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BEIJING WINS AN OLYMPIC GOLD FOR CONTROVERSY ✦ Winter Olympics 2022
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n a year with some heavyweight sporting events lighting up the calendar, it doesn’t get much bigger than the Winter Olympics. It is an occasion when somewhat lesser known sports such as the Skeleton, Skijoring, Sled Dog Racing, Bandy and Ski Ballet all get their day in the sun (or should that be snow?!). However, sadly the build-up to the 2022 Winter Olympics has seen very little coverage afforded to the actual sporting action and major off-field controversy has dominated the headlines. Beijing hosts the Games from Feb 4-20, with the Winter Paralympics taking place between March 4-13. In doing so, it becomes the first city to hold both the Winter and Summer Olympics, having successfully hosted the latter in 2008. When China won the bid and then hosted the 2008 Summer Olympic Games it was heralded as a new dawn where the emerging super power would excel and show its sporting prowess on the global stage. Fast forward 14 years, however, to a country now under the rule of Xi Jinping and the landscape and sentiment are light years away from the positivity leading up to the 2008 Games. Like everything else, China’s authorities are trying to control all facets of the Games and regard the occasion as an opportunity to project a strong image to the rest of the world. This might work internally where residents of the country have little or no choice as to what narrative they are fed but globally few are buying it, as a myriad of controversies attest to.
