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.

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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, and Sinicization of Tibet

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 and the 2019 Hong Kong protests, calls were made for a boycott of the 2022 games.[13][14]

2020 COVID-19 Pandemic effect

Ice hockey Women's qualification and Curling Qualification impact due several event were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the postponed of the 2020 Summer Olympics also caused considerable pressure on the Winter Olympic Games.[15]

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. "Scientists Question Environmental Impact of China's Winter Olympics Archived 7 March 2020 at the Wayback Machine", New York Times, 9 April 2015
  7. "Winter Olympic Games venues in China 'pose threat to Beijing nature reserve' Archived 7 August 2015 at the Wayback Machine", South China Morning Post, 4 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. "The Case for Boycotting Beijing 2022". thediplomat.com. Archived from the original on 3 May 2020. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  14. Westcott, Ben. "Beijing won't back down despite Xinjiang revelations". CNN. Archived from the original on 2 May 2020. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  15. 東京奧運後緊接北京冬奧、達卡青奧　國際奧會巨大挑戰
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