The 24th edition of winter Olympics i.e. 2022 Winter Olympics/ Beijing 2022, officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games was an international winter multi-sport event held on February 4-20, 2022 at Beijing National Stadium in Beijing, China. Beijing Organising Committee organizes the event.
- This is for the second time that Beijing hosted the Olympics after 2008 when it hosted the Summer Olympics 2008. With this, Beijing becomes the first city to have hosted both the Summer and Winter Olympics. Some events were also held in its Yanqing District, and Zhangjiakou.
- The event was opened by the President of China Xi Jinping.
Motto of Winter Olympics 2022:
Together for a Shared Future.
Mascot of Winter Olympics 2022:
The official mascot of the 2022 Winter Beijing Olympics is “Bing Dwen Dwen”. Bing Dwen Dwen, the Olympic mascot, is a panda. In Mandarin, the word “Bing” has several meanings, including ice, and also symbolizes purity and strength. “Dwen Dwen” means robust and lively and also represents children.
Events and Participation:
A total number of 109 events across 7 sports (15 disciplines) were held with a participation of 2,871 athletes representing 91 teams.
- There are seven new medal events, including men’s and women’s big air freestyle, women’s monobob, mixed team competitions in freestyle skiing aerials, ski jumping, and snowboard cross, and the mixed relay in short track speed skating.
- Haiti and Saudi Arabia marked their Winter Olympic debut.
Emblem:
- The emblem for the 2022 Winter Olympics, “Winter Dream” (冬梦).It is designed by Lin Cunzhen (who previously designed the emblem of the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics in Nanjing), the emblem is a stylized rendition of the Chinese character for winter (冬) as a multi-coloured ribbon, reflecting upon the landscapes of the host region.
- The beginning of the ribbon symbolizes an ice skater, while the end of the ribbon symbolizes a skier. The emblem carries a blue, red, and yellow colour scheme: the latter two colours represent both the flag of China, and “passion, youth, and vitality”.
Medal Tally: Norway tops Beijing 2022 with record-breaking Performance
Norway topped the medal tally for the second successive Winter Olympics by winning a total of 37 medals, of which 16 were gold. This win set a new record for the highest number of gold medals won at a single Winter Olympics.
- Norway was followed by Germany at 2nd place with 12 golds and 27 medals overall,
- China finished third with 9 gold medals, marking their most successful performance in Winter Olympics history.
Table showing medal tally:
| Rank | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Norway | 16 | 8 | 13 | 37 |
| 2 | Germany | 12 | 10 | 5 | 27 |
| 3 | China | 9 | 4 | 2 | 15 |
| 4 | United States (US) | 8 | 10 | 7 | 25 |
| 5 | Sweden | 8 | 5 | 5 | 18 |
Indian diplomats to boycott Beijing Winter Olympics
It should be noted that India launched a diplomatic boycott of the Games after a People’s Liberation Army (China’s Army) commander Qi Fabao involved in 2020 Galwan Valley border clashes between India-China appeared as an Olympic torchbearer in the customary torch relay.
- In this regard, the top diplomat at the Indian Embassy in Beijing did not attend the Opening and the Closing Ceremony.
- India’s public broadcaster Doordarshan also did not telecasted the opening and closing ceremonies live.
- Diplomatic boycotts mean that governments will not send delegations, but athletes continue to compete in the Games.
Qi Fabao honoured as hero in China for his role fighting in the deadly 2020 India-China skirmish that left at least 20 Indian soldiers dead.
India’s lone Participant skier Arif Khan Finishes 45th in Men’s Giant Slalom event
From India, only one athlete participated in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China, alpine skier Mohammad Arif Khan, which also marked his winter games debut. He is the first Indian skier to have qualified for the Olympics in both slalom and giant slalom. Aged 31, he hails from Baramulla district in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K).
i.He clinched a 45th place finish in the giant slalom event with a time of 1:24.89. It is the best-ever result in the event by any Indian in Winter Olympics history.
- Switzerland’s Marco Odermatt won the Gold medal with 2:09.35 seconds.
- Slovenia’s Zan Kranjec (2:09.54) and France’s Mathieu Faivre (2:10.69) clinched the silver and bronze respectively.
ii.Arif Khan ended his men’s slalom event at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics with a DNF (Did Not Finish).
Arif Khan India’s flagbearer at Winter Olympics 2022
Arif Khan carried the Indian flag in the Parade of Nations during the opening ceremony of Beijing Winter Olympics 2022 at the Bird’s Nest Stadium in Beijing. Meanwhile a volunteer was the flagbearer during the closing ceremony.
- He was accompanied by 3-member support staff.
Beijing 2022 passes Winter Olympics to Milano-Cortina 2026
As part of the tradition, the Olympic flag was lowered down in the middle of the closing ceremony, and then passed by Chen Jining, mayor of Beijing, to Bach who passed the flag to Chen’s counterparts in the Italian cities of Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Beppe Sala and Gianpietro Gedina, respectively.
- Both Italian cities will jointly host the next Winter Olympics Games in 2026,i.e.2026 Winter Olympics, officially the XXV Olympic Winter Games, which is dubbed as Milano-Cortina 2026
Recent Related News:
i.On 27th November 2021, Indian Squash player Saurav Ghosal won the Malaysian Open Squash Championships 2021, defeating Colombia’s Miguel Rodriguez in the men’s singles final held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
ii.Argentina junior men’s hockey team defeated Germany by 4-2 in the final of the 2021 Men’s FIH Hockey Junior World Cup (WC) or 12th edition of the Men’s FIH Hockey Junior WC to clinch their second Junior Men’s Hockey WC title at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. This was held from November 24, 2021-December 5, 2021.
About Beijing Organising Committee:
Beijing Organising Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games is a public institution with legal person status, responsible for the organisation and coordination of all the preparations and delivery of the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.
Secretary General – Han Zirong
Secretariat – Beijing, China
