2022 Winter Olympics Thread

[Kannap]

XXIV Olympic Winter Games
第二十四届冬季奥林匹克运动会
Dì Èrshísì Jiè Dōngjì Àolínpǐkè Yùndònghuì

Another Olympics so soon? It seems like the last one ended just yesterday! And in a way, it has. The 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo, Japan concluded in August of last year after being postponed for one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2022 Winter Games are scheduled to go on as planned - which puts us on track for a second Olympics within six months of each other. In less than one month - on February 4th - we will find ourselves in Beijing!

.::Facts and Figures::.

• Dates: February 4-20, 2022
• Beijing will become the first city to host both a Summer and Winter Olympics; it will also become the 6th city to host more than one Olympics
• Beijing 2022 is aiming to engage 300 million people with winter sport; in the 2020-2021 season, the number of people engaged with ice and snow sports across China reached 230 million.
• 5 of the 7 venues in the Beijing competition zone will be legacy venues from the 2008 Summer Olympics: the iconic "Bird's Nest" National Stadium will host the Opening and Closing ceremonies and the Water Cube has been transformed into the Ice Cube, from swimming events in 2008 to curling competitions in 2022.
• Beijing 2022 aims to stage Games that have positive environmental, economic, and social impacts: They've committed to staging carbon-neutral Games, implementing measures to reduce carbon emissions. Beijing 2022 is making full use of existing venues and prioritizing sustainability when building and operating new venues.
• Beijing 2022 will be the first Olympic Games to have all venues powered by renewable energy, with solar and wind as primary energy sources.

.::Participating NOCs::.

Albania	Croatia	Iceland	Malaysia	Puerto Rico
American Samoa	Cyprus	India	Malta	Russian Olympic Committee athletes
Andorra	Czech Republic	Iran	Mexico	Romania
Argentina	Denmark	Ireland	Moldova	San Marino
Armenia	East Timor	Israel	Monaco	Saudi Arabia
Australia	Ecuador	Italy	Mongolia	Serbia
Austria	Eritrea	Jamaica	Montenegro	Slovakia
Azerbaijan	Estonia	Japan	Morocco	Slovenia
Belarus	Finland	Kazakhstan	Netherlands	South Korea
Belgium	France	Kenya	New Zealand	Spain
Bolivia	Georgia	Kosovo	Nigeria	Sweden
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Germany	Kyrgyzstan	North Macedonia	Switzerland
Brazil	Ghana	Latvia	Norway	Chinese Taipei
Bulgaria	Great Britain	Lebanon	Pakistan	Thailand
Canada	Greece	Liechtenstein	Peru	Turkey
Chile	Haiti	Lithuania	Philippines	Ukraine
China	Hong Kong	Luxembourg	Poland	United States
Colombia	Hungary	Madagascar	Portugal	Uzbekistan

.::News::.
~news will be posted here as seen necessary~


.::Thread::.
There you have it, a thread for the 2022 Winter Games. This is a thread for you to discuss the Olympics and share in your excitement. Please be courteous to each other and keep the thread on topic. Understanding some people are not particularly fond of China, this is not a thread for you to share your general grievances against China.

[Shigastan]

Did any of you go to Beijing to watch the Olympics in 2008?
Fourteen years ago I was still in elementary school. I can only watch the game on TV.

[Infected Mushroom]

I would love to travel to the capital and bear witness to this glory

If not, then following it on TV will be an option

[Rusozak]

They're still doing this? Seems like a shit time to be doing any kind of mass gathering.

[StrayaRoos]

Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi
We Will win Gold (at last)

[Infected Mushroom]

Did any of you go to Beijing to watch the Olympics in 2008?
Fourteen years ago I was still in elementary school. I can only watch the game on TV.

I saw it on TV. I liked the opening ceremony showcasing the four great Chinese inventions. I remember China did well at the Olympics.

[Reploid Productions]

They're still doing this? Seems like a shit time to be doing any kind of mass gathering.

That's my thought. You could not PAY me enough money to attend an international Omicron super-spreader event like that!

[New Lizhou]

As a Hongkonger, I still fail to understand how hosting the olympics, even without foreign tourists, is compatible with the “zero-covid” policy.

[Novo Reslas]

Something in modern China with positive environmental impact? Inconceivable!

[GuessTheAltAccount]

Did any of you go to Beijing to watch the Olympics in 2008?
Fourteen years ago I was still in elementary school. I can only watch the game on TV.

It was 2008. For all we knew back then, people could've been walking into the next Tiananmen Square Massacre. Going there for the Olympics in person would've seemed suicidal.

This time around it seems like a relatively less suicidal deal with the same devil, though yeah there's still the aspect of walking into a superspreader event in the country that caused this new disease in the first place. Still feels like a dance on the graves of the disease's victims that China still gets to host it, let alone that athletes intend on participating.

. . .

And yet, there is another part of me that half feels compelled to say "oh well... I guess if you weren't going to boycott the Olympics anyway you might as well check out the Summer Palace while you're there..."

