Beijing Winter Olympics set for a turbulent start

Beijing Olympics and a hazy start go hand in hand. Before the 2008 Olympics, the city faced global criticism for a canopy of yellow smog over the Chinese capital. Beijing began a three-day countdown to the 2022 Winter Olympics on Wednesday amid questions raised over several issues.

A truncated, three-day Games torch relay began on Wednesday - the Games open on Friday - amid a virtual clampdown with thousands of participants inside a tight bio-bubble in keeping with China’s “zero tolerance” approach to the Covid pandemic, which started in the country in late 2019.

China is under fire over its human rights record. A US-led diplomatic boycott - countries backing it will not send dignitaries to the Games - apart, global rights activists want athletes to raise their voice over the government’s treatment of Muslim Uyghurs in Xinjiang province.

The build-up has also been overshadowed by concerns regarding tennis star Peng Shuai, who has rarely been seen in public since her social media post last November accusing former vice-premier Zhang Gaoli of forcing her to have sexual relations with him. It led to a global outcry and women’s tennis body WTA cancelled all its events in China. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has said its president Thomas Bach has spoken to her and Peng is fine, but that has not convinced many.

Athletes and sports officials have been warned of Chinese surveillance as well. They have been advised not to speak out or they could be punished under Chinese law. Athletes have been advised not to carry their mobile phones and use temporary, burner phones instead.

No snow

The build-up has also been dominated by the most vital aspect of the Games - snow. Climate change has had such an impact that the Olympics, which runs from Friday to February 20, will be staged almost entirely on artificial snow. Besides financial and environment costs, it will result in surfaces that are far harder than natural snow tracks. It means falls can be more damaging to the athletes.   

“It can be really rock hard out there and falling can feel like falling on concrete, and so it does make it a little bit more dangerous than if it was natural snow conditions,” Chris Grover, the head cross country coach for the US ski team was quoted as saying by the New York Post.

Covid concerns

Global sport experienced restrictions due to the pandemic at last year’s Tokyo Olympics, and China has taken even more severe steps to ensure the massive bio-bubble is not breached. Games organisers reported 32 new Covid cases on Wednesday among Games-related personnel - 15 among new airport arrivals and 17 in the “closed loop” bubble.

Beijing, with its 20 million residents, has experienced only a handful of Covid-19 cases in recent weeks, reporting just two new ones on Wednesday. However, in keeping with China’s “zero tolerance” approach, rules require lockdowns and mass testing when any real or suspected case is discovered.

Beijing's Covid-shortened Olympic torch relay saw basketball great Yao Ming among the first to carry the flame after a launch ceremony at the Olympic Forest Park, under clear skies. More than 1,000 torch-bearers will carry the flame past historical landmarks, including the Great Wall. It will also make its way past the Summer Palace and the Badaling section of the Great Wall in the north of Beijing.

Luo Zhihuan, 80, the country’s first internationally competitive speed skater, ran the first leg.

The torch will be passed underwater by amphibious robots, and at another stop will be moved by autonomous vehicles. The flame was lit in Greece in October last year amid protests by activists against China’s human rights record. It was flown in a red lantern resembling a Han Dynasty artefact to Beijing. The scale of the relay is modest compared with the 130-day, 137,000 km (85,130 mile) odyssey ahead of the 2008 Games.

The relay will end on Friday night when the Olympic cauldron will be lit at the Bird’s Nest Stadium, where the 2008 opening ceremony was also held. Some sports started on Wednesday.

Diplomatic turmoil 

If the 2008 Olympics was the country’s coming-out party, these Games will take place in a China under President Xi Jinping which is increasingly belligerent on the global stage and boasting of the world's second-largest economy. When Washington said it would stage a diplomatic boycott because of rights concerns - with Australia, Britain and Canada among those following suit - China warned the US would “pay the price”.

The Joe Biden administration will not send diplomatic or official representation over what it called China's “ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity” against Muslim Uyghurs. Chinese crackdown on dissent in Hong Kong is another issue.

Overall 3,000 athletes, thousands of support staff, volunteers and media will live and work in the secluded bubble. China barred overseas spectators due to the pandemic but there will be a limited number of spectators. Organisers say the venues could be up to 50 % full.

The Games will be held in three zones. In addition to downtown Beijing, the two other areas are outside the capital and will rely on artificial snow to cover what would otherwise be brown mountainsides.

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