NJust six months after the Tokyo Olympics in the summer of 2021, the Winter Games will follow. This is due to the pandemic, which caused the summer games to be postponed by a year. All subsequent major events remain in the planned rhythm, so that the XXIV Olympic Winter Games from February 4th to 20th, 2022 to be held in Beijing.
For the first time, two consecutive Winter Games will be held in Asian cities – Pyeongchang in South Korea was awarded the contract for 2018. If Tokyo 2021 is added, the Asian continent will host three consecutive Olympic Games.
In the run-up to the games, the host country China is not only struggling with the corona pandemic. The debate about the controversial host is great, the discussions about a diplomatic boycott are still in full swing shortly before. China has been heavily criticized for human rights violations in dealing with Uyghurs and Tibetans, for the suppression of the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong and for threats against Taiwan.
Olympia 2022: time difference and schedule
In winter, the time difference is seven hours. So if it is 12 noon in Germany, it is already 7 p.m. in China. The competitions take place between 9 a.m. and 11.30 p.m. local time, i.e. between 2 a.m. and 4.30 p.m. in Germany. The opening ceremony on Friday, February 4, begins at 1 p.m. German time.
Day 1 according to German time:
The decisions of the first day of competition (curling and the women’s ice hockey tournament already start on Wednesday 2 February 2022) – Saturday 5 February:
- 8:45 a.m.: Cross-country skiing, skiathlon / women
- 09:30: Speed skating, 3000 m / women
- 10:00 a.m.: Biathlon, mixed relay
- 11.45 a.m.: Ski Jumping / Women (Normal Hill)
- 12:00 p.m.: Short track, mixed relay
- 12:30 p.m.: Ski Freestyle, Moguls/Men
Schedule: PDF for printing
Here you will find the Olympic schedule as a PDF download. The file opens in a new window and can be saved with a right click:
>> DOWNLOAD PDF Olympic Schedule
Olympia 2022: New sports
In Beijing, the athletes will fight for a total of 109 gold medals in 15 sports. Seven disciplines are new to the Olympic winter program:
- Mixed competitions in ski jumping, snowboard cross, ski freestyle (big aerials) and short track (as a team relay)
- Big air events in ski freestyle for women and men
- Women’s monobob
Olympia despite the corona pandemic
The Beijing Winter Games are becoming a mammoth task for the organizers because of the corona pandemic. The fear of an outbreak during the games prompts the Chinese authorities to impose strict rules of conduct for the population and international guests – sometimes with strange consequences. Among other things, the Chinese are called upon not to help Olympic participants in traffic accidents.
The games should take place in an isolated bubble. China is pursuing a strict zero-corona policy. Therefore, it should be prevented that the participants of the games, who come from all over the world, come into direct contact with residents of the Chinese capital.
Athletes, journalists and other Olympic participants are only allowed to stay in designated places such as hotels and competition venues, without contact with the population. Between them, special shuttle buses and express trains are used. The strict measures had already caused criticism from some athletes in the run-up to the games.
Despite the omicron variant of the corona virus, which is also spreading in China, the games should go ahead as planned. “Whatever difficulties and challenges we may encounter, our determination to stage successful games as planned remains firm and unshakable,” organizing committee spokesman Zhao Weidong told reporters.
No foreign fans at the 2022 Olympics
After the summer games in Tokyo took place without any spectators, locals are still allowed to buy tickets in Beijing. Foreign visitors, it became known at the end of September, are not allowed to enter China due to the strict corona guidelines. The International Olympic Committee approved this plan by the organizers of the Beijing Games.
Awarding of the Winter Games 2022
In the summer of 2015, the IOC chose Beijing as the host of the 2022 Winter Olympics. It was a duel between two controversial applicants – the only remaining competitor was Almaty in Kazakhstan. Wolfgang Büttner from the human rights organization Human Rights Watch said shortly before the election: “We don’t rank China and Kazakhstan. It is a difficult decision because there are massive human rights violations in both countries.”
The result was close: Beijing won with 44:40 votes. Munich’s application had previously failed due to resistance from the Bavarian population.
Beaten in ice: a sculpture of the mascot, Panda “Bing Dwen Dwen”
Those: pa / dpa / kyodo /.
The probably two decisive advantages of Beijing’s application were the experience from the 2008 games and above all the fact that China wants to introduce millions of compatriots to winter sports with the winter games in the country – a gigantic market.
While the competition venues in Beijing are sometimes 160 kilometers apart and the organizers have to fall back on artificial snow to a large extent, Almaty would have offered compact games within 30 kilometers, significantly more natural snow and the tradition as a former winter sports stronghold.
In its test report, the IOC evaluation commission speaks of “complete dependence on artificial snow” in the case of Beijing and hinted that the organizers probably underestimated the huge amounts of water required for snow production – with previously unforeseeable consequences for the environment. In addition, “due to the lack of natural snow, the ‘look’ of the event location on the side of the slopes may not be aesthetically pleasing”.
Diplomatic boycott?
In connection with political boycott declarations, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock spoke out against using the Olympic Games for “political things or ceremonies”. The Olympic Games are “a festival of sport, athletes prepare for it for years, sometimes half their lives, and that’s why it shouldn’t be used for political things or ceremonies now,” said the Green politician in mid-December on ZDF. “today’s Journal”. This applies all the more in the middle of a pandemic.
The US has already announced that it will not send any diplomatic or official representatives to the Olympic Games in China. Australia, Canada and Great Britain joined in. New Zealand also does not want to send diplomatic representatives to China.
“We have repeatedly made it clear how we see the human rights situation in China at this moment, also in view of the incidents that have occurred in the recent past – also with regard to athletes,” said Baerbock. On this basis, advice will be given in Brussels together with the European colleagues.
Competition venues for Beijing 2022
There will be games farther afield. On the one hand, Beijing can fall back on many sports facilities that were already used in 2008 and that have now been converted for the winter events, but the three regions in which the competitions take place are far apart. Sometimes up to 160 kilometers. A multi-billion dollar high-speed train runs from Beijing to the two more distant regions.
The furthest away is the Zhangliakou Zone, where biathletes, ski jumpers, cross-country skiers and combined athletes compete. It is also where most snowboard and ski freestyle events take place.
In der Yanqing Zone, 75 kilometers northwest of central Beijing, the alpine ski races as well as the bobsleigh, luge and skeleton events are held.
Here the athletes will fight for medals in the Big Air discipline
Quelle: VCG via Getty Images/VCG
Finally, Beijing is about the medals in ice hockey, figure skating, speed skating, short track, curling and big air.
