Dressed in down jackets and N95 face masks, the crowd of some 500 volunteers and staff packed into a courtyard in Yanqing, a suburb north of Beijing, as the Olympic Village opened. Raising their fists in the air, they chanted: “Rest assured, my Party, I am here for the Winter Olympics!”
Elsewhere across the capital the slogan “together for a shared future” is ubiquitous, as are the cartoon faces of Bing Dwen Dwen and Shuey Rhon Rhon, the Olympic and Paralympic mascots. Tight security is noticeable, with soldiers standing guard outside the main subway stations.
China is going all out for the Winter Games, which open on Feb. 4 with a ceremony at the Bird’s Nest, the stadium made iconic by the 2008 Summer Games. Those Olympics were a huge success for China, proof for many of the soft-power value of playing host to such mega events.
In his New Year’s address for 2022, Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed to recreate this triumph: “We will spare no effort to present a great Games to the world. The world is turning its eyes to China, and China is ready!”
But 2022 is not 2008, and the Winter Games are not the Summer Olympics. The gamble that China is taking this time around is far riskier, and the potential payoff much smaller. By the time it’s all over, the country’s leaders may be asking themselves whether it was all worth it.
During the bidding for the 2022 Games, Beijing presented itself as the “reliable and risk-free choice.” Never mind that the Chinese capital had no mountains and scant snow, or that winter sports were not popular in China. The country had pulled it off in 2008 and could do it again. Beijing organizers also vowed to do it at a far lower cost, and with less impact on the environment, amid concerns over the negative effects previous Games have had.
The budget for Beijing 2022 was set at US$3.9-billion, a fraction of Pyeongchang’s price tag of US$14-billion, and nowhere near the staggering US$51-billion Russia spent on the 2014 Sochi Games. (Budgets tend to overrun and the Beijing plan did not include all of the infrastructure investments, such as a new high-speed rail line linking Olympic sites, so the final cost may be much higher.)
Beijing organizers had not expected to win the 2022 Games – the bid was seen as a stage setter for 2026 – but after four other potential hosts dropped out, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) approved China’s bid over that of Almaty, Kazakhstan, by a narrow margin, making Beijing the first city to hold both the Summer and Winter Olympics.
“We know China will deliver on its promises,” IOC President Thomas Bach said in 2015, and the country has. New venues have been built in Yanqing and Zhangjiakou, connected to central Beijing by high-speed rail and covered with artificial snow pumped out by “green-powered” machines. (Artificial snow is becoming something of a Winter Olympics tradition amid a warming world climate: both Pyeongchang and Sochi relied on fake flakes.) Few were expecting this to be a challenge: Gian Franco Kasper, then-head of the International Ski Federation, was speaking for many observers in 2019 when he said “everything is easier in dictatorships.”
As Mr. Bach arrived in Beijing this week to meet with President Xi, he announced that “China is now a winter sports country, and this is the start of a new era for global winter sports.”
But Beijing 2022 is facing challenges far greater than creating snow where it never falls. Eight countries, including Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, have announced diplomatic boycotts of the Games, citing China’s woeful record on human rights, and particularly the treatment of Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, which the Canadian Parliament has said amounts to “genocide.”
A diplomatic boycott means only that officials stay away, however. Large delegations of athletes are still competing, and these countries will still take part in the Parade of Nations that opens the Olympics.
Many countries have declined to sign on to the boycott – French President Emmanuel Macron dismissed it as “insignificant and symbolic” – but calls for countries to snub Beijing 2022 still damage the prestige of the event, as does the widespread media coverage of demonstrations over Xinjiang and Tibet, said Heather Dichter, an expert on the Olympics at De Montfort University in Britain.
The absence of world leaders may also have more of an effect than many people predict. “These mega events are a very important place for networking between the world’s elites,” said Susan Brownell, author of the 2008 book, Beijing’s Games: What the Olympics Mean to China. She noted that “if you look at Beijing 2008 or London 2012, more heads of state attended the opening ceremonies than even Davos.”
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Chinese President Xi Jinping, along with almost every other top leader other than Foreign Minister Wang Yi, has not left the country, attending global events such as the recent UN climate summit by video link. During this time, there has also been little reason for world leaders to visit China, so in-person diplomacy has been severely limited, and Beijing may come to view the Olympics as a missed opportunity on this front.
“Ultimately, we won’t know the full impact of this diplomatic boycott until some time after,” Dr. Dichter said.
