Concerns and controversies at the 2022 Winter Olympics

There have been concerns and controversies about the 2022 Winter Olympics which will be hosted in Beijing, China.

Organizing concerns and controversies

Cost and climate

Several cities withdrew their applications during the bidding process, citing the high costs or the lack of local support to host the 2022 games, leaving Almaty in Kazakhstan and Beijing as the only candidate cities by 1 October 2014.[1]

The decision to bid for the Olympics was controversial in China (and outside) because Beijing itself, and especially some of the proposed outdoor venues, does not have reliable snowfall in winter for snow sports. Concerns have been raised that snow may need to be transported to the venues at great cost and with uncertain environmental consequences.[2][3]

Promotional song

Some commentators alleged that one of the early promotional songs for the 2022 Winter Olympics, "The Snow and Ice Dance," sung by Sun Nan and Tan Jing, had suspicious similarities with "Let It Go," one of the songs from the 2013 Disney film, Frozen. A Chinese media outlet cited technical analysis of the two songs: Both songs employ a piano as the major instrument, have similar prelude chords and an eight-beat introduction, and they run at almost exactly the same tempo.[4][5]

Environmental and health issues

Impact on Songshan National Nature Reserve

The environmental impact of hosting the games near Beijing has been questioned. Some of the proposed venues will be adjacent to the Songshan National Nature Reserve and part of the same mountain system, and the environmental impact on the nature reserve of construction, and artificially covering parts of the mountain with snow, is uncertain.[6][7][8]

Censorship
See also: Censorship in China and Internet censorship in China

Domestic Chinese criticism and debate on the potential environmental impacts caused by the game are censored by the Chinese government on the press and internet.[9][10][8]

Human rights issues
See also: Tibetan independence movement, Human rights in China, Sinicization of Tibet, and Uyghur genocide

After China had won the bid to host the 2022 Olympics, many Tibetan protesters had criticized the IOC for allowing China to host the games again due to its policies against Tibetans.[11] In October 2018, Senator Marco Rubio, on behalf of the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China, asked that China be deprived of the hosting rights for the 2022 Olympics due to the "dire human rights situation" there.[12]

In the aftermath of the 2019 leak of the Xinjiang papers, the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests, China's hostage diplomacy and the Uyghur genocide, calls were made for a boycott of the 2022 Games.[13][14][15][16]

In September 2020, United States Senator Rick Scott spoke with IOC Vice President about reconsidering the IOC's decision to host the 2022 Winter Olympics in Communist China, even as General Secretary Xi Jinping commits genocide against the Uyghurs in Xinjiang and restricts the human rights of Hong Kongers.[17]

China's use of coercive diplomacy against Australia has led to increased calls within Australia to boycott the 2022 Winter Olympics. In November 2020 Australian Senators Jacqui Lambie and Rex Patrick officially proposed a boycott, but their proposal was voted down.[18]

Some human rights organizations have called for a diplomatic boycott that would mean countries not sending their heads of state or high-ranking officials to the olympics but still sending athletes.[19]

In a July 30, 2020 letter, the World Uyghur Congress urged the IOC to reconsider holding the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing because of the Uyghur genocide.[20][21] The World Uyghur Congress does not support a boycott; instead, they want athletes to use the games as a chance to raise awareness about the Uyghur Genocide, similar to the way that athletes have raised the profile of the Black Lives Matter movement.[22]

Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in changes in qualifying for curling and women's ice hockey due to the cancellation of tournaments in 2020. The World Curling Federation proposed that qualification for curling be based on placement in the 2021 world championships and a dedicated qualification tournament to complete the field (in place of points earned across the 2020 and 2021 world championships). The IIHF based its qualification for the women's tournament upon existing IIHF World Rankings, without holding the 2020 Women's World Championship.[23][24]

