5 interesting things to know about Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics

Beijing, China will host the Winter Olympics in February 2022.  As you prepare for your trip, we have compiled a list of interesting and useful information any Winter Games enthusiast may want to know before arriving in Beijing. 

Beijing Makes History

Hosting the Olympics is something that many cities can only dream about.  Beijing, however, is one of the lucky ones, and they will be hosting the Olympics for the second time.  They are not the first city to host the Olympics Games more than once, but they are the first to host a Summer (2008) and Winter (2022) Olympics.  To read more about Beijing making history and for a list of other cities who have hosted multiple Olympics, check out another article of ours, Beijing makes history as the first host city of both a Summer and Winter Olympics. https://www.mybucketlistevents.com/beijing-makes-history/

Sports Review

 Events will be held in 15 disciplines across seven sports at the Beijing 2022 Winter Games.  Athletes will compete in skiing (including alpine skiing, cross country skiing, Nordic combined, ski jumping, freestyle skiing, and snowboard), skating (including figure skating, short track and speed skating), biathlon, curling, ice hockey, bobsled (including skeleton), and luge.  Athletes will compete for a total of 109 gold medals with new additional events taking place this Olympics in bobsleigh, short track, freestyle skiing, ski jumping, and snowboard.  Have you ever heard of Monobob?  Well, it’s coming to Beijing.  Read more about the first ever women’s monobob world championships, here. 

High Speed Train (NEW)

Spectators visiting Beijing for the Winter Games will be able to use the brand-new high-speed railway to reach the mountain competition venues.  These new trains will provide a convenient, safe, and comfortable way for spectators to bounce back and forth between the mountains and the city.

What usually takes 3-4 hours by car will now take less than 50 minutes by train to reach Zhangjiakou.  The train reportedly can run up to 350 km per hour without a driver.  This is said to be the world’s first “smart” train.

As for the design, some of the cabins feature large storage areas for winter sports equipment.  The seats are equipped with 5G touchscreen control panels, multiple electrical outlets, intelligent lighting, and thousands of safety sensors.  Removable seats were also added for passengers in wheelchairs.   In the stations, facial-recognition technology and robots will be used to assist with directions, luggage, and paperless check-in. 

During the Winter Olympics, spectators will be able to catch this high-speed train at the Beijing North Station.  The travel time between Beijing and the Yanqing Competition Zone should take less than 30 minutes and the travel time between Beijing and the Zhangjiakou Competition Zone should take less than 50 minutes.

Familiar and Impressive Venues

Beijing will serve as the official host city of the Games, however, competitions will take place in three different regions.  Beijing will host the opening and closing ceremonies along with curling, ice hockey and the skating events.  The region of Yanqing will host alpine skiing and the sliding events while the region of Zhangjiakou will host most of the other ski and snow events.  These competitions will take place in a mixture of familiar, yet repurposed, and new venues.

Familiar venues — If you watched the Beijing 2008 Summer Games, then you’ll definitely recognize a few of the venues Beijing Organizing committee plans to use for the 2022 Winter Games.  You will most likely remember The National Stadium, also known as the Birds Nest.  This recognizable structure will host the Opening and Closing Ceremonies.  Another venue you will find familiar, will be the “Water Cube” officially known as the National Aquatics Center.  The organizers will repurpose this unique looking venue for curling competitions. 

Venues to impress — The most unique venue for the Winter Games is in the Beijing region.  This venue is being built in the city to host the big air competitions for snowboard and freestyle ski.  Formally an industrial park, this area has transformed into the world’s most beautiful and impressive big air venues.  The big air competitions will be, without a doubt, one of the most popular events given the convenient location for locals and tourists and the excitement of the sport.  Plus, it’s the only snow-sport taking place in the city.  Another venue that has made news leading up the Games is located in the Yanqing Competition zone.  This entire zone has been built to ensure that Beijing 2022 is “clean and green.”  They designed the sliding center to make the best use of wind, solar power and water resources.   Located in the Zhangjiakou Competition Zone, the Ski Jumping Facility, has been built to impress.  At the jump head there will be a 40-meter high, circular viewing platform that will include a panoramic restaurant.  It is reported that the architectural design of the ski jumps resembles a Ruyi scepter, a Chinese Talisman, which is why the facility is being called “Snow Ruyi.”

Mascot, Logo, and Fun Facts:

Mascot: The Olympic mascot is a cheerful panda called Bing Swen Dwen.  “Bing means ice and also symbolizes purity and strength, and “Dwen Dwen” represents children.  The mascot embodies the strength and willpower of athletes and will help promote the Olympic Spirit.  According to Olympic.org the Beijing 2022 Organizing Committee received over 5,800 mascot designs from around the world.

Emblem (Logo): The emblem of the 2022 Winter Games was inspired by the Chinese written character for “winter” and resembles a skater at the top and a skier at the bottom.  The ribbon-like motif between them symbolizes the host country’s rolling mountains, Olympic venues, ski pistes and skating rinks.  It also points to the fact that the Games will coincide with the Chinese New Year. 

Beijing by the Numbers:  3 competition zones; 109 events; 7 Olympic Sports; 15 Disciplines; 50 minutes is the amount of time it will take to get to Zhangjiakou via high-speed train; 7 new events will take place; 5 venues will be reused from the Beijing 2008 Summer Games; 2,892 overall expected athletes; 1,314 is the highest number of women ever competing at the Olympic Winter Games; 220 mph is the expected speed of the newly built high speed train to serve spectators during the Games; 11 is the number of cities to host the Olympics twice;  1 is the number of cities who have ever hosted both a summer and winter Olympics, with that city being Beijing;  3000 years of history makes Beijing one of the oldest capitals in the world; Estimated over 9,000,000 bicycles in the city of Beijing; 55 mph is how fast ski jumpers glide down the ramp prior to flying as far as they can go; 

————

Do you want to attend the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic?

Companies like Bucket List Events offer fans full-service travel packages to the Olympics giving you the opportunity to experience the culture and sights of Beijing and surrounding regions, including the Great Wall of China, while having the opportunity to witness history being made as the world’s best athletes compete for gold.  Travel packages can be viewed here.

https://www.mybucketlistevents.com/event/2022-beijing-winter-games/