Recently, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) awarded the 2024 and 2028 Summer Olympic Games to Paris, France and Los Angeles, U.S.A., respectively. The Olympics are a biennial global event that brings the world together for a celebration of world culture and diversity, while also acts as the stage for nations to show off their athletic might. One of the predominant Olympic powerhouses is none other than China.
China’s rich passion for the Olympics is virtually unmatched. This was made apparent during the spectacular opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics (shown below).
The ceremony kicked off the most successful Olympic Games, medal wise, in China’s history. 639 of China’s most acclaimed athletes combined to bring home 48 Gold medals, 21 Silver medals, and 29 Bronze medals. The combined 98 medals topped the charts for the 2008 Beijing Olympics and brought great pride to the host nation.
Fast forward 14 years to the 2022 Winter Olympics and Beijing will yet again make Olympic history, becoming the first city to host both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games. Ever since the success of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the Chinese Olympic Committee worked diligently to bring the Olympics back to Beijing. They finally succeeded when the IOC awarded the 2022 Winter Olympics to Beijing at 2015’s 128th IOC Session in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Beijing 2022 will be the third consecutive Olympic Games to be held in East Asia following both PyeongChang 2018 and Tokyo 2020.
The 2022 Winter Games will strive to build on the groundwork set by Beijing 2008. A new generation of athletes will leave their mark on Olympic history, all with “a pure passion for ice and snow”, the official motto of the 2022 Beijing Winter Games. The story of Beijing 2022 has not been written yet, but surely won’t be anything short of legendary.
Sources:
Beijing 2008 Opening Ceremony-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsDY1Ha83M8
Official Beijing 2022 Website-https://www.olympic.org/beijing-2022
Official PyeongChang 2018 Website-https://www.olympic.org/pyeongchang-2018
Official Tokyo 2020 Website-https://www.olympic.org/tokyo-2020
Official Paris 2024 Website-https://www.olympic.org/paris-2024
Official Los Angeles 2028 Website-https://www.olympic.org/la-2028
Great article, Nicholas! I find it so interesting that Beijing will be the first city to host both the summer and winter Olympic games. When Beijing hosted the games in 2008, the culture of China captured the minds, hearts, and spirits of people from all over the world and I have no doubt that China’s culture will do the same in 2022. It’s just such a shame that we have to wait five years! Thank you, Nicholas; keep up the great work!
This is a very interesting article! I loved it! I found it very interesting that Beijing will be the first city to host both the summer and winter Olympic games!