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Chinese president declares Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games open – CBC Sports

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Chinese President Xi Jinping declared the Olympic Winter Games open on Friday, during a subdued opening ceremony that followed less than six months after the end of the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Summer Games.

Before Xi declared the Games open, International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach wished those in attendance and those watching at home a happy new year, as those celebrating the Lunar New Year are in the midst of that celebration, which began earlier this week.

“This year of the tiger is also an Olympic year,” Bach said. “Both the year of the tiger and the Olympic year stand for ambition, courage and strength. Today, thanks to this ambition, China is a winter sport country.”

Indeed, Bach noted that some 300 million Chinese residents are now participating in winter sports, at more than 2,000 ice rinks and ski resorts.

“Now your moment has come: the moment you have been longing for, the moment we all have been longing for,” Bach told the more than 2,400 athletes who will be competing at these Games. “Now your Olympic dream is coming true in magnificent venues supported by hundreds of millions of new Chinese winter sport fans.”

Bach noted that athletes living together in the Olympic Athlete’s Village show the world how rivals can live together in harmony.

“There, there will be no discrimination for any reason whatsoever. In our fragile world, where division, conflict and mistrust are on the rise, we show the world that yes it is possible to be fierce rivals, while at the same time living peacefully and respectfully together.”

After the Games were declared open, six former Olympic medallists from China carried the Olympic flag into the National Stadium as a children’s choir sang the Olympic anthem in Greek, having practiced for three months.

To close the opening ceremony, seven torch-bearers carried the Olympic flame in a final relay into the stadium. One male and one female torch-bearer shared the last torch in a display of gender equality. All of the final torch-bearers are winter-sport athletes who were born sequentially in the 1950s, ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and 2000s.

The torch was then placed inside a giant snowflake that hung over the stadium, before a massive fireworks display erupted.

‘We are cheering for everyone’

Athletes from more than 90 countries settled into Beijing’s National Stadium, a.k.a. the “Bird’s Nest,” for the opening ceremony of these Games — a familiar scene as the city is the first to host both a Summer and Winter Olympics, with many venues repurposed for winter use after the 2008 Summer Games.

Canada’s flag-bearers, short track speed skater Charles Hamelin and hockey star Marie-Philip Poulin, led Team Canada into the 80,000-seat National Stadium 27th out of more than 90 countries that have sent teams to these Games. 

Hamelin said he had “chills” when he received the flag, and while athletes are following COVID-19 protocols, Team Canada is still banding together to support one another.

“We are limited in our contact, but we are cheering for everyone,” he said right before marching into the stadium.

The Canadian Olympic Committee announced the selection of Poulin and Hamelin on Wednesday, the day competition began with the opening round of the mixed curling round robin tournament.

WATCH | Poulin and Hamelin lead Team Canada into the opening ceremony:

Poulin and Hamelin lead Canada into opening ceremony of Olympic Winter Games

3 hours ago
Duration 3:48

Canadian hockey great Marie-Philip Poulin and Olympic champion Charles Hamelin led Canada’s contingent into the opening ceremony in Beijing. 3:48

Also returning this year is opening ceremony director Zhang Yimou, the Chinese filmmaker whose movies include House of Flying Daggers and Raise the Red Lantern, who served in the same role in 2008.

The departure for this opening ceremony, the theme of which is “One World, One Family,” is the fact that not a single performer is a professional. All singers, dancers and actors in the show are students from primary and secondary schools, and universities, as well as ordinary citizens from Beijing and across Hebei province. Unlike in 2008, there are no big-name stars set to take the stage.

“Chinese culture believes that a truly wise person sees the whole world as a family,” the media guide for the opening ceremony reads. “We hope that Beijing 2022 will be a reunion of people from all over the world, and that we will all spend an unforgettable Chinese New Year together in Beijing as one family.”

The Lunar New Year period began on Feb. 1. 

Fans take their seats inside the stadium prior to the opening ceremony of the Olympic Winter Games at the Beijing National Stadium on Friday in Beijing, China. (Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)

The official program began with a countdown of sorts, with a video marking the 24 Jie Qi, or solar terms, of the Chinese lunar calendar. In the Chinese lunar calendar, each month is divided into two solar terms, with were formed generations ago and are based on the changing patterns of animal behaviour, plant growth and weather. To this day, they still guide agricultural production and daily life.

The number 24 is also symbolic for these Games, as they are the 24th Olympic Winter Games.

The Chinese flag was then brought into the National Stadium by a group of Chinese citizens from all walks of life, which included representatives from 56 different ethnic groups in China.

Not long after, the Olympic rings, which are always on display for an opening ceremony, appeared. A drop of blue “ink” dropped from the sky and turned into a river, and the waves undulated until they froze, with a giant cube emerging from the floor.

Twenty-four laser beams carved the names of the 24 host cities of the Winter Games into the cube as hockey players shot around a puck. Every time the puck hit the cube, laser beams shot at it until it broke apart to reveal the Olympic rings. This “ice-breaking” was designed to evoke the ice-breakers we experience as we get to know others. 

