Beijing 2022 Olympics

[Randy W]

This article talks about the lack of experience with winter sports in China. A U.S. doctor was able to summon the appropriate assistance for the hockey player's injury.

"They didn’t know what to do at all." An injured Polish athlete was slow to receive treatment after a training crash. The response was faster when a U.S. women’s hockey player was hurt.

from the NY Times on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/nytimes/posts/10152867893554999

Two Sports Injuries, Two Different Outcomes at Olympic Venues
An injured Polish athlete was slow to receive treatment after a training crash. The response was faster when a U.S. women’s hockey player was hurt.

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The American doctor hardly waited once she arrived next to Brianna Decker, the women’s hockey player whose screams of distress filled a Beijing arena on Thursday night: the doctor looked past a penalty box and raised her hands to summon help.

A squad of six attendants — gowned and masked, their faces covered further by shields — hurried onto the ice and gingerly glided toward the Americans. Two maneuvered a stretcher. And, soon, Decker was off the ice, and out of the Games altogether.

The quick medical response underlined the way China is trying to make sure that the Olympics will be safe not only in terms of the coronavirus, but also in terms of the crashes and collisions that have long been a danger in many winter sports. China is trying to prevent virus infections with a so-called bubble that has walled off Games participants from Chinese society. But sports medicine is a challenge of paramount importance to the athletes and their teams.

The immediate removal of Decker from the ice came after a slow response to a luge athlete’s crash during training in early November, an incident that raised questions about China’s ability to provide world-class, specialized medical services for the Games. China has less experience with winter sports and their associated injuries than almost any previous host of the Winter Olympics.

 . . .

So Beijing and the adjacent city of Zhangjiakou are now hosting the Winter Olympics with many venues that are completely new, and with little experience in managing mishaps.

Worries about sports medicine at the Games came into sharp focus in early November. That was when a Polish luge athlete, Mateusz Sochowicz, came hurtling down a newly built course on a training run only to discover that a metal gate on the track had been mistakenly left closed by the track’s staff.

 

 

[Randy W]

China's netizens can be vicious. I'm pretty sure that Eileen Gu holds DUAL CITIZENSHIP - that China would have no reason to try to get her to renounce her American citizenship. She speaks like a true California native.

She made a carefully thought out choice to represent China, an option which was available to her under Olympic rules since she DOES hold Chinese citizenship.

I say, Leave her alone.

 

[Randy W]

Shoppers queue overnight as China runs out of Olympic mascots
Hundreds of people queued outside a Beijing store overnight to buy a limited edition, Olympics panda mascot, known as Bing Dwen Dwen ⤵️

from AL Jazeera English on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera/videos/370415597780581/

[Randy W]

5 hours ago, Randy W said:

China's netizens can be vicious. I'm pretty sure that Eileen Gu holds DUAL CITIZENSHIP - that China would have no reason to try to get her to renounce her American citizenship. She speaks like a true California native.

She made a carefully thought out choice to represent China, an option which was available to her under Olympic rules since she DOES hold Chinese citizenship.

I say, Leave her alone.

 

 

from CGTN

 

Edited February 8, 2022 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

 . . . and the SCMP about Zhu Yi

Tears and online criticism as China’s US-born skater Zhu Yi falters in another Olympic routine

[Randy W]

This video went viral on Chinese social media. #Beijing2022  
Olympic gold medalist #ElieenGu slamming haters on controversial comments about her..

“If people don't like me, that's their loss, they'll never win the #Olympics."

from Serena Dong on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/theserenadong/videos/364323928846271/

[Randy W]

The story of artificial snow making for the Olympics.

“I assumed there would be no obstacles in hosting the Winter Olympics, especially considering our country’s economic strength. But after I started working in this area, I realized China had barely any experience, no talent, and no technology to provide snow for the Games.”

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/sixthtone/posts/3156468301338675

How to Make Snow for a Winter Olympics in a Dry City
When China was awarded the 2022 Winter Olympics, the country went on a crash course for making its own snow.

