Sometimes it takes a single dazzling athletic feat to ignite the Olympic spirit. China’s Winter Games may yet capture the imagination of the world’s spectators. The Tokyo Olympics, though unpopular in Japan due to fears of Covid’s spread, provided welcome diversion for many. Even so, they lacked the energy of previous Games, and so far Beijing’s event is still more muted. Winter sports such as curling lack the broad appeal of sprinting or swimming. China’s commitment to a zero-Covid strategy has kept its citizens well away from the Games, and…
Tag: Sport
China to boost supply of Olympic panda mascots amid shortages
China’s Olympic committee has pledged to increase production of merchandise after unexpected demand from people looking for a way to get involved in the Games led to shortages of the local mascot. The official mascot, a panda named Bing Dwen Dwen wearing a transparent snow suit, has featured across the Games events and promotions. A large dancing Bing Dwen Dwen appeared in the opening ceremony, while plush toys have been held aloft by athletes on the podium. Its popularity has led to shortages of merchandise across retail outlets, exacerbated by…
UN’s Guterres says he expects China to let rights chief pay ‘credible’ visit to Xinjiang
UN secretary general Antonio Guterres told leaders in Beijing he expects them to allow UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet to make a “credible” visit to China including a stop in the Xinjiang region, his spokesman said on Saturday. Guterres met with Chinese president Xi Jinping and foreign minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the Winter Olympics, according to a readout of their talks. The UN chief “expressed his expectation that the contacts between the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Chinese authorities will allow…
China bags Winter Games gold and a rap for ‘cynical ploy’ of Uyghur torchbearer
Glory on the track. Growing criticism off it. China ended day one of these Winter Olympics by celebrating a thrilling first gold medal, while also finding itself facing growing condemnation from human rights groups after selecting a Uyghur to light the Olympic flame. The small number of fans in the Capital Indoor Stadium because of Covid-19 regulations certainly made themselves heard as China’s mixed relay quartet held off Italy by the width of a blade in a dramatic short-track speedskating final. Afterwards, Wu Dajing, the country’s most famous active winter…
Beijing seals off several communities over two cases of Covid-19
Beijing officials have sealed off several residential communities north of the city centre after two cases of Covid-19 were found as the Chinese capital prepares to host the Winter Olympics opening ceremony on Friday. Another 34 cases were confirmed among athletes and others who have come for the Games, the organising committee said. In all, 211 people have tested positive among more than 8,000 who had arrived by the end of Saturday. They include a Swedish cross-country skier and a snowboarder from Slovenia. Everyone coming for the Olympics is being…
Sport, politics and Covid collide at the Beijing Winter Olympics
Hosting the Winter Olympics during a pandemic was always going to test the Chinese government, by putting its ever-growing ability to exercise political control and virus containment on a collision course with its enthusiasm for international prestige and status. The 2022 Winter Games, which open on Friday, are being held at a time of particularly intense western criticism of China over human rights abuses, from the mass persecution of Uyghurs in far western Xinjiang – labelled a genocide by the United States – and other groups including Tibetans, to the…
Beijing Winter Olympics reports jump in daily Covid cases
China has reported a jump in Covid cases among athletes and team officials at the Beijing Winter Olympics. The number of daily Covid infections rose to 19 on Friday from two a day earlier, and Games organisers said more cases could be expected in the coming days. Thirty-six Games-related personnel, including the athletes and officials, have been found to be infected, 29 when they arrived at the airport in Beijing and seven already in the “closed loop” bubble that separates event personnel from the public, the organising committee said in…
Sport is indifferent to the Uyghur genocide: the Warriors investor said the quiet part out loud
The US state department has described the Uyghur human rights issue as a genocide and the largest-scale detention of an ethno-religious community since the second world war. And yet to hear one leading professional sports owner tell it, “nobody cares”. Chamath Palihapitiya, a billionaire investor in the NBA’s Golden State Warriors, used the most recent episode of his All-In podcast to weigh in, dismissing the Uyghur crisis as “a very hard, ugly truth” that’s “below my line”. When his co-host David Sacks countered that the Uyghurs were a great, if…
Protesting Winter Olympics athletes ‘face punishment’, suggests Beijing official
Any athlete behaviour that is against the Olympic spirit or Chinese rules or laws will be subject to “certain punishment”, a Beijing 2022 official has said in response to a question about the possibility of athlete protests at next month’s Winter Games. Sign up to our Winter Olympics daily briefing, starting in February. It comes shortly after human rights advocates told athletes they were better off staying silent for the duration of the Games and amid concerns over the online security of attendees’ data contained in a mandatory phone app.…
China bans footballers in national teams from getting tattoos
Chinese authorities have banned footballers from getting tattoos and instructed national team players who have been inked to remove them or cover them up to set a “good example for society”. A growing number of high-profile Chinese players have tattoos, including the international defender Zhang Linpeng, who has previously been told to cover up while appearing for the national team and his club Guangzhou FC. The General Administration of Sport of China (GAS) said in a statement about “strengthening the management of football players” that the Chinese Football Association would…