Indeed, the stage at the centre of the stadium is composed of HD LED screens, which together resemble a giant ice surface. On that surface also rests the Chinese character for happiness, which people put in their windows and doors during Lunar New Year. They often put it upside down, which then makes it the Chinese symbol for “arrival,” meaning the happiness will arrive home.

Snowflake motif

If spectators at home notice a lot of snowflake motifs throughout the ceremony, indeed it’s a theme that runs throughout the event. The snowflake imagery brings together East and West. As a 1,300-year-old line from Chinese poet Li Bai goes, “The snowflakes in the Yan Mountains are as big as a mattress,” while the Western proverb reminds us that “no two snowflakes are alike.” All are different, but come together to make a beautiful winter, just like different people come together at the Olympics.

The snowflake-like motif can be seen on the placards on which each country’s name is written as the athletes march in to the stadium. The design of the placards is also inspired by the “Chinese knot,” an ancient Chinese craft of hand-knitting with one single thread throughout. The placard-bearers also have a snow and snowflake motif in their costumes, as well as tiger motifs in their hats, for the Year of the Tiger.

After the parade of nations, all placard-holders came together to form a larger snowflake made up of the placards of each country, and the large snowflake was framed by olive branches — a symbol of peace — done in calligraphy.

Team Canada fielding 215 athletes

WATCH | Canada’s flag-bearers discuss life in the Athlete’s Village with tight COVID-19 restrictions:

How have COVID-19 restrictions affected athletes at Beijing 2022?

2 days ago

Duration 1:10

Team Canada’s flag-bearers Charles Hamelin and Marie-Philip Poulin respond to a question about the Beijing 2022 experience in the athlete’s village, with tight restrictions around COVID-19. 1:10

Team Canada is fielding 215 athletes — third-most for a Winter Olympics and the most athletes who identify as female, with 106 — at Beijing 2022, which runs until Feb. 20.

Beijing is the first city to host both a Summer and Winter Olympics, and has incorporated some of the venues from the 2008 Summer Games.

International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach said that, as of Thursday, some 2,740 athletes from around the world are in Beijing for the Games. As with the Olympic Summer Games in Tokyo last year, no tickets were sold for the opening ceremony, but Beijing organizers gave tickets to select groups of people.

The Beijing Games are being run with strict COVID-19-prevention protocols, including what’s being called a “closed loop” system, in which athletes, media and other officials confined to a bubble, away from the public.

In the lead up to the Games, a number of countries — including Canada — announced diplomatic boycotts in protest of human rights abuses in China, particularly reports of forced labour of Uyghur workers.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, an ally of China, is one of the few foreign leaders at the opening ceremony despite growing international concern about a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine.

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After 20 years at the top of chess, Magnus Carlsen is making his next move

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STAVANGER, Norway (AP) — Few chess players enjoy Magnus Carlsen‘s celebrity status.

A grand master at 13, refusing to play an American dogged by allegations of cheating, and venturing into the world of online chess gaming all made Norway’s Carlsen a household name.

Few chess players have produced the magical commodity that separates Norway’s Magnus Carlsen from any of his peers: celebrity.

Only legends like Russia’s Garry Kasparov and American Bobby Fischer can match his name recognition and Carlsen is arguably an even more dominant player. Last month, he beat both men to be named the International Chess Federation’s greatest ever.

But his motivation to rack up professional titles is on the wane. Carlsen, 33, now wants to leverage his fame to help turn the game he loves into a spectator sport.

“I am in a different stage in my career,” he told The Associated Press. “I am not as ambitious when it comes to professional chess. I still want to play, but I don’t necessarily have that hunger. I play for the love of the game.”

Offering a new way to interact with the game, Carlsen on Friday launched his application, Take Take Take, which will follow live games and players, explaining matches in an accessible way that, Carlsen says, is sometimes missing from streaming platforms like YouTube and Twitch. “It will be a chiller vibe,” he says.

Carlsen intends to use his experience to provide recaps and analysis on his new app, starting with November’s World Chess Championship tournament between China’s Ding Liren and India’s Gukesh Dommaraju. He won’t be competing himself because he voluntarily ceded the title in 2023.

Carlsen is no novice when it comes to chess apps. The Play Magnus game, which he started in 2014, gave online users the chance to play against a chess engine modeled against his own gameplay. The company ballooned into a suite of applications and was bought for around $80 million in 2022 by Chess.com, the world’s largest chess website.

Carlsen and Mats Andre Kristiansen, the chief executive of his company, Fantasy Chess, are betting that a chess game where users can follow individual players and pieces, filters for explaining different elements of each game, and light touch analysis will scoop up causal viewers put off by chess’s sometimes rarefied air. The free app was launched in a bid to build the user base ahead of trying to monetizing it. “That will come later, maybe with advertisements or deeper analysis,” says Kristiansen.

