OlymPicks: 500 Days To Go Til Wintry Athletes Hit the Snow

In OlymPicks, we highlight news, gossip, and developments regarding the buildup to Beijing's 2022 Winter Olympics.

500 days to go...

Last Monday, Sep 21, marked a scant 500 days until the launch of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics Games, which kicks off Feb 4 and runs until Feb 20, 2022 (obviously). The milestone was celebrated with an event at the Badaling Great Wall featuring musical performances and a paper cutting art exhibition, with other festivities having taken place earlier this month, such as CGTN’s riveting 11-minute live stream of an airplane getting pimped out in Olympic colors and branding.

At the time, it was unclear exactly what the point of all that was, but it turns out the plane carried delegates from the Beijing government and the Beijing 2022 organizing committee, along with figure skaters Pang Qing and Tong Jian from the capital to Chengdu. During the journey, passengers were treated to “interactive Winter Olympics Game quizzes,” which begs the question: Why did CGTN choose to broadcast the incremental and laborious painting of a plane as opposed to the fun interactive quiz? 

But we digress... Given COVID-19's disruption to 2020, the Beijing 2022 preparations have progressed unencumbered, earning lavish praise from the International Olympic Committee. Speaking via video link to the World Winter Sports Expo in Beijing, IOC President Thomas Bach said, “The IOC continues to be impressed by the progress of the preparations, and we are all looking forward to writing this new chapter in China’s great sporting history.”Juan Antonio Samaranch, chair of the IOC Coordination Commission for Beijing 2022 added, “Despite the difficulties over the last months, we are happy to recognize the big advance of the Beijing 2022 project.” 

Organizers acknowledge “uphill battle ahead”

Unfortunately, however, it’s not all fun and games (pun intended) yet. In the midst of the 500-day jubilation taking place at Badaling Great Wall yesterday, organizers for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games acknowledged that despite the progress thus far, there’s still plenty more work to be done. Speaking to Xinhua News, vice president and secretary-general of the Beijing 2022 Organizing Committee, Han Zirong, said “We are now more than halfway through our journey but face an uphill battle ahead.” From continuing to ensure that venues used for the games run on 100 percent clean energy to laying out the full competition calendar and planning the opening ceremony, designing the torch, and drawing a route for the torch relay, the production and logistics crews are only getting started. Nevertheless, if the coronavirus wasn’t enough to throw a wrench in the gears of Beijing’s Olympic preparations, a little clean energy certainly won’t get in the way either. 

As it happens, a draft proposal for the competition calendar has been submitted, and includes 228 competitions across 19 days, with mixed doubles curling leading the event two days before the opening ceremony, and women’s 300km cross-country skiing closing out the entirety of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games. Aside from those plans, however, the rest – like a gold medal ski jumper – is still up in the air.

READ: OlymPicks: An Olympic Skater Who Wants to Be a Brain Surgeon

Images: chinanews.com