Sochi Seen: How and Who to Watch at the Winter Olympics

It's a pleasant coincidence that Beijing's first snowfall of the year coincided with the opening of the 22nd Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. The good news is that unlike the London Olympics, which had an eight-hour time difference, and this summer's World Cup in Brazil, which will have a jet lag-inducing 14-hour time difference, Sochi (pronounced "Saw-chee") has only a four-hour time difference from Beijing, offering maximum viewing potential to Beijingers who actually care about the Winter Olympics (i.e. Canadian expatriates). See our Sochi-watching guide here for where to watch the Opening Ceremony.

What's worth watching? Men's hockey first. The puck drops on hockey competition at 4pm local Beijing time on Saturday for a match between the US and Finland. That's followed at 9pm local by Canada versus Switzerland. Other highlights include the North American blood feud and 2010 gold medal rematch between Canada and the United States at 10:30pm local on Wednesday, February 12. The men's hockey gold medal game is one of the winter games' final events, at 8pm local on Sunday, February 23. The full schedule's here.

Women's figure skating takes place on February 19 and 20, with short program the first day starting at 3pm local, and free skate the next, also at 3pm local.

Men's and women's skeleton, also known as the head-first luge, will be staged on February 13-15, at 7:30pm, 1:30am, 3:40pm, and 2:45pm, respectively. This is the only event we're definitely watching.

Snowboarding events take place over five days, starting February 6 and ending February 11. Check the schedule here.

As for whom to watch: China is not traditionally a heavyweight at the Winter Olympics, so expect CCTV to put up a brave, we-love-international-competitions-but-only-when-we-win face, while trying to manage expectations for actual wins. One big medal favorite for China won't be competing: speed skater Wang Meng, who withdrew with an injury. Our friends at Beijing Cream do a good job of running down the Chinese contenders. Since it's entirely possible some of these people will be begging on Beijing streets a few years from now, we'll leave the analysis to them on this one. Hey, it happens to the best of us, er, them.

If you'd rather do than watch, then take a look back at our January issue of the Beijinger, where we talked all about ice skating, ice hockey, and other cold-weather activities.
 

Photo: The Economist