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Jonathan White

The opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics is just one year away.
Starting on February 4 next year and running until February 20, it will be the biggest Winter Games yet, with Chinese President Xi Jinping reporting that everything was on track when he toured the venues in January.
It will be the second time that China has hosted an Olympics, with the Chinese capital also hosting the Summer Games in 2008.
Beijing becomes the first city to put on both the Summer and Winter Olympics, with several of the 2008 venues getting a wintry makeover to host next year.

Iconic Beijing 2008 legacy venue, the Water Cube, will soon transform to become the Ice Cube to host #Beijing2022's #curling events. As you can see, it had a special surprise in store for us last week as part of our #1000DaystoGo celebrations! ️ pic.twitter.com/aKoGrdniPV
— Beijing 2022 (@Beijing2022) May 16, 2019

Events – 109 in seven winter sports – will not just be held in downtown Beijing, though, as the Games take place across three competition zones in north China.
Here is everything you need to know about the Beijing 2022 Games as the clock ticks down to the opening ceremony:
China’s Beijing 2022 hope Eileen Gu makes X-Games history
VENUES
The Water Cube of Beijing 2008 has become the Ice Cube of Beijing 2022. All of the ice events – curling, ice hockey and skating – will be held in the city at either the Ice Cube or the newly renovated Capital Gymnasium. The latter venue held volleyball for 2008 and will hold short-track speedskating and figure skating for 2022.
Beijing will also hold four snow events – Big Air snowboarding and freestyle skiing – at a newly constructed park in Shougang in the city’s west. The other new venue is the National Speed Skating Oval.

A view of #Yanqing competition zone. Want to take a broader view? Keep your eyes on us pic.twitter.com/0xX3ft6H3p
— Beijing 2022 (@Beijing2022) January 29, 2021

Yanqing, 80km away in Beijing’s sprawling suburbs, will host alpine skiing, bobsleigh, luge and skeleton.
Zhangjiakou, 190km away in neighbouring Hebei province, will stage the rest of the snow sports – snowboard, freestyle skiing, cross-country skiing, ski jumping, Nordic combined and biathlon.
A new high-speed rail connects the three hubs of Beijing, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou.
Never mind Tokyo 2020, Covid-19 spike puts Beijing 2022 in doubt
TICKETS
Ticket details have not yet been confirmed. A decision on whether fans can attend and how many will be made in the run-up to the Games as Chinese authorities and the International Olympic Committee agree on the protocols surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic.




















View this post on Instagram























A post shared by The Olympic Games (@olympics)



MASCOT
Bing Dwen Dwen, a panda, is the mascot for 2022. “Bing” means “ice” in Mandarin, while “Dwen Dwen” is said to represent children.
“The mascot embodies the strength and willpower of athletes and will help to promote the Olympic spirit,” according to the official website.

The spectacular #BigAirShougang in the Shougang Park is built near the three furnaces of the former steel mill site. The #SnowboardBigAir and #FreeskiBigAir events will be hosted here in 2022. pic.twitter.com/fHR3FLhMjp
— Beijing 2022 (@Beijing2022) January 27, 2021

COST
State broadcaster CGTN reported that the Beijing budget was US$3.9 billion, small in comparison to the US$40 billion of Beijing 2008 and the most expensive Games in history, Sochi 2014, which came in at nearly US$50 billion.
Even the last Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang in 2018 cost US$14 billion.
Could Beijing 2022 be hit by boycott over Xinjiang?
BOYCOTT
Much like the Beijing 2008 Olympics, a lot of the focus on the Winter Games has been away from the sport and talk of a potential boycott.
This focuses on alleged human rights abuses of Uygur Muslims in China’s far Western region of Xinjiang, although Human Rights Watch was critical of the IOC decision to hand Beijing the Games when it did so in 2015.
Human Rights Watch was also critical of Kazakhstan, whose capital Almaty was the other finalist to host the 2022 Games.


Olympic snowboarding champion Su Yiming becomes first Chinese winner of Big Air World Cup

Young speed skaters inspired by Olympian Sidney Chu take to the ice at annual Hong Kong Cup

Milan Olympic Winter Games: no backup ice hockey arena as construction goes down to wire

Who is Cai Guo-qiang, and will the artist’s reputation survive recent controversies?

