Opinion | Beijing's feat wows IOC Chairman, but there's something else that he's not mentioned

By Augustus K. Yeung

Introduction

Oslo became the fourth city after Stockholm, Krakow in Poland and Ukraine's Lviv to pull out of the bidding process for the 2022 Winter Games—because of the Norwegian government's fear over the cost of hosting the event, according to Reuters in London.

"This year's Sochi Olympics cost a record US$51 billion and despite the International Olympic Committee offering a US$880 million contribution to host the 2022 Games, only Kazakhstan's Almaty and Beijing remain as candidates."

In the end, it was China that had stood up for this challenge.

Thomas Bach Hailed Beijing Winter Games as Great Success

"Citing the safe and satisfying experiences for athletes in China, International Olympics Committee President Thomas Bach hailed the Beijing 2022 Winter Games as great success, two days before the closing ceremony," reports Sun Xiaochen for China Daily. ("Bach praises Beijing for hosting stellar sporting gala". China Daily. February 19-20, 2022)

"As the first Winter Olympics taking place amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Beijing 2022 Games have earned high praise from participating athletes and officials from around the world for the effective closed-loop management that keeps everyone safe, and for the cutting-edge venues that help facilitate Olympics to perform at their highest level," Bach said.

"To measure these successes there are two criteria, which depend on each other. First the athletes and second the venue and the villages," Bach said during a news conference at Beijing 2022's Main Media Centre on Friday.

Chinese and US Interactions Show Friendship & Mutual Respect

"Here in Beijing, it is very obvious that the athletes are more than happy. They are extremely satisfied with the venues, with the villages, with the services having been offered and with the safety within the closed loop under these very difficult circumstances under the fast-spreading Omicron variant of COVID-19."

"The athletes are responding with outstanding performances and with, from my point of view, unprecedented Olympic spirit. The intensity of this Olympic experience was above and beyond what I have experienced before at other Olympic Games," he said.

"With the curtain set to drop on the Games on Sunday night, some of the highlights of Beijing 2022, whether exceptional athletic breakthroughs or heartwarming stories behind the scenes, will be etched in history and long remembered by all witnesses including himself," Bach added.

"The interaction between Chinese mixed double curlers Ling Zhi and Fan Suyuan and their US opponents Christopher Plys and Vicky Persinger after a game last week when they exchanged gifts to show friendship and mutual respect was among the moments in Beijing when the Olympic spirit blazed bright," added Bach.

"All these showed that the Olympic Games are the Olympic athletes are really beyond the divisive issue we are facing in the world now and the high tensions we are going through on the political side," said the former West German Olympic champion in fencing in the men's team foil at the 1976 Montreal Games.

The Loop Was "One of the Safest Places on the Planet"

By the end of all competitions on Friday, 97 of the total 109 gold medals up for grabs at Beijing 2022 had been awarded to athletes from 21 countries and regions, while 17 Olympic records, including two world records, had been set at the Beijing Games.

According to the Beijing 2022 organizing committee's pandemic prevention and control office, the closed-loop system adopted at the Games… has been running very effectively.

Within the loop, where there remain about 14,000 participants despite some having already left China, the number of positive COVID-19 cases confirmed on daily basis has been dropping gradually with zero cases over the past 24 hours reported for the first time on Wednesday.

"It was one of the safest places on the planet, if not the safest place, and this is a great achievement," Bach said.

Global Interest in Beijing Olympics Has Been Phenomenal

"Global interest in the Beijing Winter Olympics on digital and traditional media platforms, as Back revealed on Friday, has been phenomenal. According to the IOC, its own social medial accounts on all platforms have received over 2.7 billion visits for Beijing 2022 as of Friday morning, while the Games content, including live broadcasting, highlights and interviews, have reached over 600 million people in China on TV alone," reports Sun Xiaochen. ("Bach praises Beijing for hosting stellar sporting gala". China Daily. February 19-20, 2022)

Conclusion

The IOC chairman was right to adopt "two criteria" to measure China's success for hosting this Winter Olympic Games: First, the athletes; and second the venues and the villages. But he did not include China's courage, insight, and unique management and engineering design skills.

When Oslo failed and the other contestants feared the threat of the Olympics' big-budget challenge, China showed great courage in undertaking this world-class fiscal feat; it built the eye-opening high-speed railway; it gives riders scenic views as well as guaranteeing their safety and punctuality on their way to the venues. China defied the threat and went ahead.

When the other hosts in the past relied heavily on natural landscapes to build venues and facilitate the downhill skiing competitions, China used engineering design skills to fashion man-made towering slopes that eventually encourage and enable the athletes to make stunning breakthroughs.

When Washington and its western allies were busy boycotting Beijing's Games, the Communist Party of China was insightfully turning this Olympics challenge into weather-permitting employment opportunities for the so-far neglected Chinese people in its three North-eastern provinces--where snow-country in the long wintry weather is all they possess compared with China's weather-friendly coastal provinces.

The party, which Washington has been picking on, is courting this unique opportunity to fulfill its promise of "common prosperity", creating conditions of great economic success for winter sports business and sparkling the spirit of skiing in the northern provinces and the nation as a healthy hobby.

 

The author is a freelance writer; formerly Adjunct Lecturer, taught MBA Philosophy of Management, and International Strategy, and online columnist of 3-D Corner (HKU SPACE), University of Hong Kong.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.

Read more articles by Augustus K. Yeung:

Opinion | American journalists aboard China's high-speed train on scenic route to the Olympic venue

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