present, albeit in far fewer numbers than at the summer games.
Only five chosen ones have booked a flight to Beijing.
Eritrea, Kenya, Madagascar, Morocco and Nigeria each have an ace up their sleeve.
Oceania is similarly sparsely populated in terms of quantity.
Seven women and men made it through to Olympic qualification.
They come from two countries, with Australia sending four and New Zealand three athletes to the Middle Kingdom.
That would remain the great nation of Russia, which, after host China, provides most athletes with an Olympic passport.
79 Russians have Olympic precious metal in mind.
Olympic Winter Games in Beijing 2022: TV broadcast
The German TV broadcast of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing will be carried out by the three broadcasters ARD, ZDF and Eurosport.
The latter broadcaster is the main owner or the primary licensee of the broadcasting rights.
As such, Eurosport has sold sub-licenses to ARD and ZDF, which in turn have access to selected events from the Olympic Games.
The triumvirate transmits all decisions of the prestigious competition.
Some of the decisions, transferred to Central European Time (CET), are made during the night.
This is because Beijing is seven hours ahead of the Central European time zone.
As a result, the transmissions start at two o'clock in the morning (CET) and usually end in the course of the afternoon.
Olympic Winter Games in Beijing 2022: The venues
The 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing will be held at three locations. In addition to the Chinese capital Beijing, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou are also involved in the sporting events. A total of twelve sports facilities are available for the athletes to exercise their skills. The majority of the sports facilities are in the capital. Beijing provides seven arenas. Only two are new, five were built for the 2008 Olympic Games and will be used again. The National Stadium (80,000 seats), the National Indoor Stadium (18,000 seats), the Wukesong Indoor Stadium (9,000 seats), the Capital City Indoor Stadium (18,000 seats) and the so-called Ice Cube (ice cubes, 4,500 seats) are subject to renewed use. The National Speed Skating Hall (12.000 seats) and Big Air Shougang, an oversized kicker hill for freestyle skiers.
New arenas in Yanqing
The district of Yanqing is not far from the capital.
There are two arenas available to athletes here.
Both were built specifically for the Winter Games.
The sports bobsleigh and skiing are served.
The latter sport is represented by the alpine skiing discipline.
The specially built facility in the Xiaohaituo National Alpine Ski Center is available for this purpose.
The resort is located in a forest northwest of Beijing.
The highest point is 1,200 meters above sea level.
The bobsledders are active on the artificial ice rink of the brand new National Sliding Center.
Luge and skeleton are on the agenda.
Impressive double hill
Two new sports facilities are also waiting for the active ones in Zhangjiakou.
On the one hand it is the Nordic Ski and Biathlon Center Kuyangshu and on the other hand the Genting Ski Resort in Hebei.
The area of activity of the ski jumpers already exists: the National Ski Jumping Center with its impressive double hill.