Beijing Winter Olympics 2022

Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics guide: venues, boycott, tickets, cost, mascot and everything you need to know

Chinese performers dance on the Great Wall in 2018 to mark the arrival of the Olympic flag and start of the flag tour for the Winter Olympics Beijing 2022. Photo: AP

Eileen Gu wins China’s first Winter X Games gold as Beijing 2022 countdown begins

Winter X Games rookie Eileen Gu holds her two gold medals and one bronze after winning the women’s ski slopestyle final at the 2021 Winter X Games. Photo: Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times via AP

CORRECTS TO THE ASPEN TIMES, NOT THE ASPEN DAILY NEWS - Winter X Games rookie Eileen Gu airs out of the superpipe during women's finals at the 2021 Winter X Games Aspen on Friday, Jan. 29, 2021, in Aspen, Colo. Gu took home the gold in her first superpipe final. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times via AP)

Xi Jinping steps out in US$1,000 parka, giving Chinese sportswear company’s shares a boost

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s choice of a US$1,000 parka to protect him against the cold as he inspected venues for the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics this week triggered a nearly 10 per cent one-day rise in the stock price of China’s Anta Group, which owns the coat’s Canadian brand, Arc’teryx. Photo: Xinhua

The jacket Xi weared to visit the winter Olympics is the ARCTERYX THORSEN PARKA[FEATURES] Photo / Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games

ARCTERYX THORSEN PARKA.[FEATURES] Photo / HANDOUT

Winter Games 2022: Xi Jinping checks Olympics progress amid boycott calls and coronavirus outbreak

Chinese President Xi Jinping discusses Olympic preparations during a visit to the Capital Gymnasium in Beijing on Monday. Photo: Xinhua

(210118) -- BEIJING, Jan. 18, 2021 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, talks with athletes and coaches while visiting the National Alpine Skiing Center in Yanqing District, Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 18, 2021. Xi on Monday inspected the preparatory work of the Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Beijing. (Xinhua/Yue Yuewei)

Beijing 2022  doubts grow with Covid-19 spike in Hebei

A Chinese flag and Olympic rings are seen on a jacket worn by a Chinese sportsman during a ceremony at Badaling Great Wall, in Beijing, China, in February, 2018. Photo: EPA

Chinese performers dance during a ceremony to mark the arrival of the Olympic flag and start of the flag tour for the Winter Olympic Games Beijing 2022 at a section of the Great Wall of China on the outskirts of Beijing Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2018. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Mascot Bing Dwen Dwen, left and 2022 Winter Paralympic Games mascot Shuey Rong Rong are revealed during a ceremony held at the Shougang Ice Hockey Arena in Beijing on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

This photo taken on November 28, 2020, shows people riding on a ski lift at an indoor ski resort, the Sunac Snow Centre in Chengdu, the capital of southwest Sichuan province. - The 2022 Beijing Winter Games has inspired a boom in construction of indoor skiing centres. In China's southwest Sichuan province, known for its hot and steamy summers, there are plenty of mountains but little snow, and the best way for locals to tread the ice is indoors. (Photo by NOEL CELIS / AFP) / TO GO WITH AFP STORY: China-Oly-skiing-construction-entertainment, FOCUS by Helen Roxburgh

2022 Winter Olympics: China’s ice hockey teams will be on wrong side of massive blowouts in Beijing

Chinese players will be bamboozled by Connor McDavid come 2022. Why? Because most NHL defencemen don’t even have an answer. Photo: AP

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman presents the Tampa Bay Lightning with the Stanley Cup following their series-winning victory over the Dallas Stars in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final at Rogers Place on September 28, 2020, in Edmonton, Canada. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images/TNS)

Pittsburgh Penguins' Sidney Crosby (87) works the puck in the corner with Minnesota Wild's Matt Dumba (24) defending during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Pittsburgh, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2020. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Chicago Blackhawks right wing Patrick Kane (88) skates past Vancouver Canucks defenseman Alex Biega (55) and defenseman Matt Bartkowski (44) during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Chicago, Sunday, Dec. 13, 2015. (AP Photo/Andrew A. Nelles)

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Beijing 2008’s Water Cube has become the Ice Cube as part of Olympic legacy for first city to host Winter and Summer Games
China’s capital will open the US$3.9 billion spectacular on February 4 next year



Beijing 2008’s Water Cube has become the Ice Cube as part of Olympic legacy for first city to host Winter and Summer Games.


IOC (International Olympic Committee)

Xi Jinping

Coronavirus pandemic

Xinjiang

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