The dust barely settled on the last Summer Olympics, we were reminded on Wednesday that the Winter Games are fast approaching. The opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics will take place in 100 days. These Olympics should also have some similarities to those in Tokyo.
Restrictions due to COVID-19 will once again be the norm. And just like in Tokyo, the athletes will participate after having to adapt to drastic changes in training, in their travel and in their general preparation for these Olympics.
The Beijing Games will launch on February 4, just six months after the closing ceremony of the Summer Games postponed for a year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“These are very, very tight deadlines for us,” said Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) CEO David Shoemaker. It’s more behind the scenes, but it does mean that there is a group of athletes who are still trying to qualify to live their dream. […] So we have to work with them in a very short window of opportunity to help them make this dream come true. “
The competitions in Tokyo were held in virtually empty venues. Spectators will be admitted to Beijing, which also hosted the 2008 Summer Games, but all must reside in mainland China, as those from outside cannot attend.
Organizers plan to use an extended bubble for athletes, members of the media, officials and workers assigned to the Olympics to limit the risk of infection until the Olympics conclude on February 20. The Paralympics will be played from March 3 to 14.
“It’s crazy,” said ski cross specialist Brady Leman. It’s in a few weeks, so we have to open the machine from the first stages of the World Cup. He admitted, however, that the experience is “absolutely motivating”. “I love this pressure on the way to the Games. Each race, you feel like you are preparing something bigger and bigger. “
Call for boycott
The Olympic torch arrived in Beijing last week, after protesters disrupted the flame-lighting ceremony in Greece. They accuse the International Olympic Committee (IOC) of legitimizing human rights violations in China. These activists say that China’s oppression of political critics and minorities should lead to a boycott of the Olympics by athletes and politicians.
I love this pressure on the way to the Games. Each race, you feel like you are preparing something bigger and bigger.
IOC President Thomas Bach declared that “the political neutrality of the Olympics must be respected”. This will not silence those who call for a boycott of Beijing 2022.
Canadian Olympic and Paralympic athletes will need to be fully immunized to participate in the Beijing Games. In Tokyo, 95% of them had received their two doses.
With the Associated Press