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Beijing and the mountains to its north — where some of the events, including skiing and snowboarding, will be held — are notoriously arid and see very little snowfall in winter. Moreover, temperatures in February could rise below freezing, and there’s a risk of storms that will dust the top layer of snow in sand. As a result, the Beijing games will rely entirely on artificial snow.

As global snow coverage declines due to climate change, more winter sports events are adopting artificial snow. During the 2010 Winter Olympics, host city Vancouver experienced an unusually warm winter that forced organizers to bring in artificial snow. The Games in Russia’s Sochi and South Korea’s Pyeongchang also could not rely on natural snow.

A recent study, which assumed current global greenhouse gas emissions, concluded that only one of the previous 21 Winter Olympics host cities would have the right climate condition to host the games again by the end of the century.

China does not have a rich history in winter sports. They have only recently become popular among the wider public, picking up only after Beijing won its bid to host the 2022 Games, in 2015, and pledged to “motivate 300 million people to become involved in ice and snow sports.”

Two years later, in 2017, an expert team of the International Ski Federation — the organization responsible for several major Olympic skiing and snowboarding competitions — toured several ski resorts in China and found they didn’t have any pistes that met their standards.

 

 

[Randy W]

Olympics-Ice hockey-Canada-born player on China team lets aide do the (English) talking

from Rueters

 

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Zhou, who also goes by Kimberly Newell, answered questions in Mandarin before a reporter asked her if she’d take questions in English. The answer was no.

“She’s not allowed to speak English,” an interpreter said on her behalf, per Reuters. “I’ll try to answer for her.”

The 26-year-old is listed as fluent in English, Mandarin and French on her official Olympic bio page.

 

 

Edited February 13, 2022 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

In Opinion
It’s hard to get excited about the Beijing Olympics, Lindsay Crouse writes: “The athletes and their feats seem eclipsed by crises no ice-bound pirouette or gargantuan leap off a ski jump can rival.”

from the NY Times on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/nytimes/posts/10152871902349999

Why the Beijing Olympics Are So Hard to Watch

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Imagine a dystopian Olympics. Maybe it would have athletes skiing on fake snow down parched slopes. Robots mixing cocktails, making dumplings and disinfecting the air. Events staffed by workers not in sportswear but hazmat suits. Instead of a stadium you are eager to get a seat in, a bubble you cannot leave.

They’re being staged in a country whose persecution of the Uyghurs has been called a genocide by the Biden administration, and yet China had a smiling Uyghur athlete light the Olympic torch as Presidents Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin looked on, two autocrats seated together in the V.I.P. box.

Here we are: the world’s largest athletic festival, recast for 2022.

It’s no wonder the broadcaster NBCUniversal is reported to have slashed its ratings expectations for these Games compared with four years ago. The Winter Olympics have always been less popular than the Summer, and this year’s opening ceremony’s ratings were the lowest in history.

There is a lot of speculation as to why we’re not watching. But as a longtime sucker for the no-limits narratives concocted for us by the Olympics and its marketers, I’ll say I’m just not feeling it this year. The Games’ core appeal has always been inspiration, the pursuit of impossible dreams. Two years into a pandemic, when so many of our dreams have been shelved, these Games just aren’t delivering that kind of inspiration. Instead of showcasing the best of what humanity can do, this Olympics seem to reflect what we can’t.

 

 

 

 

[Randy W]

Hosting the #Beijing2022 Winter Olympics is costing China billions of dollars. For Xi Jinping, the huge cost is worth it to prove China's unity and confidence under his leadership. But Beijing is still wary of spiraling costs.

from the NY Times on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/nytimes/posts/10152872764839999

For China, Hosting the Olympics Is Worth Every Billion
For many cities, the Games make no economic sense. National pride and an enthusiasm for building transportation infrastructure change the equation for Beijing.

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Hosting the Winter Olympics is costing China billions of dollars, a scale of expenditure that has made the event less appealing to many cities around the world in recent years. More and more of them have concluded that the Games are not worth being left with a hefty bill, white elephant stadiums and fewer benefits from tourism than they had hoped.

