Here are some things you may want to know about this year's Winter Olympics in Beijing.
2022 Winter Olympics
- When: February 4 to February 20, 2022
- Host Country: China
Venue
Since Beijing hosted the Summer Games back in 2008, thereby making it the first city to host both the Summer and Winter Games, several venues will be re-used for the 2022 Games.
There are three competition zones: Beijing, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou.
In Beijing, the National Stadium (also known as "The Bird's Nest) is where the Opening and Closing ceremonies will be held. This zone shall be the venues for the following sports: curling, figure skating, freestyle skiing, ice hockey, speedskating, short track speedskating and snowboard big air.
Yanqing is located 46 miles northwest of Beijing and is the place for skiing and sliding events: alpine skiing, bobsled, luge and skeleton.
Zhangjiakou is located 111 miles northwest of Beijing and is the place for most skiing and snowboarding events: biathlon, Nordic combined, cross-country skiing, freestyle skiing, ski jumping and snowboarding.
China allocated more than $9 billion for a high-speed rail connecting Beijing to nearby ski resorts in Yanqing and Zhangjiakou.
There are 13 competition venues and all will be powered with renewable energy, with wind and solar as primary energy sources - a first to be done at an Olympic Games. Natural CO2 refrigeration systems will be used at four ice venues - the first time this low-climate-impact technology will be used in China and at the Winter Games.
Budget
The budget that Beijing organizers say will cover hosting the 2022 Games costs $4 billion, but the real cost is speculated to be much higher.
Russia reportedly spent $51 billion on the 2014 Sochi Games.
However, note that Beijing has the luxury of repurposing the venues they built for the 2008 Summer Olympics for the Winter Games. For instance, the Water Cube for swimming is now the Ice Cube for curling.
The IOC is contributing $880 million toward Beijing organizers' costs, only a few million less than what the Pyeongchang organizers received four years ago.
Media Coverage
NBCUniversal will present a Winter Olympic record of over 2,800 hours of coverage across NBC, Peacock, USA Network, CNBC, NBCOlympics.com, and the NBC Sports app.
China says it will relax some of the restrictions on Wi-Fi and allow access to social media websites like Facebook and Instagram so athletes can share their posts.
Athletes
A total of 91 countries will compete in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, specifically 2,871 athletes (1,581 men and 1,290 women).
Jamaica is sending its four-man bobsled team to compete for the first time since the 1998 Games in Japan.
Approximately 45% of the athletes are women and 47% of the events are women's events, thus making Beijing 2022 the most gender- balanced Winter Olympics to date.
420 athletes from 78 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) have been awarded Olympic Solidarity Beijing 2022 individual scholarships.
13 NOCs are benefitting from the Beijing 2022 scholarship tailor-made option.
Fun fact: Norway holds the record as the country with the most medals won in Winter Olympic history: 132 gold, 125 silver, and 111 bronze, bringing the total to 368!
Sports Events
There are 109 events in 15 disciplines across seven Olympic sports. Check here for the complete list of games.
Seven new events have been added: women's mono bob (under bobsleigh), freestyle skiing big-air (men's and women's), as well as mixed team events in ski jumping, freestyle skiing aerials, snowboard cross, and short-track speed-skating team relay.
Medals
There are 109 sets of medals that will be awarded to the winners - seven more than at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Source: https://olympics.com/ioc/beijing-2022-facts-and-figures
