The Winter Olympics torch relay began its journey today, 4th of February 2022 amid Covid-19 fears that have dogged the build-up to the Games.
Recall the sports had commence later Wednesday with curling, two days before the official opening of an Olympics overshadowed by controversies ranging from rights concerns.
However, tight Covid-19 controls are in place, the Games are fraught with political tensions over allegations of human rights abuses and boycotts.
Beijing 2022 official Cai Qi said at the start of the relay which will involve more than 1,000 torchbearers and reportedly included former NBA star Yao Ming that he hoped the Games would help “dispel the gloom of the pandemic”.
Most of the snow on the slopes where the Olympic events will take place is man-made.
But inside an indoor rink where the icy climate is maintained by massive freezers at the side of the dome, six-year-old ice skater Yiyi doesn’t care how Beijing is making the Winter Games happen.
She just can’t wait to see it. She wasn’t even born the first time the Olympics came to town. Now she’s inspired by it.
If the 2008 Olympics were the country’s coming-out party, these Games will take place in China under President Xi Jinping which is increasingly belligerent on the global stage and boasting the world’s second-largest economy.
When Washington said it would stage a diplomatic boycott because of rights concerns with Australia, Britain and Canada among those following suit China warned the United States would “pay the price”.
The Biden administration will not send diplomatic or official representation over what it called China’s “ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity” against Muslim Uyghurs in the region of Xinjiang.
Athletes of the boycotting countries will compete at the Games, which run until February 20, but a US rights monitor sounded the alarm this week over athletes’ safety after the hosts threatened “punishment” for anti-Beijing comments.
The Congressional-Executive Commission on China a group of Washington lawmakers and White House officials asked US Olympics authorities for an “urgent effort” to protect their stars if they speak.
