The Chinese capital refines the last details on the eve of the opening of the Winter Olympics, an atypical event that will take place entirely within a “bubble” to prevent covid-19 and also punctuated by the diplomatic boycott of Western countries, including United States States.
Beijing will thus become the first city to host both a summer Olympics -it did so in 550- like winter and according to the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, “will offer the world safe and splendid games”.
Xi addressed this Thursday by video message to the 139 session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), before the which stated that “the world is looking at China, and China is ready” and assured that his country has achieved the challenge that 300 millions of its citizens embrace winter sports.
Expected presences and burning absences
The Chinese ruler, who has not left the country for two years, will be in the next Host days for numerous authorities and leaders, including those of Russia, Vladimir Putin; Argentina, Alberto Fernandez; Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso; and Egypt, Abadelfatah al Sisi.
They have also confirmed their presence in Beijing -or have already arrived- the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, and the Director General of the World Health Organization ( WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, while Spain will be represented by its Minister of Culture and Sports, Miquel Iceta.
But more than on the presences, the magnifying glass will be on the burning absences of several countries Westerners, led by the United States and the United Kingdom, decided to apply a diplomatic boycott of the Olympic event in response to alleged human rights violations in the country, which China denies.
IOC: “Respect the Olympic Truce”
In clear reference to the boycott, the president of the IOC, Thomas Bach, affirmed today that the body will only be able to “fulfill its mission” of guaranteeing the participation of all athletes in the Olympic Games if they are “above ima of all political differences”, are “politically neutral” and do not become “a tool to achieve political objectives”.
“We ask all the political leaders of the world to respect their commitment to the Olympic Truce, so that these Winter Olympic Games become this precious symbol of peace and unity”, Bach asserted in the 86 IOC session.
Along with political dissent, these Winter Games will also be marked by the pandemic and will bear the stamp of “zero tolerance ” with the virus that the Asian country has applied in the last two years.
The two main venues and all the facilities and accommodations are completely isolated from the local population in a kind of “bubble” under extreme protection measures, although this has not prevented cases have already been registered within that closed Olympic circuit.
#Infographic For the first time, at the #Olympic Games in #Beijing2022, athletes will compete entirely on artificial snow, in a region with average annual snowfall of only 21 centimeters and scarcity of water throughout the year.
Via Graphic News pic.twitter.com/RxRnrWFhcz
— La Jornada (@lajornadaonline) January 21, 2022
Games with a “zero tolerance” seal
In the last month the health authorities have dealt – nervous about the proximity of the Games- with outbreaks in several areas of the country, including Beijing, which despite having been shielded for weeks has not managed to escape the omicron variant.
The country registered today 21 new local cases, if bi This count does not include the cases detected in the Olympic bubble or at the airport among athletes, delegations or journalists who arrived in the country for the sporting event and therefore must go directly to said circuit.
As of Tuesday, 232 cases had been reported, 163 detected at the border and 69 in the Olympic Village. The Chinese health authorities have already done more than half a million PCR tests in connection with the Games.
In line with these restrictions, during the Olympic event tickets will not be sold to spectators from abroad and they will only be able to witness the events in I live “designated spectators” who meet the “requirements of the prevention measures against the pandemic”, as announced by the organizing committee last month.
Schedule of competitions for the Beijing Winter Olympics 2022, from 4 to 20 February
Infographic: AFP. pic.twitter.com/m2Am1q9pqR
— German Amador (@GermanAmador16) February 1, 2022
One hundred minutes of inauguration
Meanwhile, preparations are being finalized in Beijing for the inauguration, which will have place tomorrow at 15: 00 local time ( : GMT) at the National Stadium -popularly called “the Nest”- and will be directed by renowned filmmaker Zhang Yimou, who also led the opening and closing ceremonies of the Summer Games in 2008.
The show will have a duration limited to one hundred minutes and “only” 3.000 participants due to the pandemic and to the cold of e This time in the Chinese capital, where the event will revolve around the motto of the Games: the construction of a “shared future for all humanity”.
It also continues today, also under prevention and almost behind closed doors, the Olympic torch relay that began the day before. When this tradition culminates tomorrow with the lighting of the Olympic flame in the National Stadium, 1 will have participated.200 carriers among and 86 years, as well as robots and autonomous cars, according to the Beijing Organizing Committee 2022.
The torch tour, which landed in China on last October from Greece, includes the three locations in Beijing 2022: the capital itself, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou (a 80 Y 180 kilometers, respectively), as well as emblematic places such as the Great Wall or the Summer Palace.
Beijing 2022 will be the third consecutive Olympic event to be held in Asia, after 2020 of Pyeongchang (South Korea) and the last Tokyo Games 2020, and it will also be the first winter hosted by China.
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