It’s almost here! The Beijing 2022 Olympics are set to begin in February, just six months after the Tokyo Games concluded.
The Winter and Summer Games are generally separated by two years, with the Summer Olympics occurring every four years. However, due to the current COVID-19 crisis, things will be different for the 2022 games.
Following the one-year postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the winter version of the global sporting event will have the shortest turnaround in history. The Olympics will also return to the Beijing 2022 for the first time in nearly 14 years. The city previously hosted the Summer Olympics in 2008.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) revealed the mascot for the Beijing games, a panda named Bing Dwen Dwen, before of the sports competition.
“‘Bing’ means ice and also represents purity and strength,” the committee stated in a February 2019 press release. “And ‘Dwen Dwen’ stands in for children. The mascot represents athletes’ strength and willpower and will serve to promote the Olympic spirit.”
While the Olympic trials will not take place until just before the Games, there are a few Americans to keep an eye on.
Gold winner Chloe Kim plans to return to the slopes and participate in snowboarding after winning her first medal at the 2018 PyeongChang Games at the age of 17. Despite taking a year off from snowboarding in 2019 to attend Princeton University, she has been back on the tour since January 2021.
Kim told CNN in February 2021, “I’m so thrilled and grateful that I’ve been allowed to come back and fight against all of these beautiful, bright, hardworking women.” “It felt good to get out there and compete again.”
The California native took a semester off from college to focus on her training. “There is no way I can handle school with being a professional snowboarder, especially so close to the Olympics,” she added. “I intend to return, but for the time being, I am a full-time snowboarder, and one day, I will be a full-time student. But, no, I don’t think I’ll be able to juggle it.”
Gus Kenworthy, who earned a silver medal for Team USA at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, will compete for Team Great Britain once the Games begin.
In December 2019, he declared on social media, “I am really thrilled to announce that I will be competing for Team GB on the route to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.” “Although I was reared in the United States, I was born in the United Kingdom, and my mother is a true British citizen. She has been my number one fan her entire life, proudly waving the stars and stripes at the bottom of the mountain in support of me over two Olympic cycles. Now I’d like to repay the favour by proudly raising the British flag in her honour.”
