Beijing: Chinese President Xi Jinping would launch the Winter Olympics 2022 which is set to begin in a few hours today. The President would be accompanied by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan for the launch. Amongst other diplomats who would attend the event include, Thomas Bach President of the International Olympics Committee, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. US and India this year boycott their envoys for the games on humanitarian crisis and Galwan PAL officer as the torchbearer respectively.
The fortnight-long games are being held at repurposed Bird’s Nest National Stadium that was originally built for Summer Olympics 2008. The stadium also served as the venue for Track and Field as well the men’s 2008 gold medal soccer game. However, this time it will not host any sporting competitions during the 2022 Winter Olympics.
The Beijing Winter Games will debut seven new Olympic events: Women’s Monobob, Men’s and Women’s Big Air (Freestyle Skiing), Mixed Team Snowboard Cross, Mixed Team Aerials, Mixed Team Short Track Relay, and Mixed Team Ski Jumping. In total, there will be 109 medal events across 15 sports.
The Winter Olympics this year battled huge criticism amidst its coercive restrictions levied abiding by the Zero COVID Policy. No foreign crowd apart from the delegates would witness the event. Instead of a market sale, organizers this year distributed the tickets to targeted groups who are stringently instructed to abide by the norms set up.