Beijing organizers may have priced in the risk of a boycott when they bid for the Games in 2015, but one factor they could not have predicted was the coronavirus.
The pandemic already caused the delay of the 2020SummerOlympics for a year, and when the Tokyo Games did eventually go ahead, it was amid spiking cases across Japan, angry calls for the event’s cancellation, and without spectators, for the most part.
With greater time to prepare, Beijing organizers clearly thought they could outdo Tokyo, promising a “closed loop management system” that would enable athletes and spectators to proceed as normal within a tightly policed bubble, despite some occasional contradictions. (Athletes have been advised to avoid hugging each other, for instance, but thousands of condoms have also been handed out.)
So far, their efforts seem to be working: while cases have been detected among the hundreds of people travelling to the Olympic Village, they have been swiftly detected and quarantined, and no cases involved athletes or team officials, organizers said.
With new outbreaks of the Delta and Omicron variants popping up in recent weeks – small by international standards, but a concern for almost COVID-free China – plans to allow local spectators inside the bubble have been dropped. (International fans were never invited.) Only a tiny number of hand-selected, highly monitored attendees will be able to watch events live, and they have been instructed not to cheer or shout.
“It’s a pity that I won’t be able to watch the Games this time,” said Chen Lin, a 38-year-old Beijinger who attended the 2008 Olympics. “Of course, we can still watch the Games … on TV and live streaming online, but it doesn’t provide as strong a sense of engagement as watching the Games on the spot.”
For those outside China, media coverage may also be affected by the pandemic. Multiple broadcasters, including the CBC and NBC, are anchoring events primarily from their respective countries, with just a few reporters on the ground inside the bubble, while some media are staying home entirely. ESPN announced this month that it “will not be sending any news personnel to the Winter Olympics.”
“With the pandemic continuing to be a global threat, and with the COVID-related on-site restrictions in place for the Olympics that would make coverage very challenging, we felt that keeping our people home was the best decision for us,” ESPN executive editor Norby Williamson said.
The tight restrictions on journalists inside the bubble, while vital to China’s pandemic strategy, could have costs when it comes to soft power, diluting the amount of coverage of the country itself. While there were reports on Tibet and human rights in 2008, the Summer Games ultimately served as a global ad for China, something that is unlikely to play out this time around. Broadcasters have faced calls to drop the Games entirely, and NBC Olympics chief Molly Solomon has promised the network will not ignore the “geopolitical context” in its coverage.
This may result in a more sports-focused Olympics than ever before – something viewers may appreciate. But the hosts are not shelling out billions of dollars just to showcase curling or luge. And when it comes to soft power, China is facing an uphill battle: polling shows unfavourable views of the country are at, or near, historic highs in most advanced economies, and particularly in those countries where the Winter Olympics is a key focus.
According to Pew Research, more than 70 per cent of respondents from Germany, Canada, the United States and the Netherlands – all winter sports powerhouses – said they had an unfavourable view of China. In Sweden the figure was 80 per cent. Even if the Olympics do move the needle somewhat (and research suggests any 2008 bump was short lived, in any case), it’s unlikely they’ll be winning many hearts and minds in the West.
Public perceptions of China, by nation
Per cent, Pew Research Center Spring 2021
Global Attitudes Survey
Unfavourable view
Favourable view
North America
N. Zealand
Overall
median
the globe and mail, Source: pew research center.
those who did not answer not shown. does not
add to 100 due to rounding.
Public perceptions of China, by nation
Per cent, Pew Research Center Spring 2021
Global Attitudes Survey
Unfavourable view
Favourable view
North America
N. Zealand
Overall
median
the globe and mail, Source: pew research center.
those who did not answer not shown. does not
add to 100 due to rounding.
Public perceptions of China, by nation
Per cent, Pew Research Center Spring 2021 Global Attitudes Survey
Unfavourable view
Favourable view
North America
Netherlands
N. Zealand
Overall
median
the globe and mail, Source: pew research center. those who did not answer not shown.
does not add to 100 due to rounding.
The likelihood of viewers seeing any public dissent on display during the Games is next to zero, however –even athletes who might protest have been advised by activist groups not to risk it.
In developing nations, China is more popular, but winter sports generally aren’t. Ms. Brownell pointed out that most developing countries are in temperate and tropical climates, and “there’s a bit of a question as to whether that part of the world even watches the Winter Games.”
“The Winter Games will never match the Summer Games, because they involve half the number of athletes, half the number of countries,” said Dr. Dichter. “It just isn’t as big of a deal for much of the world.”