But China looks at the Games with a different calculus. Beijing has long relied on heavy investments in building railway lines, highways and other infrastructure to provide millions of jobs to its citizens and reduce transportation costs. With the 2022 Games, it also hopes to nurture an abiding interest in skiing, curling, ice hockey and other winter sports that could increase consumer spending, particularly in the country’s chilly and economically struggling northeast.

Perhaps most important of all to China’s leader, Xi Jinping, the Olympics are a chance to demonstrate to the world his country’s unity and confidence under his leadership.

 . . .

This time, China has set a budget of about $3 billion, a figure that includes the building of competition venues, but not projects like a $1 billion high-speed rail line and a $5 billion expressway.

 . . .

The pandemic is making the Games even more expensive. The bill for last summer’s Olympics in Tokyo included $2.8 billion in coronavirus prevention costs alone. China’s “zero Covid” strategy, which focuses on eradicating outbreaks, has meant infection control measures are much more elaborate.

 . . .

At $3.1 billion, China’s operating budget is comparable to the average, inflation-adjusted cost of hosting previous Winter Olympics, according to the University of Oxford researchers.

 . . .

But it is hard to assess what portion of the coronavirus prevention costs, if any, is being included in the budget, Mr. Flyvbjerg said. Chinese accounting is often opaque, and there are many budgets in which health spending can be counted, he said.

The government has also pressed businesses to take on more of the cost of hosting the Games. Other host cities of previous Olympics spent heavily to build lodging for athletes and journalists and a media center. China has taken a different approach.

 . . .

China regards the Olympics as transforming Beijing, which gets only a foot of natural snow most winters, into a global destination for winter sports.

“The success in opening the Winter Olympics has brought positive economic benefits and created new sources of growth for the local economy,” said the top spokesman for the city of Beijing, Xu Hejian.

 

 

[Randy W]

Eileen Gu's China choice pays off for now

from Yahoo News

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Sales of her red Chinese sportswear Anta ski suit, complete with slipdrag reduction technology, surged 20-fold on Chinese e-commerce platform JD.com.

And Luckin Coffee sold out of Gu-endorsed drinks, with a spike in cup-holders bearing her image, with the Chinese chain immediately saying it would launch more Gu-linked products throughout the year.

Already Team China's most popular athlete, the fashion model and incoming Stanford student is sponsored by two dozen brands, including Estee Lauder, Victoria's Secret, and Tiffany & Co.

Chinese media has buzzed with speculation over Gu's endorsements.

News outlet Tianxiashangwang estimated that Gu's earnings since the start of 2021 exceeded 200 million yuan - that's $31.5 million.

Michael Payne, former marketing chief of the International Olympic Committee, cited China's aim to get 300 million people involved in winter sports when he described the opportunity for Gu as unprecedented.

 

 

Edited February 15, 2022 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

China Warned Against Treating Eileen Gu Like a Patriot

from Time
 

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China should avoid portraying Eileen Gu as a patriot because even though the U.S.-born phenom is skiing for the Chinese team now, it’s uncertain what nationality she will choose in the future, warned the outspoken former editor of China’s Global Times newspaper.

Publicity about Gu’s performance at the Winter Olympics should instead be limited to sports, Hu Xijin wrote in a social media post late Sunday. Phrases like winning glory for the country should be replaced with winning glory for Team China, he said.

“China’s national honor and credibility cannot be risked, and the country’s room for maneuver must be greater than that of any individual,” wrote Hu.

 

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Google said:

The International Olympic Committee doesn't require that athletes have citizenship to compete on a national team — only that they can prove their nationality. Establishing nationality can come from living in a country for a certain period of time or demonstrating a personal link to that country through ancestry.

Edited February 16, 2022 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

email from "Rachel from Goldthread" <hello@e.goldthread2.com>

Tears over the food at the Beijing Olympic village

Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics’ Weibo

So is the food served at the Beijing Winter Olympics good or bad? That’s become the million dollar question.

