Africa -China Review Africa -China Cooperation and Transformation
Published: February 04,2022
By staff writer
Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni on Thursday arrived in Beijing to attend the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics opening ceremony, which will be held on Friday.
The Beijing Winter Olympics begin officially today, and the games will represent an Olympics like no other. It’s a new lunar year in China and many people are still on holiday giving them enough time to enjoy the expected spectacular performances by thousands of athletes from all over the world. Millions of people from around the globe will have their eyes fixed on televisions.
China’s bid to host the winter Olympics was in 2015, a more carefree time, before the world had heard of words like quarantine, isolation, and certainly not SARS-Cov-2.
Just as it fell on China to show the world how to fight the pandemic, it now falls on the country to show, how to host a major games, the Olympics noless, during a pandemic, and moreover at a time when the especially contagious new variant, Omicron has emerged.
But just as in 2019, they showed themselves equal to the task of being the vanguard, in the fight against the virus, quickly sequencing the SARS-Cov-2 genome, they are showing themselves equal to the task of hosting the Olympics during the pandemic.
“The world is turning its eyes to China, and China is ready” President Xi Jinping said, in his virtual address to the International Olympic Committee. The Chinese President, who will attend the opening ceremony, assured the committee that China will put on a “streamlined, safe and splendid games.”
There is the now inevitable carping about China’s policy of “zero Covid” but the world can learn much in holding major events, sporting or otherwise, from what the country has put in place.
In its determination to keep both the athletes and the country as safe from the spread of the virus as possible, China has introduced a new weapon against Covid-19, the “closed loop.” This is a variation on the “bubble,” that we have come know, which servedother countries recently like Rwanda so well, in putting together a successful, and safe, AfricaBasketball League (BAL) competition.
The loop begins as the athletes arrive at Beijing International airport. A special runway has been set aside for arriving athletes, and others coming in for the games.
From there on, the arrivals enter a network of hotels, buses, checkpoints, Olympic venues of course, both for practice and competition, in which all their needs and wants will are met.
They are then in the loop. And once in, they will remain in, until they are safely escorted back to the airport, and waved off back home. No one outside the loop will enter it, and those inside it will not interact with those on the outside.
There will be daily testing, mobile telephone apps will inform everyone their health status. There are of course, the inevitable tests before boarding the flight. Unvaccinated athletes will be allowed in, but they must enter into quarantine for 21 days.
As though to vindicate the strict measures, as more athletes arrived, just over 20 among them were found to be infected. For the organisers however, this is an indication that the system is working as intended.
Disappointingly for an Olympics, there will be no ticketed spectators. But selected visitors, volunteers, journalists, and others in the loop, who are involved with the smooth running of the games, will at least have ringside seats.
Among the world leaders to attend, will be President Vladimir Putin of Russia, who will be alongside the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres. Other world leaders who have already arrived in Beijing include: , Presidents of Argentina, Serbia, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmen, Tajik, Kazakhstan, and many more.
The athletes are taking all the tight restrictions in their well toned stride. There is of course, the disappointment of missing out on the cultural aspect of the Olympics. The games begin as China celebrates the Spring festival, or Chinese New Year of the tiger. Ordinarily, locals in festive mood, would have been on hand to welcome visitors, introducing them to the customs of the festival. That cannot happen on this occasion.
The athletes say they are reassured by the measures, which make them feel safe. Almost all of them are determined that nothing will get in the way of their enjoyment and fulfilment of their Olympic dreams.And the games will be memorable for other reasons, other than the extraordinary ends to which the organisers have gone to protect both the country and the athletes, from the virus.
Beijing will be the first city, ever to host both the summer and winter games. And it will be the first games, where the new Olympic games motto for 100 years is introduced. No longer just “Faster, Higher, Stronger” but instead, “Faster, Higher, Stronger-together.”
It is a theme China has embraced, with President Xi noting in his address to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that the world is facing great challenges, including the pandemic of course, and only by coming together can these challenges be best met. Alongside the Olympic motto, China has added, “Together for a share future” in a show of solidarity with the rest of the world.
And China is also determined to make the Beijing Olympics, the most sustainable games, as well as re-using venues from the 2008 summer games, all the venues will be powered from renewable energy sources.
For IOC President, Thomas Bach, “the Beijing games will start a new era for the Winter Olympics.” At its bid in 2015, China undertook to attract 300million people to winter sport. They have already surpassed that target. China now has around 345million people participating in winter sports.
New facilities for these new enthusiasts have been constructed, including just over 800 new ski resorts, and 654 ice rinks. And the games are expected to be financially sustainable too. Manufacturing equipment for winter sport whether for amateur enthusiasts, or professional athletes, is expected to bring in $155billion by 2025.
President Xi reminded the IOC, that in the summer of 2008, China’s theme was “One World, One Dream.” That aspiration is bookended in 2022, with “together for a shared future.” All the best to participants and organizers for Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.
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