[StrayaRoos]

They're still doing this? Seems like a shit time to be doing any kind of mass gathering.

That's my thought. You could not PAY me enough money to attend an international Omicron super-spreader event like that!

Reppy with me an Replay of Steven Bradbury’s Gold In salt lake Could get me To Go to Beijing

[StrayaRoos]

Did any of you go to Beijing to watch the Olympics in 2008?
Fourteen years ago I was still in elementary school. I can only watch the game on TV.

Nah Born during the Paralympics 2008

[Thermodolia]

Oh ya this is a thing. God I hate Winter Olympics because it fucks up my TV watching schedule

[Thermodolia]

Did any of you go to Beijing to watch the Olympics in 2008?
Fourteen years ago I was still in elementary school. I can only watch the game on TV.

Nah Born during the Paralympics 2008

Oh god. Please don’t say that

[Shigastan]

Did any of you go to Beijing to watch the Olympics in 2008?
Fourteen years ago I was still in elementary school. I can only watch the game on TV.

It was 2008. For all we knew back then, people could've been walking into the next Tiananmen Square Massacre. Going there for the Olympics in person would've seemed suicidal.

This time around it seems like a relatively less suicidal deal with the same devil, though yeah there's still the aspect of walking into a superspreader event in the country that caused this new disease in the first place. Still feels like a dance on the graves of the disease's victims that China still gets to host it, let alone that athletes intend on participating.

. . .

And yet, there is another part of me that half feels compelled to say "oh well... I guess if you weren't going to boycott the Olympics anyway you might as well check out the Summer Palace while you're there..."

What's wrong with you？

[Cannot think of a name]

They're still doing this? Seems like a shit time to be doing any kind of mass gathering.

That's my thought. You could not PAY me enough money to attend an international Omicron super-spreader event like that!

In China...I mean, I'm not signing off on the Trumpest 'chinaflu' bullshit, but at the same time "Let's all gather in large crowds from countries all across the globe in China while we all still deal with the fall out of a pandemic that started...in China..." just seems like maybe the worst idea ever.

[The Huskar Social Union]

Ireland has never won a medal at the Winter Olympics but we did quite well in the Summer Olympics last year so who knows maybe this will be the one.

[Heloin]

Zimbabwe isn't likely to win any medals this go around.

[Kannap]

They're still doing this? Seems like a shit time to be doing any kind of mass gathering.

Speaking as somebody who believed that they should have postponed the Tokyo Olympics a second time + postponed these ones, I suppose I can understand why the IOC and the host committee both want to go forward with this one - they deemed it safe enough to host the Tokyo Olympics at a time when the city was under a state of emergency so I suppose they're deeming it safe to host in Beijing.

Not to mention that China's strict COVID-19 policies and strategies are being implemented at the Olympic Games too and at this point in time, China is probably the safest country to host an event like this in because they're managing a largely successful pandemic response while other countries are being overwhelmed by Omicron. If anything, the most relevant argument for cancelling the Olympics right now would to be to keep potentially infected people from traveling to the country for this event. But their safeguards and strict quarantining + hospital treatment measures seem to be working and they believe they will work at the Olympics as well.

As a Hongkonger, I still fail to understand how hosting the olympics, even without foreign tourists, is compatible with the “zero-covid” policy.

Hold the participants of the Olympics to the same strict COVID policies and standards that Chinese citizens are held to, from reading their documents outlining their COVID-19 policies and strategies for the Olympics. Mainly, as well, they're implementing what they're calling the "closed loop system" where participants of the Games will be restricted in their movements and interactions with the domestic population, to minimise the potential for COVID spread.

Did any of you go to Beijing to watch the Olympics in 2008?
Fourteen years ago I was still in elementary school. I can only watch the game on TV.

It was 2008. For all we knew back then, people could've been walking into the next Tiananmen Square Massacre. Going there for the Olympics in person would've seemed suicidal.

This time around it seems like a relatively less suicidal deal with the same devil, though yeah there's still the aspect of walking into a superspreader event in the country that caused this new disease in the first place. Still feels like a dance on the graves of the disease's victims that China still gets to host it, let alone that athletes intend on participating.

That's my thought. You could not PAY me enough money to attend an international Omicron super-spreader event like that!

In China...I mean, I'm not signing off on the Trumpest 'chinaflu' bullshit, but at the same time "Let's all gather in large crowds from countries all across the globe in China while we all still deal with the fall out of a pandemic that started...in China..." just seems like maybe the worst idea ever.

Still find it weird that people place such emphasis on China for "causing COVID-19." Viruses don't choose where they start. Did the United States get sanctioned and punished because the Spanish Flu originated in Kansas? It wouldn't make sense to revoke China's hosting of the Games - something that was decided long before the pandemic - because of something like this happening.

And yet, there is another part of me that half feels compelled to say "oh well... I guess if you weren't going to boycott the Olympics anyway you might as well check out the Summer Palace while you're there..."

My understanding is that - similarly to Tokyo last year - athletes and participants will have their movements restricted to venues and accommodations related to the Games and will not be allowed to freely travel and engage in tourism.

