It’s time! The 2022 Beijing Olympics are in full swing, officially kicking off on February 4, just six months after the Tokyo Games concluded.
The Winter Games and Summer Games are traditionally separated by two years — with the summer Olympics taking place every four years. However, things are different for the 2022 games based on the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.
After the 2020 Tokyo Olympics were pushed back one year, the winter version of the world-wide sporting event had its quickest turnaround in history. The 2022 competition marked the Olympics return to Beijing for the first time in almost 14 years. The city previously hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Ahead of the athletic competition, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) revealed the mascot for Beijing’s games — a panda named Bing Dwen Dwen.
“‘Bing’ means ice and also symbolizes purity and strength,” the committee said in a press release in February 2019. “And ‘Dwen Dwen’ represents children. The mascot embodies the strength and willpower of athletes and will help to promote the Olympic spirit.”
While the Olympic trials didn’t take place until shortly before the Games began, there were a few U.S. athletes that caught fans’ attention early on.
For starters, gold medalist Chloe Kim was set to return to the slopes and compete in snowboarding after earning her first medal at age 17 the 2018 PyeongChang Games. Despite taking a break from the sport in 2019 — to attend Princeton University — she has been working on the snowboarding circuit since January 2021.
“I’m so, so happy and grateful that I’ve been able to come back and compete again against all of these amazing, talented, hardworking women,” Kim told CNN in February 2021. “It was nice to kind of get out and start competing again.”
The California native took a leave of absence from college in order to focus on her training. “There’s no way I can handle going to school while being a professional snowboarder, especially before the Olympics,” she explained. “I plan on going back, but right now, I’m a full-time snowboarder and one day I’ll be back to being a full-time student. But, yeah, I don’t think I can juggle it.”
Gus Kenworthy, who won a silver medal for Team USA at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, is now competing for a different country — Team Great Britain.
“I am very excited to announce that I will be competing for Team GB on the road to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing,” he announced via social media in December 2019. “Although I was raised in the U.S. I was born in the U.K. and my mum is British through-and-through. She has been my #1 fan for my entire life and has proudly stood at the bottom of the mountain waving the stars and stripes in support of me for two Olympic cycles. Now, in what is sure to be my last Olympic appearance, I’d like to return the honor by proudly holding up the British flag for her.”
Scroll down for everything you need to know about the 2022 Beijing Olympics:
The host country plans to reuse a number of venues around Beijing, China, that fans saw in place for the 2008 Summer Olympics. The National Stadium will hold the opening and closing ceremonies, while the National Aquatics Center will witness curling. The National Indoor Stadium and Wukesong Arena will house the hockey games and the Capital Indoor Stadium will be used for figure skating and short-track speedskating. Stephen Shaver/UPI/Shutterstock
The Games kick off on February 4 and run through February 20. Richard Ellis/UPI/Shutterstock
In August 2021, the IOC explained that they are seeing how the coronavirus pandemic “evolves around the globe and especially in China” before making a final decision on whether spectators can attend the sporting competition. According to the New York Times, Chinese staff working the Games will have strict restrictions to try and slow the spread of the virus. The staff will reportedly be required to live in the Olympic bubble, unlike the staff at the Tokyo Olympics, who were allowed to return home each night. Restrictions for athlete, press and spectators has yet to be decided upon. Mark Schiefelbein/AP/Shutterstock
In September 2021, some of the world’s largest broadcast companies, including NBC, have been asked by human rights groups to cancel their coverage of the Winter Games. In an open letter from minority rights groups in China and the surrounding areas, the broadcasters were encouraged to forgo the usual coverage in order to stop “being complicit” in “worsening human rights abuses” in China. The United States and other democracies have also been asked to boycott the Olympics altogether amid alleged evidence of genocide in Xinjiang, China, against the Uyghur population. More than 180 campaign groups have signed a letter citing the country’s alleged human rights violations, claiming that the Games will only strengthen China’s ruling communist party. Ng Han Guan/AP/Shutterstock
There are seven new events for the 2022 Winter Olympics, including men’s and women’s big-air freestyle and women’s monobob, which is a single bobsled. The other fresh events are mixed team competitions in freestyle skiing aerials, ski jumping and snowboard cross and mixed relay in short-track speedskating. Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP/Shutterstock
The International Ice Hockey Federation announced the hockey schedule for the upcoming games in September 2021. Team USA will face off against China, while Canada with play Germany in the preliminary rounds of men’s hockey on February 10. The full schedule can be seen here. Andy Wong/AP/Shutterstock
The International Olympic Committee announced in September 2021 that North Korea is barred from competing at the 2022 Winter Games after the country made the “unilateral decision” to drop out of the Tokyo Olympics. Natacha Pisarenko/AP/Shutterstock
“We have waited as long as possible to make this decision while exploring every available option to enable our players to participate in the 2022 Winter Olympic Games,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement in December 2021. “Unfortunately, given the profound disruption to the NHL’s regular-season schedule caused by recent COVID-related events — 50 games already have been postponed through [December] — Olympic participation is no longer feasible.” Mark Schiefelbein/AP/Shutterstock
The 2022 Women's Olympic Team nominees for ice skating include Alysa Liu (pictured), Karen Chen and Mariah Bell. Shuji Kajiyama/AP/Shutterstock
In January 2022, NBC Sports announced that reporters for the network would not attend the games because of coronavirus. “The announce teams for these Olympics, including figure skating, will be calling events from our Stamford, [Connecticut], facility due to COVID concerns," Greg Hughes, NBC Sports' Senior Vice President of communications, told USA Today. "We’ll still have a large presence on the ground in Beijing and our coverage of everything will be first rate as usual, but our plans are evolving by the day as they are for most media companies covering the Olympics.” ROMAN PILIPEY/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
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