While Take Take Take offers a different prospect with its streaming services, it is still being launched into a crowded market with Chess.com, which has more than 100 million users, YouTube, Twitch, and the website of FIDE the International Chess Federation. World Chess was worth around $54 million when it got listed on the London Stock Exchange.

The accessibility of chess engines that can beat any human means cheating has never been easier. However, they can still be used to shortcut thousands of hours of book-bound research, and hone skills that would be impossible against human opponents.

“I think the games today are of higher quality because preparation is becoming deeper and deeper and artificial intelligence is helping us play. It is reshaping the way we evaluate the games,” especially for the new generation of players, says Carlsen.

At the same time, he admits that two decades after becoming a grand master, his mind doesn’t quite compute at the tornado speed it once did. “Most people have less energy when they get older. The brain gets slower. I have already felt that for a few years. The younger players’ processing power is just faster.”

Even so, he intends to be the world’s best for many years to come.

“My mind is a bit slower, and I maybe don’t have as much energy. But chess is about the coming together of energy, computing power and experience. I am still closer to my peak than decline,” he said.

Chess has been cresting a popularity wave begun by Carlsen himself.

He became the world’s top-ranked player in 2011. In 2013, he won the first of his five World Championships. In 2014, he achieved the highest-ever chess rating of 2882, and he has remained the undisputed world number one for the last 13 years.

Off the table, chess influencers, like the world No. 2, Hikaru Nakamura, are using social media to bring the game to a wider audience. The Netflix series “The Queen’s Gambit” burnished chess’ unlikely cerebral sex appeal when it became one of the streamer’s biggest hits in 2020.

And in 2022 Carlsen’s refusal to play against Hans Niemann, an American grand master, who admitted to using technology to cheat in online games in the past, created a rare edge in the usually sedate world of chess. There is no evidence Niemann ever cheated in live games but the feud between the pair propelled the game even further into public consciousness.

Whether chess can continue to grow without the full professional participation of its biggest celebrity remains to be seen.

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Top figure skaters ready to hit the ice at Skate Canada International

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Canadian pairs team Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps along with ice dancers Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier headline a strong field at Skate Canada International. The Canadians say they’re excited to perform in front of a home crowd as the world’s best figure skaters arrive in Halifax. (Oct. 24, 2024)

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Nico Echavarria shoots another 64 to lead the Zozo Championship by 2 shots after the second round

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INZAI CITY, Japan (AP) — Nico Echavarria shot a 6-under 64 on Friday — matching his 64 on Thursday — to lead by two shots over Taylor Moore and Justin Thomas after the second round of the Zozo Championship in Japan.

Thomas shot 64 and Moore carded 67 with three others just three shots off the lead including Seamus Power, who had the day’s low round of 62 at the Narashino Country Club.

Thomas has twice won the PGA Championship but is winless in two years on the PGA Tour.

Eric Cole (67) and C.T. Pan (66) were also three behind heading to Saturday.

Nick Taylor, of Abbotsford, B.C., is the top Canadian at 5-under and tied for 16th.

Ben Silverman, of Thornhill, Ont., is two shots back of Taylor and tied for 31st.

“I’ve never had a lead after 36 holes,” said Echavarria, a Colombian who played at the University of Arkansas. His lone PGA win was last year in Puerto Rico.

He had a two-round total of 12-under 128.

“I’ve had it after 54, but never after 36, so it’s good to be in this position. There’s got to be some pressure,” he added. “Hopefully a good round tomorrow can keep me in the lead or around the lead. And how I said yesterday — the goal is to be close with nine holes to go.”

Rickie Fowler, a crowd favorite in Japan because of his connections to the country, shot 64 to go with an opening 68 and was four shots back going into the weekend. Max Greyserman was also four behind after a 68.

“It would be amazing to win here,” said Fowler, whose mother has Japanese roots. “Came close a few years ago.”

Fowler tied for second in 2022

Fowler described his roots as “pretty far removed for Japan, but I’m sure I have relatives here, but I don’t know anyone. Japanese culture’s always been a fairly big part of life growing up. I always love being over here.”

Japanese star Hideki Matsuyama shot his second 71 and was 14 shots off the lead.

Defending champion Collin Morikawa shot 67 and pulled within eight shot of the lead, and Xander Schauffele — British Open and PGA winner this season — shot 65 and was 10 behind after a 73 on Thursday.

“I feel like I’ve got a good game plan out here,” Morikawa said, another player with Japanese connections. “I just have to execute shots a little better.”

“I am the defending champ, but that doesn’t mean I’m immediately going to play better just because I won here,” he added. “It’s a brand new week, it’s a year later. I feel like my golf game is still in a good spot. I just haven’t executed my shots. When that doesn’t happen it makes golf a little tougher.”

Schauffele turned 31 on Friday and said he was serenaded before his opening tee shot. He also has ties to Japan. His mother grew up in Japan and his grandparents live in the Tokyo area.

“Nice way to spend my 31st birthday,” he said.

___

AP golf:

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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