The first weekend in February marks the beginning of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, where athletes from all over the world gather to compete in winter sports events. Occurring just seven months after the previous Olympics, which was delayed due to COVID-19, these particular Olympics have been no stranger to controversy.
The largest of these controversies involves the issue of the event’s host, China, and their human rights violations. Specifically, many countries are taking issue with China’s treatment of the Uyghur people, a Turkic ethnic group. The United Nations have detailed China’s treatment of the Uyghur, highlighting the poor living conditions and labor these people are forced into. Due to this, Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada have announced diplomatic boycotts of the Olympics. This means that while they will send athletes to Beijing, no government officials will be attending.
As with any large event held in the past few years, COVID-19 has had a large impact on this year’s Winter Olympics. Similar to how the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics handled the pandemic this past summer, no international guests will be allowed to attend. Alongside these rules, strict lockdown measures have been put in place on the athletes and people within China’s major cities. According to BBC News, China is partaking in daily testing, mask-wearing, and trying to cut off as much contact between people as possible. Anyone who tests positive for the virus will be isolated until they get two negative tests within 24-hours. These precautions may sound extreme, but an event like the Olympics can spread the virus at an incredibly rapid rate, so the organizers are taking as few chances as possible.
Alongside all the returning sports, these Winter Olympics will feature seven brand-new sports events; women’s monobob, a sport similar to bobsledding except it is all performed by one person, and big air skiing, a variation of the regular ski jump event.
With many adults, especially college students, time plays a major factor in how they watch the Olympics. With the 13-hour time difference between Dayton and Beijing, it isn’t practical nor possible to watch all events occurring throughout the nearly two-week games.
“I don’t really have the urge to sit and watch it. I don’t really have much time with work and school,” said James Bradley, a Sinclair student, when asked if he would watch the event. “I might look at highlights of it.”
The closing ceremony will begin Sunday, Feb. 20, with the 2022 Beijing Winter Paralympics starting up on Friday, March 4, and going until Sunday, March 13.
Alex Cutler
Reporter