It all started last week, when Russian biathlete Valeria Vasnetsova posted an unappetizing photo of boxed pasta on Instagram. She complained she was served the same meal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, five days in a row, while in quarantine.

She wasn’t the only one. Finland’s ice hockey coach, and the German team head went so far as to call the food “impossible to eat.” CNN reported about the lack of choices at the Olympics center and hotels, and said the much-hyped robot restaurant takes 40 minutes to serve diners. 

But not everyone’s upset. In an interview with Insider, US snowboarder Tessa Maud praised the meals, saying it’s the best Chinese food she’s ever had.

Maybe the other athletes should have gone with Chinese food. When in Rome, right?

Edited February 17, 2022 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Thomas Bach, the I.O.C. president, rebukes a Chinese official over political comments.
The rare criticism from the Olympic chief came in response to remarks about Taiwan.

from the NY Times

Thomas Bach, right, the president of the International Olympic Committee, has said the Olympics must be politically neutral.Credit...James Hill for The New York Times

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His remarks came after Yan Jiarong, a spokeswoman for the Beijing Olympics, made comments at a news conference the previous day that seemed to violate Olympic rules about political neutrality.

“We were in touch with BOCOG immediately after this press conference,” Bach said, using the acronym for the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games, “and both organizations, BOCOG and the I.O.C., have restated the unequivocal commitment to remain politically neutral as it is required by the Olympic charter.”

Yan, asked on Thursday about whether athletes from Taiwan would march in the closing ceremony on Sunday, responded: “What I want to say is that there is only one China in the world.” Taiwan is a democratic island nation that is self-ruled but is considered part of Chinese territory by the government in Beijing.

 . . .

Yan also jumped in after an Olympic committee spokesman was asked about whether materials for uniforms were made using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. “I think these questions are very based on lies,” she said. “Some authorities have already disputed such false information with a lot of solid evidence.”

Yan’s comments seemed in violation of Rule 50 of the Olympic charter, which prohibits any sort of “demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda” at the Games.

While Bach did not directly condemn Yan’s comments, even a mild criticism amounted to some of the strongest words he has issued on China. Bach took pains before the Olympics to position them as an event that is, and must remain, politically neutral, though that has long been an I.O.C. ideal rather than a reality.

 

 

Also reported by Yahoo News

2022 Olympics: IOC president offers 'rare' criticism of China over official's comments on Taiwan, Xinjiang

 

 

 

Edited February 19, 2022 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

But of course . . .

#Opinion: The Western media narrative has started to fall apart. It is simply impossible to suggest the Olympics are or will be a failure. China has shown its commitment to a progressive, cooperative and truly equitable world. #Beijing2022
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202202/1252630.shtml

from the Global Times on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/globaltimesnews/posts/5012939285453598

Beijing 2022 is a success but West wants to rewrite reality at Olympics
By Harry Rosendale
Published: Feb 19, 2022 02:02 PM

The author is an independent researcher on the Chinese economy and foreign relations. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn

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Reporters have hurled hatred at Olympians like Eileen Gu (Gu Ailing), Zhu Yi, even athletes from their own nations for speaking about how great the Olympics have been for them. Racist and sinophobic accusations of being in it for money have become widespread, fueling racism in the West. Perhaps the most egregious example being the choice to slam China for choosing Dinigeer Yilamujiang to light the Olympic cauldron. An ethnic Uygur skier who was delighted to be given such an opportunity. Western media refused to even acknowledge her as more than "an athlete with a Uygur name," calling the choice ''controversial.''

There is, of course, nothing controversial about this choice. Uygurs are one of the 56 recognized ethnicities in China, and the choice to have her light the flame is a beacon that has inspired the residents of Xinjiang, including her Uyghur compatriots, to find a new interest in winter sports.

 

I'm not sure, but this would appear to be the Harry Rosendale who wrote the article

https://www.linkedin.com/in/harry-rosendale

Harry Rosendale
Chinese and Business Management Student  
‪University of Central Lancashire • ‪University of Central Lancashire  
Preston, England, United Kingdom