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Performers at Beijing's Bird's Nest Stadium during the ceremony
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Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
With the traditional formula "I declare the 24th Olympic Winter Games in Beijing open", China's head of state and party leader Xi Jinping gave the starting signal for the competitions in China on Friday at 9:51 p.m. local time in Beijing's "Bird's Nest" stadium.
In his speech earlier, IOC President Thomas Bach appealed to the world's political leaders to refrain from acts of war during the two-week sporting competitions.
“Respect your commitment to this Olympic truce.
Give peace a chance,' he said.
In addition, Bach thanked the hosts of the Winter Games, whose ambition enabled a “new era for global winter sports”.
The ceremony began at 8 p.m. local time (1 p.m. CET) in the stadium, which was half full with around 25,000 invited spectators despite fears of the spread of the corona pandemic.
Numerous high-ranking government officials, especially from the West, were absent from the grandstand.
Countries like the USA, Great Britain, Canada and Australia are diplomatically boycotting the Winter Games.
(You can read the protocol of the ceremony here).
Exactly 4928 days earlier, the 2008 Summer Games had opened at the same place.
This makes Beijing the first city to be allowed to host both the summer and winter Olympics.
However, the award had been heavily criticized.
Human rights violations in dealing with Uyghurs and Tibetans, the suppression of the democracy movement in Hong Kong and threats against Taiwan - there are serious allegations against the rulers in Beijing (read here why and how SPIEGEL reports on the controversial games).
IOC boss Bach did not address criticism of China in his speech.
In the sign of spring...
The performance, before a worldwide TV audience, began at 1pm CET with a colorful light show full of references to spring, ushering in the ongoing Tiger Chinese New Year celebrations, also known as the Spring Festival.
Director Zhang Yimou, who previously directed the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Olympic Games, was again responsible for the design.
Afterwards, IOC President Bach and China's Xi Jinping were welcomed.
The longest part of the two-hour celebration was the parade of the athletes, during which, for the first time at the Winter Games, a man and a woman carried the flag of a nation together.
This system had its premiere in Tokyo in 2021.
This was done for the German team by speed skater Claudia Pechstein, who took part in her eighth Olympics, and bobsleigh pilot Francesco Friedrich.
91 nations take part in the competitions.
...of snow and fire
Digital snowflakes then trickled down with the names of the participating nations, which then merged into one large flake.
The embassy?
No two flakes are the same, but together they make a wonderful winter, according to the official schedule.
At the end of the ceremony, the Olympic torch burned in the middle of an oversized snowflake.
This time the organizers did without a pompous fire.
Cross-country skier Dinigeer Yilamujiang and Nordic combined athlete Zhao Jiawen lit the flame at 10:16 p.m. local time on Friday evening, which will not be extinguished until the closing ceremony on February 20th.
The Winter Games in Beijing will be held between February 4th and 20th.
Read what you need to know about the games here
Schedule, dates, sports, all important information about the event can be found here
The Olympia Theater and the dangerous arrogance of a superpower:
You can find the SPIEGEL cover story here
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