OlymPicks: Volleyball Players Will Swap Sand for Snow at 2022 Games

OlymPicks is an ongoing blog series whereby we highlight news, gossip, and developments regarding the buildup to Beijing's 2022 Winter Olympics.

The world's best female volleyball players will soon have to ditch the long controversial (albeit very popular) bikinis worn for the beach sport as they head to Beijing for the 2022 Winter Olympics. That's right: the forthcoming games hosted by the Chinese capital will be the first Winter Games to host the sport, which will also make volleyball the first sport to be held at both the Summer and Winter Olympics.

The chillier setting will no doubt be a big adjustment for Olympic volleyball players, who have long trained on the beach for the Summer Games and are often given skimpy uniforms for the warmer weather, though rule changes for the 2012 Olympics allow for more modest attire. That sort of G rated tone extends to International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) General Director Fabio Azevedo's plans for the sport's future. He recently told the Associated Press (via NBC) that “Our key message is to be the No. 1 family sport in the world, I think it fits perfectly to our plan.”

The fast paced fun of a popular sport like volleyball, not to mention the unconventional notion of turning a sport so associated with sun and sand into a Winter Games competition, could no doubt be a major opportunity for the Olympics to make headlines. Sadly, the sport wasn't mentioned during a very dry launch event about the marketing plan for the games, which was reported on in an equally dry Xinhua article. The article states that the Games' "marketing program comprises three major parts, namely a sponsorship program, licensing program, and ticketing program." It went on to describe how the Games' marketing is meant to extend past the event's end and encourage young people to participate in winter sports in general, while also "speeding up the implementation of the strategy of integrated and coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region."

Winter sports certainly need all the promotion and burnishing they can get in China, especially after the lackluster performance of its athletes at recent competitions. As the Asian Winter Games came to an end earlier this week, China only came in third in terms of medal totals, winning 12 gold, 14 silver, and nine bronze medals, compared to long-time rival and host Japan's first place finish on the medal table with 27 gold, 21 silver, and 26 bronze medals, and neighboring South Korea's second place with 16-18-16 total. Chinese hockey diehards hoping to give the sport a boost in popularity at home (of whom there are more than you might expect) are also no doubt fretting the men's astounding 10-0 loss against South Korea competitors at the Asian Winter Games. A "whitewash" loss was how it was described in one article titled "Who can break China's ice hockey deadlock?"

One element that could provide the Mainland's Winter Olympic a redemptive narrative is that of China's greatest comeback queen, volleyball coach Lang Ping. Once branded a traitor for coaching the US women's team past the Chinese, Lang who now looks to have a direct hand in the sport's expansion, returning as China's head coach (read up on her inspiring story in this excellent Wall Street Journal profile here, or in the South China Morning Post here).

Hopefully with Lang's help and some serious training, China's athletes will a little more seasoned to the world's wintery sports by the time the 2022 rolls around.