Opening Ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics
The Opening Ceremony of the XXIV Olympic Winter Games (Chinese: 2022年冬季奧林匹克運動會開幕式) in Beijing was held on February 4, 2022 at the Olympic Stadium. Together with the closing ceremony , it forms the chronological frame of the Olympic Winter Games.
importance
The main part of the ceremony was the lighting of the Olympic flame towards the end of the event. Cross- country skier Dinigeer Yilamujiang and Nordic combined athlete Zhao Jiawen lit the Olympic flame at 10:15 p.m. local time (15:15 CET ).
Time schedule
The ceremony began at 8 p.m. local time (1 p.m. CET ) on February 4, 2022. The director was Zhang Yimou , who was also responsible for the opening ceremony in 2008 , which also took place in Beijing.
spectators and guests
spectator
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic , only local spectators should initially be able to get tickets for the event. In mid-January 2022, however, it was decided that there would be no free ticket sales, but that selected audience groups would be invited to the games. 30,000 invited mostly official spectators attended the ceremony.
Diplomatic boycott
Official spectators were also allowed to attend the event.
Jen Psaki , spokeswoman for US President Joe Biden , was the first to announce that the United States will not send official representatives to Beijing. The move was justified with the ongoing genocides and violations of human rights in Xinjiang and other human rights violations. However, the US athletes will be supported 100 percent and cheered on from home.
Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison also said they would not send diplomats to the games. Canada also joined. New Zealand took the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity not to send a diplomatic mission. It applies to everyone that their respective athletes are still allowed to start.
procedure
content
Thematically, the event was intended to bring people closer to the art and culture of China. The focus was on the beginning of the Chinese Spring, which fell on the opening day. With around 3000 protagonists, far fewer people than in 2008 were part of the show. This was also shortened to less than 100 minutes due to Corona.
Invasion of the nations and flag bearers
On March 11, 2020, a rule change for flag-bearers was announced, approved by the IOC at its Executive Branch meeting in Lausanne , Switzerland . From now on, at the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games, one male and one male starter may carry their nation's flag together.
Traditionally, Greece were the first team to enter the stadium. This was followed by the invasion of nations traditionally in alphabetical order of the language of the host nation. As hosts, China was the last nation to go to the Olympic Stadium. Before the Chinese team, Italy, the host of the following Winter Games in 2026 , entered the stadium.
Olympic oath
On July 14, 2021, a new Olympic oath was announced by the IOC. This was first used at the Tokyo 2020 Games (July 23 to August 8, 2021) and will be spoken for the first time in Beijing at the Winter Games. The following further change is intended to achieve gender balance. The oath has been taken by an athlete, a coach, and a referee since the opening of the Tokyo Games. The new oath in the wording:
- "On behalf of the athletes", "On behalf of all judges" or "On behalf of all coaches and officials". “We pledge to participate in these Olympics and to respect and abide by the rules, in the spirit of fair play, inclusion and equality. Together we stand in solidarity and commit ourselves to a sport without doping, without cheating, without any form of discrimination. We do this for the honor of our teams, in respect for the core principles of the Olympic spirit and to make the world a better place through sport.”
Others
The Olympic curling tournament started two days before the official start of the games and thus before the opening ceremony. The Olympic ice hockey tournament and freestyle skiing also started the day before. Otherwise it would not be possible to enable corresponding regeneration phases.
TV broadcast
In Germany, the opening ceremony will be broadcast live on free TV by the public broadcaster ZDF . in Austria, the ORF broadcasts live and free-to-air. In Switzerland, SRF offers the same. Eurosport 1 will also broadcast the event live. All also offer extensive online offers.
web links
- Olympic Games 2022 website
- IOC website
itemizations
- ↑ Press: Olympic flame for Beijing 2022 Winter Games arrives in China. Retrieved January 16, 2022 (German).
- ↑ Olympics 2022: Calendar and schedule of the Beijing Winter Games - all sports and decisions at a glance. September 28, 2021, retrieved January 16, 2022 .
- ↑ Olympics 2022 in Beijing: Are there still tickets? December 6, 2021, retrieved January 16, 2022 .
- ↑ Süddeutsche Zeitung: Beijing 2022: No ticket sales at the Olympics. Retrieved January 18, 2022 .
- ↑ Olympic opening ceremony: "Completely mendacious" - expert just shakes his head. Retrieved February 5, 2022 .
- ↑ Fabian Hock: Olympic Boycott: These countries don't send diplomats to China. Retrieved January 30, 2022 .
- ↑ Zhang Yimou shares insight into opening ceremony of 2022 Winter Olympics_China.org.cn. Retrieved January 16, 2022 .
- ↑ Deutsche Welle (www.dw.com): Olympia: IOC allows two flag bearers | DW | 03/11/2020. Retrieved July 15, 2021 (German).
- ↑ NDR: For solidarity: New Olympic oath at games in Tokyo. Retrieved 15 July 2021 .
- ↑ Schedule. Retrieved January 16, 2022 (English).
- ↑ Beijing 2022 Opening Ceremony . Retrieved 30 January 2022 .
- ↑ XXIV Olympic Winter Games 2022 Beijing. Retrieved January 30, 2022 .
- ↑ On our own behalf - Beijing 2022: SRF focuses on the Olympics. January 25, 2022, retrieved January 30, 2022 .
- ↑ Olympia 2022 live on TV at Eurosport and live stream on Friday: Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Winter Games. February 3, 2022, retrieved February 4, 2022 .