Next up: All eyes turn to Beijing, host of the 2022 Winter Games in February; COVID-19 may be factor
A sigh of relief reverberated across Tokyo on Sunday, signaling the end to a Summer Olympics that some thought never would happen because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
But the hangover of organizing the most challenging Olympics in history won’t subside quickly. In six months, the International Olympic Committee will move its big top to Beijing for the controversial 2022 Winter Games that open Feb. 4.
As IOC President Thomas Bach was dubbing Tokyo “the Olympic Games of hope, solidarity and peace,” some observers already are wondering about the sanity of the next stop.
“The double debacle of Tokyo and Beijing are raising serious questions about the whole Olympic project,” said Jules Boykoff, an Olympics historian at Pacific University in Oregon.
The global pandemic that had plagued the Tokyo Games will follow winter Olympians to Beijing. It’s not the only issue that has gained traction.
As Beijing is poised to become the first city to play host to a Summer and Winter Olympics, it faces mounting calls for boycotts over human rights abuses, questions about how it will handle the coronavirus and the aesthetics of holding competition on artificial snowfields.
Politics will rise to the forefront just as it did 14 years ago when Beijing played host to the Summer Games.
The Chinese government has faced international criticism over its treatment of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang province. The leadership also has been under scrutiny over a crackdown of protesters in Hong Kong and its policies regarding Tibet and Taiwan.
Human rights groups
have alleged that more than 1 million Uyghurs have been placed in internment camps. Beijing said the camps are training centers designed to stop Islamic extremism.
Beijing won the Winter Games in 2015 when its only competition was Almaty, Kazakhstan. It became an either-or choice after Oslo, Norway, withdrew because of escalating costs to hold the competition.
While a full-scale boycott is unlikely, activists and Western lawmakers have called for a diplomatic snub by refusing to send official government representatives to the Beijing Games.
Beyond the political arena, other questions loom. One of the biggest is whether spectators will be allowed at the venues, some that are 120 miles from Beijing. Last week, Chinese leaders temporarily closed airports among
other travel restrictions to slow the spread of the COVID-19 delta variant.
Then there is the weather, which hit 78 degrees last February in a midwinter hot spell. At least the artificial snow on the slopes won’t melt.
Despite the problems, the Winter Games promise to showcase the biggest names on snow and ice: figure skater Nathen Chen, skier Mikaela Shiffrin and snowboarder Shaun White — if they qualify.
The Beijing Games are scheduled to hold a total of 109 events in the sports of biathlon, bobsled, curling, ice hockey, luge, skating and skiing. The IOC plans to introduce seven new events, including men’s and women’s big-air freestyle, women’s single-person bobsled and mixed team competitions.
Here’s a look at some of the marquee athletes to watch:
Alpine skiing
Shiffrin, 26, has the chance to become the most decorated U.S. skier in history. She is a two-time gold medal winner, three-time overall World Cup champion and a four-time world champion in slalom.
Frenchmen Mathieu Faivre and Alexis Pinturault are among the best in the men’s competition, with Austrians Vincent Kriechmayr and Matthias Mayer and five-time medalist Kjetil Jansrud of Norway in the mix.
Lake Tahoe’s Bryce Bennett and Travis Ganong could challenge them in the speed events.
Freestyle skiing
Canadian Mikael Kingsbury is looking to defend his mogul skiing title from Pyeongchang. He also won a silver medal in Sochi in 2014. Kingsbury has won the most freestyle skiing world medals
of any man in history.
Figure skating
Nathan Chen struggled in his Olympic debut in 2018 to place fifth. Since then the Yale student has been unstoppable as a three-time reigning world champion. Two-time reigning Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan is his closest competition.
Vincent Zhou of Palo Alto has been Chen’s runner-up at U.S. championships two of the past three years.
Russians Anna Shcherbakova and teen Kamila Valieva are favored in the women’s competition. Bradie Tennell is the United States’ most consistent skater but Richmond’s Alysa Liu, 16, makes her senior-level debut with loads of promise. Karen Chen of Fremont also could make her second Olympic team.
Snowboarding
Reigning halfpipe champion
Chloe Kim of Orange County and Mammoth Lakes is one of her sport’s biggest stars. Kim, 21, took a year off the slopes to attend Princeton. But now she is back.
So is White, who is seeking his fourth Olympic title at age 34. But he might find stiff competition from protege Toby Miller of Truckee.
Hockey
NHL stars Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid lead the Canadian team, which is expected to rule the ice rink as reigning world champions.
The women’s ice hockey tournament is expected to be another North American showdown between Canada and the United States. The U.S. has scoring sensation Abby Roque of the University of Wisconsin — coached by former Sharks player Tony Granato — making her anticipated Olympic debut.