References
  1. Abend, Lisa (3 October 2014). "Why Nobody Wants to Host the 2022 Winter Olympics". time.com. Time (magazine). Archived from the original on 18 September 2015. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
  2. Matt Schiavenza, "A Winter Olympics in a City Without Snow Archived 24 September 2019 at the Wayback Machine", The Atlantic, 31 July 2015
  3. Tom Phillips, "Beijing promises to overcome lack of snow for 2022 Winter Olympics Archived 19 June 2016 at the Wayback Machine", The Guardian, 31 July 2015
  4. Didi Kirsten Tatlow (3 August 2015). "To Some, Beijing Olympics Song Is Suspiciously Similar to Ballad From Disney's 'Frozen'". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 8 August 2015. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  5. Jiang, Steven (4 August 2015). "Is China's 2022 Winter Olympics song too much like 'Frozen's' 'Let It Go'?". CNN. Archived from the original on 7 August 2015. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  6. Johnson, Ian (9 April 2015). "Scientists Question Environmental Impact of China's Winter Olympics". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 7 March 2020.
  7. SCMP Reporter (4 August 2015). "Winter Olympic Games venues in China 'pose threat to Beijing nature reserve'". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 7 August 2015.
  8. Cyranoski, David (11 August 2015). "Chinese biologists lead outcry over Winter Olympics ski site". Nature. 524 (7565): 278–279. Bibcode:2015Natur.524..278C. doi:10.1038/nature.2015.18174. PMID 26289189.
  9. "Beijing named as host for 2022 Winter Olympics". Archived from the original on 23 August 2013. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  10. "Beijing Winter Olympics 2022's Environmental Impact Includes Nature Reserve Damage, Critics Say". International Business Times. 3 August 2015. Archived from the original on 27 January 2016. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  11. "Tibetan groups campaign against 2022 Olympics going to China". USA TODAY. Archived from the original on 31 December 2019. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
  12. James Diamond, US Congressional panel calls on IOC to strip Beijing of 2022 Winter Olympics Archived 19 April 2020 at the Wayback Machine, Inside the Games, October 11, 2018.
  13. Karlik, Evan (8 August 2019). "The Case for Boycotting Beijing 2022". The Diplomat. Archived from the original on 3 May 2020. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
  14. Westcott, Ben (2 December 2019). "Huge leaks are exposing Xinjiang's re-education camps. But don't expect Beijing to back down". edition.cnn.com. Archived from the original on 9 September 2020. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  15. Montgomery, Marc (10 June 2020). "Boycott the 2022 China Winter Olympics?". Radio Canada International. Archived from the original on 18 August 2020. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  16. Kenneth Bandler (17 August 2020). "The Uyghers' plight is a humanitarian crisis. More must be done to help". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 17 August 2020. “It is a genocide,” says Turkel, adding that the “purposeful prevention of population growth” is one of the legal definitions of genocide. “In the last year, Uyghur population growth dropped by 24%, and in the previous three years by 84%.”{...}If there is no significant change in Chinese government policy regarding the Uyghurs, Turkel would like to see the US boycott the Winter Olympics in Beijing in 2022.
  17. "Sen. Rick Scott: I'm Disappointed IOC Vice President Refused to Commit to Move 2022 Olympic Games Out of Communist China". SENATOR RICK SCOTT. 11 September 2020. Archived from the original on 6 October 2020. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  18. Citowicki, Philip. "Continued Deterioration in Australia-China Relations Fuels Talk of Olympic Boycott". thediplomat.com. The Diplomat. Archived from the original on 23 November 2020. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  19. Hillier, Bianca. "Human rights groups weigh boycott of 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing". www.pri.org. Public Radio International. Archived from the original on 25 November 2020. Retrieved 27 November 2020.
  20. Stephanie Nebehay (14 August 2020). "Uighur group urges IOC to reconsider 2022 Beijing Winter Games venue". Archived from the original on 13 September 2020. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  21. "Uighur group calls for China to lose 2022 Winter Olympics over 'genocide'". WION. Archived from the original on 9 August 2020. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  22. Wade, Stephen. "More questions on human rights for Beijing Winter Olympics". apnews.com. Associated Press. Archived from the original on 4 November 2020. Retrieved 27 November 2020.
  23. "Curling wants 2021 world championships to determine qualifying for Beijing Olympics". CBC Sports. 9 April 2020. Archived from the original on 14 August 2020. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  24. "U.S., Canada in same 2022 Olympic hockey group". NBC Sports. 24 April 2020. Archived from the original on 22 October 2020. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
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