The government hopes the Olympics will kickstart a $200-billion winter sports industry, but it is starting nearly from scratch, with many people never having watched, let alone taken part in, most of the sports that will be on display next month.
“Winter sports are far away from our real life, to be honest,” said a Beijing resident named Zheng, whom The Globe and Mail is not identifying by her full name because of the sensitivities of discussing the Olympics with foreign media. “My daughter is more excited – she’s been looking up rules of different ice sports and now is something of an expert.” She said that compared with the 2008 Games, which felt more tangible, “this Olympics is more like a symbol to us. A symbol of our country becoming greater and more competitive on the international stage.”
After the billions of dollars spent, the diplomatic fallout and the stress about spiking COVID-19 cases, the organizers of Beijing 2022 will be hoping against hope the rest of the world sees it the same way.
With reports from Alexandra Li and the Associated Press
What are people saying about the Olympics?
Many partners around the world are extremely concerned by the repeated human-rights violations by the Chinese government. That’s why we … will not be sending any diplomatic representation to the Beijing Olympics.
–Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
Based on ideological biases as well as lies and rumours, Canada and a handful of Western countries have been flagrantly engaged in political manoeuvring, with the attempt to disrupt the smooth progress of Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Their clumsy performance can hardly find any support and is doomed to fail.
–China’s embassy to Canada
The Biden administration will not send any diplomatic or official representation to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games given the PRC’s ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and other human-rights abuses.
–White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki
I don’t think we should politicize these topics, especially if it’s to take steps that are insignificant and symbolic … You either have a complete boycott, and don’t send athletes, or you try to change things with useful actions.
–French President Emmanuel Macron
We are fully confident and capable of presenting to the world a fantastic, extraordinary and excellent Winter Olympics.
–Chinese President Xi Jinping
The Games should not be used as a distraction from China’s appalling human-rights record. On the contrary, they should be an opportunity to press China to address these issues.
–Amnesty International
The IOC awarded the Games to China, a country recognized internationally for its human-rights violations. This unfairly makes athletes pawns in a geopolitical fight. The IOC is to blame for putting athletes in this position; no athlete can be faulted for their choice to attend or not attend the Games.
–Advocacy group Global Athlete
Any behaviour or speech that is against the Olympic spirit, especially against the Chinese laws and regulations, are also subject to certain punishment.
–Beijing Olympics official Yang Shu on potential athlete protests
The pure ice and snow sports cannot tolerate dirty political calculations. Anyone who attempts to disrupt and sabotage the unity either by making an issue of the Winter Games or by manipulating the athletes will be framed as a clown in history.
–Global Times, Chinese state-run newspaper
Beijing 2022: More from The Globe and Mail
The Decibel
Many of Canada’s Olympians are at risk of eating disorders because of toxic training methods and the suspect science behind them, a recent Globe and Mail investigation found. Reporters Grant Robertson and Rachel Brady spoke with The Decibel about their findings. Subscribe for more episodes.
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Tom Wilson, Dylan Strome and Taylor Raddysh scored to help the Washington Capitals end the Dallas Stars’ season-opening winning streak at four with a 3-2 victory Thursday night.
Wilson’s goal was his third in three games, Strome his second of the season and Raddysh his first since joining the team in free agency last summer. Charlie Lindgren made 22 saves as the Capitals wrapped up this early homestand with back-to-back wins.
The Stars fell from the ranks of the league’s unbeaten teams despite a short-handed goal by Colin Blackwell and one at even strength from Jason Robertson. Rookie Oskar Bäck set up Blackwell for his first NHL point.
Casey DeSmith was screened on two of the three goals he allowed on 26 shots.
LIGHTNING 4, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Nikita Kucherov scored the winning goal with less than a minute to play just 1:27 after Brandon Hagel had tied it and Tampa Bay rallied to beat Vegas.
Kucherov’s second goal of the game with 55 seconds left was his sixth of the season.
Janis Moser had a goal and two assists for the Lightning, who remain unbeaten. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves.
Brayden McNabb, Pavel Dorofeyev and Ivan Barbashev had goals for Vegas. Adin Hill turned aside 21 shots.
Jack Eichel, with two assists on Thursday, now has 10 points this season in five games and reached reached double-digit points faster than any other player in Vegas history. He is the 10th U.S.-born player to accomplish the feat.
After Barbashev put Vegas up 3-2 early in the second, Hagel pulled Tampa Bay even at 3 with 2:22 remaining in the third.