[GuessTheAltAccount]

It was 2008. For all we knew back then, people could've been walking into the next Tiananmen Square Massacre. Going there for the Olympics in person would've seemed suicidal.

This time around it seems like a relatively less suicidal deal with the same devil, though yeah there's still the aspect of walking into a superspreader event in the country that caused this new disease in the first place. Still feels like a dance on the graves of the disease's victims that China still gets to host it, let alone that athletes intend on participating.

In China...I mean, I'm not signing off on the Trumpest 'chinaflu' bullshit, but at the same time "Let's all gather in large crowds from countries all across the globe in China while we all still deal with the fall out of a pandemic that started...in China..." just seems like maybe the worst idea ever.

Still find it weird that people place such emphasis on China for "causing COVID-19." Viruses don't choose where they start. Did the United States get sanctioned and punished because the Spanish Flu originated in Kansas? It wouldn't make sense to revoke China's hosting of the Games - something that was decided long before the pandemic - because of something like this happening.

And yet, there is another part of me that half feels compelled to say "oh well... I guess if you weren't going to boycott the Olympics anyway you might as well check out the Summer Palace while you're there..."

My understanding is that - similarly to Tokyo last year - athletes and participants will have their movements restricted to venues and accommodations related to the Games and will not be allowed to freely travel and engage in tourism.

Assuming China does a better job enforcing it than they do with smoking bans.

Viruses don't choose where they start, but people choose whether or not to create new diseases by deciding what to do about their countries' wildlife trades (and/or unsafe labs), or if they don't act on that, what to do with those warning the world about the new diseases created by the wildlife trades (and/or unsafe labs). A country like China mixes the worst of poor food safety with the worst of poor transparency, hence bringing us two of the most contagious new diseases of the 21st century.

As for Kansas Flu, isn't there still dispute over a century later as to the origins of that disease? But whatever other new diseases come out of the USA we'll hear about with a lot more time to prepare, as at least Americans have the right to freedom of speech.

[Cannot think of a name]

They're still doing this? Seems like a shit time to be doing any kind of mass gathering.

Speaking as somebody who believed that they should have postponed the Tokyo Olympics a second time + postponed these ones, I suppose I can understand why the IOC and the host committee both want to go forward with this one - they deemed it safe enough to host the Tokyo Olympics at a time when the city was under a state of emergency so I suppose they're deeming it safe to host in Beijing.

Not to mention that China's strict COVID-19 policies and strategies are being implemented at the Olympic Games too and at this point in time, China is probably the safest country to host an event like this in because they're managing a largely successful pandemic response while other countries are being overwhelmed by Omicron. If anything, the most relevant argument for cancelling the Olympics right now would to be to keep potentially infected people from traveling to the country for this event. But their safeguards and strict quarantining + hospital treatment measures seem to be working and they believe they will work at the Olympics as well.

As a Hongkonger, I still fail to understand how hosting the olympics, even without foreign tourists, is compatible with the “zero-covid” policy.

Hold the participants of the Olympics to the same strict COVID policies and standards that Chinese citizens are held to, from reading their documents outlining their COVID-19 policies and strategies for the Olympics. Mainly, as well, they're implementing what they're calling the "closed loop system" where participants of the Games will be restricted in their movements and interactions with the domestic population, to minimise the potential for COVID spread.

It was 2008. For all we knew back then, people could've been walking into the next Tiananmen Square Massacre. Going there for the Olympics in person would've seemed suicidal.

This time around it seems like a relatively less suicidal deal with the same devil, though yeah there's still the aspect of walking into a superspreader event in the country that caused this new disease in the first place. Still feels like a dance on the graves of the disease's victims that China still gets to host it, let alone that athletes intend on participating.

In China...I mean, I'm not signing off on the Trumpest 'chinaflu' bullshit, but at the same time "Let's all gather in large crowds from countries all across the globe in China while we all still deal with the fall out of a pandemic that started...in China..." just seems like maybe the worst idea ever.

Still find it weird that people place such emphasis on China for "causing COVID-19." Viruses don't choose where they start. Did the United States get sanctioned and punished because the Spanish Flu originated in Kansas? It wouldn't make sense to revoke China's hosting of the Games - something that was decided long before the pandemic - because of something like this happening.

And yet, there is another part of me that half feels compelled to say "oh well... I guess if you weren't going to boycott the Olympics anyway you might as well check out the Summer Palace while you're there..."

My understanding is that - similarly to Tokyo last year - athletes and participants will have their movements restricted to venues and accommodations related to the Games and will not be allowed to freely travel and engage in tourism.

That's cool and all, reach that arm back and give yourself a pat for it. But I wasn't talking about a new disease, I was talking about the one that's still going. And yeah, if I was in the middle of the influenza pandemic I wouldn't be crazy eager to gather a whole lot of people from all over the world into Kansas and then put those people back on planes and send them back out around the world. Ya know, 'cause we haven't contained it yet. Even if the plans were made before influenza, because that makes no fucking difference.