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Hey everyone!
Today the 2022 Winter Olympic games start is Beijing!!
Photo source: https://unsplash.com/photos/hT9srFlXPGE
Yes I know: haven't the previous Olympic games just ended? They did, but we have to remember that initially they were planned to happen in 2020 and had to be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But for sports fans such as myself, that's far from being a problem. Also, because of the Omicron variant, China chose to not sell tickets to the general public for both the Olympics and Paralympics. Strict “closed loop” safety measures will also take place: daily testing for participants and requiring all athletes and staff to be fully vaccinated (or face a 21-day quarantine).
In this Winter edition, we'll be lucky to see no more no less than 109 events over 7 sports. Seven new events were added, them being:
- Bobsled: Women's monobob.
- Freestyle skiing: Mixed team aerials. ⛷
- Freestyle skiing: Men's big air. ⛷
- Freestyle skiing: Women's big air. ⛷
- Short-track speedskating: Mixed team relay.
- Ski jumping: Mixed team event.
- Snowboarding: Mixed team snowboard cross. 🏂
Those additions have made this edition of the Winter Olympics the one with the greatest number of events so far.
The tournament is currently scheduled to take place for February 4 up until February 20, when the closing ceremony takes place. After that, the Paralympics are scheduled for March 4 to 13.
One curious point about this year's edition is that it doesn't snow that much in Beijing, so two cities close to the capital will host the outdoor skiing events, them being Yanqing and Zhandjiakou. But even on those cities usually there isn't an amount of snow necessary to support ski practice, so there'll be artificially created snow as well.
Adding to that, Beijing will be the the inaugural dual Olympic city, being the first city in the world to host both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games, as it has hosted the Summer Games in 2008.
The mascots for this year's Olympics and Paralympics games are Bing Dwen Dwen (a panda who wears a suit made of ice) and Shuey Rhon Rhon, an anthropomorphic lantern, respectively.
By the way you can watch the opening ceremony live on BBC One, with coverage starting from 11:30am today 
Are you excited for any particular sport? Does any of the new events get your attention? Do you prefer the "Summer" Olympics or the Winter version? Let us know in the comments below 
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@Mi-Amigo wrote:Well that`s it. The 2022 Winter Olympics are over.
Team GB got two medals - GOLD in Women`s curling and SILVER in Men`s curling.
Maybe I was the only member of the Community who love the curling [and no I didn`t stay up to the wee small hours to watch the final] but surely everyone must agree the teams put on a brilliant performance throughout aganst very strong competition.
We watched it @Mi-Amigo. We knew it was the only chance of a medal, and my husband plays bowls. Curling is the closest sport to that in the Winter Olympics 😊
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I do have make a comment about the 15 year old ice skater who had a suspicious drug test in December. I know Russia has the awful history of constant drug use which is why they have been banned from appearing at Olympic events. They got round that by appearing as R O.C.
I have a complete aversion to drug taking in sports but I think what happened to that 15 year old child was borderline cruelty. After all the bad publicity, instead of withdrawing her, the coaches made her skate. She fell 4 times in the final, was in absolute shock and so upset and came 4th. The lack of care from the coaches when she sat waiting for her results was appalling. I kept asking myself, what child of 15 would willingly take drugs on her own, knowing that all of the Russian contestants would be tested. Something not right and very political in my opinion.