BLUE JACKETS 6, SABRES 4
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Kirill Marchenko and Mathieu Olivier each had a goal and an assist and Daniil Tarasov made 21 saves to help Columbus to a win over Buffalo.
Yegor Chinakhov, Adam Fantilli, Zachary Aston-Reese and Damon Severson also scored for Columbus, and Zach Werenski added two assists.
Ryan McLeod, Owen Power and JJ Peterka scored for Buffalo, and Jiri Kulich added his first NHL goal. Devon Lev stopped 19 shots for the Sabres (1-5-1), who have lost two straight road games and five of their first six overall.
CANUCKS 3, FLORIDA 2, OT
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — J.T. Miller scored 2:09 into overtime and Vancouver got their first win of the season, beating Florida.
Teddy Blueger and Quinn Hughes had goals for Vancouver, with Kevin Lankinen stopping 26 shots.
Anton Lundell got his fourth goal in the last three games for Florida and Jesper Boqvist also scored for the Panthers, who got 30 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky.
OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Jacob Markstrom stopped 30 shots and lost his shutout bid in the final minutes as New Jersey beat Ottawa.
Erik Haula, Nathan Bastian and Paul Cotter scored for the Devils, who won for the third time in four games and improved to 5-2-0.
The Senators, who were coming off an 8-7 overtime victory against Los Angeles on Monday, struggled to beat Markstrom.
Brady Tkachuk was the only scorer for the Senators, beating Markstrom, with a power-play goal with 65 seconds remaining in the third period.
Anton Forsberg, making his second straight start and hoping to rebound after getting pulled Monday, made 32 saves in the loss.
Haula opened the scoring early in the second period and Bastian added a short-handed goal, giving New Jersey a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes. Cotter scored midway through the third.
RANGERS 5, RED WING 2
DETROIT (AP) — Artemi Panarin had his eighth career hat trick and New York rolled to a victory over Detroit.
Panarin became the first Rangers player to have multiple points in the first four games of a season. He scored twice on the power play. Vincent Trocheck also had a power- play goal and assisted on all of Panarin’s goals.
Jonathan Quick made 29 saves in his season debut. Victor Mancini also scored.
The Rangers have won the last five meetings, including twice this week. New York had a 4-1 home victory over Detroit on Monday night.
Moritz Seider and J.T. Compher scored for Detroit. Red Wings goalie Cam Talbot was pulled in the second period after allowing five goals.
KINGS 4, CANADIENS 1
MONTREAL (AP) — David Rittich made 26 saves a night after being benched in the second period in Toronto, helping road-weary Los Angeles snap a three-game losing streak with a victory over Montreal.
Los Angeles improved to 2-1-2 on a season-opening, seven-game trip necessitated by arena renovations.
Rittich rebounded after allowing four goals on 14 shots in a 6-2 loss to the Maple Leafs. Alex Laferriere, Mikey Anderson, Andreas Englund and Adrian Kempe scored.
Justin Barron scored for Montreal (2-3-0). Sam Montembeault stopped 28 shots. He made a save on Kevin Fiala on a penalty shot.
BLUES 1, ISLANDERS 0, OT
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Joel Hofer made 34 saves and assisted on Jake Neighbours’ goal at 2:04 of overtime in St. Louis victory over New York.
Hofer had his second career shutout in his and the team’s second overtime victory of the season.
Philip Broberg carried the puck into the New York zone and made a centering pass to Neighbours for the winner.
Islanders goalie Ilya Sorkin made 29 saves.
Blues defenseman Nick Leddy sat out because of a lower-body injury, the first game he has missed this season. Leddy played in all 82 games last season.
OILERS 4, PREDATORS 2
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Brett Kulak scored twice and Connor McDavid added his first goal of the season to lead Edmonton to a victory over reeling Nashville.
Jeff Skinner also scored and Calvin Pickard made 25 saves for the defending Western Conference champion Oilers, who have won consecutive games after beginning the season with a three-game skid.
Filip Forsberg and Jonathan Marchessault scored and Juuse Saros made 32 saves for Nashville (0-4).
Forsberg’s goal midway through the first period gave Nashville its first lead of the season. That lasted less than six minutes before Kulak tied it.
Kulak sealed it with an empty-netter in the final minute for the defenseman’s first career two-goal game.
BLACKHAWKS 4, SHARKS 2
CHICAGO (AP) — Tyler Bertuzzi and Nick Foligno each scored a power-play goal, and Chicago beat San Jose.
