On the eve of the opening of the Beijing Winter Games, the president of the International Olympic Committee Thomas Bach tried to brush aside the controversies surrounding the event on Thursday, touting his “legacy” while defending his political neutrality.
• Read also: Not easy politics and sport
“Today we can say it: China is a country of winter sports”, assured the German leader by opening the 139th session of the Olympic body, held behind closed doors due to drastic precautions in the face of the crisis. sanitary.
The assertion is enough to surprise observers puzzled by the alpine ski slopes traced in the icy but arid mountains, northwest of Beijing, with their rills of 100% artificial snow streaking sepia-colored slopes.
But already, the host country “has written history by surpassing the objective of introducing 300 million of its citizens to snow and ice sports”, promising to “change the scale of sports forever. winter,” said Thomas Bach.
According to the chairman of the Beijing-2022 organizing committee, Qi Cai, Chinese statistics counted “346 million” of occasional winter sports participants in October 2021, moving “from small regional pockets to the entire country”.
“Dark clouds of politicization”
The rise of Chinese skiing, measured by the dozens of resorts sprouting from the ground as well as the urban indoor slopes, is a boon for foreign manufacturers of ski lifts and specialists in snow groomers or snow cannons.
According to the 2021 international report on mountain tourism by Swiss expert Laurent Vanat, the number of skiers has stagnated for the past twenty years at 400 million worldwide, with a decline in traditional markets, making Asia a potential eldorado for manufacturers.
Thomas Bach also insisted on the environmental heritage of these Games, with the development of renewable energies to power the sites, even though the impact of snow cannons on water resources raises a number of questions.
More broadly, he welcomed the “strong support of the international community” for these Games, referring to the unanimous adoption of the United Nations resolution on the Olympic truce, despite the diplomatic boycott decreed by the United States. , Australia and Canada.
From 2020, “we could already see the dark clouds of the growing politicization of sport dawning on the horizon”, he noted, believing that he had preserved “the unifying mission of the Olympic Games” by avoiding any sporting boycott.
Anti-FIFA slingshot
“The world is looking to China and China is ready,” said Chinese President Xi Jinping, promising “safe and splendid Games”, marked by “vigor, courage and fearlessness”. of the Year of the Tiger which has just begun.
But three members of the IOC, breaking with the usual predictable ceremonial of an Olympic session, took the discussions away from China by being alarmed by FIFA’s plan to organize its World Cup every two years.
A biennial World Cup, held every four years since 1930 for men and 1991 for women, “would put the sport at risk” by competing with many other competitions, warned Algerian Mustapha Berraf, former international basketball player.
“FIFA must engage in talks with the international sports community,” said Serbian Nenad Lalovic, while South Korean Ruy Seung-min deplored the increased risk “of burnout or serious injury. for internationals.
Thomas Bach admitted that he would have liked to “discuss this with FIFA President” Gianni Infantino, himself an IOC member since 2020. “But it is not possible because he has canceled his visit to Beijing the day before yesterday,” he added.
“If you agree, we will try to contact him, once again, and we will pass on these comments,” he added.