“I declare that the 24th Winter Olympics are open”: Chinese President Xi Jinping gave the ritual formula on Friday to kick off the 2022 Olympics, which make Beijing a part of Olympic history by becoming the first city to organize the Summer and Winter Games.
And suddenly the Olympic rings, improbable mixtures of ice and special effects, appeared in the middle of the Beijing National Stadium, nicknamed the “Bird’s Nest” and built especially for the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Conceived as fourteen years ago by the Chinese director Zhang Yimou, author in 2008 of a breathtaking patriotic and colorful celebration with 14,000 extras, dancers and acrobats, the opening ceremony of the 2022 Olympic Games unsurprisingly highlighted a Young, modern and diverse China.
With “only” 3,000 extras, Zhang Yimou notably presented the 56 ethnic groups and Chinese civil society during the very martial arrival of the Chinese flag, carried by eight soldiers with an almost robotic gait.
The ceremony takes place in front of stands filled to a third of their capacity by spectators invited for the occasion and in a heavy context, between Covid, diplomatic tensions and controversies.
Among the spectators of this ceremony boycotted by several Western countries, led by the United States, in order to denounce human rights violations in China, some twenty world leaders, including UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and Vladimir Putin, without mask.
destabilizing
The Russian president had earlier met Xi Jinping for a summit where the two leaders in unison lambasted the “negative” American influence for peace and denounced the role of Western military alliances in Europe and Asia, judging them destabilizing.
The meeting between Xi and Putin gave a diplomatic character to this opening of the Olympics while Westerners accuse Moscow of wanting to launch an invasion of Ukraine, pointing to the approximately 100,000 Russian soldiers deployed for weeks on the border of its pro neighbor. -western.
After the traditional parade of nations with the 91 delegations competing, the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach hoped that the Olympic spirit could extinguish the many controversies that accompanied the preparation of this Beijing fortnight.
“Over the next two weeks, you will compete for the greatest of rewards, while living together, in peace, under one Olympic roof. There, there will be no discrimination of any kind, ”launched the boss of the Olympic body to the athletes.
In the aftermath, President Xi took the floor briefly to declare the 24th Winter Olympics “open”.
All that’s missing is the arrival of the last bearer(s) of the Olympic flame before the cauldron, symbol for fifteen days of these Games, is set alight for sport to finally come to the fore. .
But due to the pandemic, these second Olympic Games under Covid, after those in Tokyo last summer, will find it difficult to be a party.
“Our country is strong”
Athletes are confined in a health bubble and subjected to daily screenings. As Beijing observes a zero Covid strategy, no contact is authorized with the population and if the stands of the competition sites will be partially filled, they will be filled by “guests”, who must observe social distancing.
Another controversy, that on the environmental impact of these Games which take place in a semi-arid climate, on artificially snow-covered slopes in oversized ski resorts for the occasion.
The approximately 2,900 athletes in the running, who covet a total of 109 Olympic titles, the first being awarded in women’s cross-country skiing on Saturday, must deal with trying weather conditions with, for example for the second training session of the men’s downhill in Yanqing , strong gusts of wind and polar temperatures (between -36 and -28 degrees felt at the top of the track).
The Beijingers displayed their pride before the start of the ceremony: “Our country is strong, such a sporting event cannot be organized by any country”, estimated Jia Qingshan, a 66-year-old retiree. year.
“It’s not as exciting as in 2008, it’s partly because of the pandemic,” said Liu, who works in real estate, however.