Taylor Hall and Jason Dickinson also scored for Chicago. Connor Bedard and Teuvo Teravainen each had two assists.
Hall, who missed most of last season because of right knee surgery, put the Blackhawks in front 4:20 into the first period. It was Hall’s first goal since Nov. 5 and No. 267 for his career.
Tyler Toffoli and Fabian Zetterlund scored for San Jose, which trailed 3-0 early in the second. William Eklund and Mikael Granlund had two assists each.
The Sharks dropped to 0-2-2 under Ryan Warsofsky, who was promoted to head coach in June.
Petr Mrazek had 20 saves for Chicago, and Vitek Vanecek made 23 stops for San Jose.
KRAKEN 6, FLYERS 4
SEATTLE (AP) — Eeli Tolvanen, Jordan Eberle, and Shane Wright scored three goals in less than three minutes in the second period and Seattle held off a Philadelphia rally in a victory.
Tolvanen’s goal broke a 2-2 tie at the 14:57 mark. Eberle made it a two-goal game with a goal at 17:44. Eight seconds later, Wright scored to give Seattle a three-goal lead.
Jared McCann tied the game at 2-2 with the first of Seattle’s four second-period goals.
Cam York and Jamie Drysdale scored to pull Philadelphia within 5-4 in the third period, but Oliver Bjorkstrand responded with a goal to push Seattle’s lead to two with just over five minutes left in the game.
Scott Laughton scored twice for the Flyers in the first period, while Brandon Montour scored one in for the Kraken.
Chandler Stephenson had an assist in his 500th NHL game. Seattle’s Philipp Grubauer had 21 saves.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Mountain West Conference Commissioner Gloria Nevarez said Thursday the forfeitures that volleyball teams are willing to take to avoid playing San Jose State is “not what we celebrate in college athletics” and that she is heartbroken over what has transpired this season surrounding the Spartans and their opponents.
Four teams have canceled games against San Jose State: Boise State, Southern Utah, Utah State and Wyoming, with none of the schools explicitly saying why they were forfeiting.
A group of Nevada players issued a statement saying they will not take the floor when the Wolf Pack are scheduled to host the Spartans on Oct. 26. They cited their “right to safety and fair competition,” though their school reaffirmed Thursday that the match is still planned and that state law bars forfeiture “for reasons related to gender identity or expression.”
All those schools, except Southern Utah, are in the Mountain West. New Mexico, also in the MWC, went ahead with its home match on Thursday night, which was won by the Spartans, 3-1, the team’s first victory since Sept. 24.
“It breaks my heart because they’re human beings, young people, student-athletes on both sides of this issue that are getting a lot of national negative attention,” Nevarez said in an interview with The Associated Press at Mountain West basketball media days. “It just doesn’t feel right to me.”
Republican governors of Idaho, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming have made public statements in support of the cancellations, citing a need for fairness in women’s sports. Former President Donald Trump, the GOP nominee in this year’s presidential race, this week referenced an unidentified volleyball match when he was asked during a Fox News town hall about transgender athletes in women’s sports.
“I saw the slam, it was a slam. I never saw a ball hit so hard, hit the girl in the head,” Trump replied before he was asked what can be done. “You just ban it. The president bans it. You just don’t let it happen.”
After Trump’s comment, San Diego State issued a statement that said “it has been incorrectly reported that an San Diego State University student-athlete was hit in the face with a volleyball during match play with San Jose State University. The ball bounced off the shoulder of the student-athlete, and the athlete was uninjured and did not miss a play.”
San Jose State has not made any direct comments about the politicians’ “fairness” references, and Nevarez did not go into details.
“I’m learning a lot about the issue,” Nevarez said. “I don’t know a lot of the language yet or the science or the understanding nationally of how this issue plays out. The external influences are so far on either side. We have an election year. It’s political, so, yeah, it feels like a no-win based on all the external pressure.”
The cancellations could mean some teams will not qualify for the conference tournament Nov. 27-30 in Las Vegas, where the top six schools are slated to compete for the league championship.
“The student-athlete (in question) meets the eligibility standard, so if a team does not play them, it’s a forfeit, meaning they take a loss,” Nevarez said.
Ahead of the Oct. 26 match in Reno. Nevada released a statement acknowledging that “a majority of the Wolf Pack women’s volleyball team” had decided to forfeit against San Jose State. The school said only the university can take that step but any player who decides not to play would face no punishment.