Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
Updated 1655 GMT (0055 HKT) February 5, 2022
Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
Let the Games begin.
The 2022 Winter Olympics are officially underway after Friday’s opening ceremony in Beijing.
The first medals were awarded Saturday, and the first gold of these Games went to Norwegian cross-country skier Therese Johaug, who won the women’s 15km skiathlon. For host nation China, their first gold medal came in the short track mixed relay speed skating event, narrowly beating Italy by 0.016 seconds. And in the women’s 3,000 meters speed skating, Irene Schouten of the Netherlands set a new Olympic record en route to a gold medal of her own.
Chinese President Xi Jinping was joined by many international dignitaries as he attended Friday’s ceremony at the Beijing National Stadium, commonly referred to as the Bird’s Nest because of its design. But notably absent were leaders of major democratic powers, as Great Britain, Australia and Canada are among those to join a US-led diplomatic boycott of these Games, citing Beijing’s human-rights record.
This is the second Olympics to be held during the coronavirus pandemic. As with last year’s Summer Olympics in Tokyo, a raft of Covid-19 countermeasures have been put in place and the Games will be held inside what authorities have called a “closed loop system” — a bubble completely cut off from the rest of the city. Tickets for the Games will not be sold to the general public; they will be distributed by authorities instead.
Beijing is the first city in history to host both a Summer and a Winter Olympics.
