Researched by: Sara Varghese 

First, the basic deets

• The Games will start tomorrow, February 4 and close on February 20. You can watch them on Sony or get updates over at the Winter Olympics website.
• 2,900 athletes from 90 countries will participate in 15 sports.
• The 15 sports will include seven new events—the most notable being the monobob. This is a bobsledding event that is driven by only one person—unlike the usual team of four. And this year, all the participants are women. 
• Also new: a mixed gender snowboard cross event—where two snowboarders compete as a team in a relay race. Snowboarding is typically a solo race.
• Beijing is now the first city to host both the Summer and Winter Games following its Olympic debut in 2008. The city will soon host the Paralympics as well in March.
• The next Winter Olympics will be held in Milan, Italy, in 2026.

The mascot: for the Winter Games is Bing Dwen Dwen, a cuddly panda who wears a suit made of ice.

About that fake snow: China narrowly won the vote to host the Winter Olympics—despite the fact that Beijing doesn’t have much snow—unlike Kazakhstan which lost out. Beijing’s entire pitch relied on an extensive artificial snow-making operation and a new high-speed train project that will link three venues: Zhangjiakou Beijing and Yanqing. None of these cities receive much precipitation. 

So nearly 100% of the Games will play out on fake snow. China estimates that it will need 49 million gallons of water to blanket the slopes—though experts say it is closer to 528 million gallons. This is one of the most water-stressed regions in the country. Also, snow-making isn’t good for the environment:

“Burning fossil fuels to operate the machinery emits CO2, contributing to a warming climate in its effort to cool it. So like air-conditioning and other efforts at adapting the existing world to a changing climate, the snow machines will be worsening the very issue it is trying to help us ignore.”

Point to note: Thanks to climate change, most future Winter Olympics may have to be played on artificial snow.

Is India at the Winter Games?

Yes, we are sending a single skier, Arif Khan—a 31-year-old Kashmiri who will compete in two events: alpine skiing slalom and giant slalom. He will be the first Indian to do so. Khan has been competing at the international level since 2005—and represented India more than 127 times. Our favourite Khan quote:

“It's funny because I've been to four World Championships, and every time I've been asked, 'Is there skiing in India?' Guys, we're living in the Himalayas! It's the highest mountain range in the world. What do you expect?”

You can watch him in action below:

Our favourite bit of Khan trivia: He qualified for the Olympics at a shopping mall in Dubai:

“Khan's qualifying run in the giant slalom happened at a competition at Ski Dubai—an indoor, refrigerated ski arena that manufactures snow, located inside a shopping mall in the United Arab Emirates. ‘It was the first time they held an international competition, and I was invited. Three of us actually ended up qualifying for the Olympics,’ he recalls. ‘And people were watching through a window from the mall!’”

Point to note: India has never won an Olympic medal in any winter sport. 

What’s happening on the Covid front?

Rising numbers: The virus is spreading at the Olympics village. Eleven people are in hospital—though no one is in a serious condition. Nine athletes and 23 team officials have tested positive in the last 24 hours. The overall total is now 232 since January 23. And yet the head of the medical expert panel for the Games says there is no signs of spread:

“It’s early days to look at all the gene sequencing, but at present that’s not a problem we’re particularly worried about. If we found evidence there was sustained community transmission, then we will activate our response plan… But we are nowhere near that level at present.”

The biggest name to test positive so far: American bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor, who has won medals in the past three Olympics.

The closed loop system: All participants—thousands of athletes, coaches, team officials, Olympic staff members, contractors, volunteers and journalists—are being kept in a tightly sealed bubble. The closed loop consists of living quarters, competition venues, training venues and other official facilities—that the public will not be able to access. Also this:

“Anyone in the bubble who tests positive must stay in a high-security government hospital or quarantine facility until two lab tests… at least 24 hours apart find no more trace of the virus, which can take weeks.”

Point to note: When foreign participants leave the Games, they'll be taken directly to the airport to fly out on non-commercial flights.

Meet the robots: These “R2-D2 look-alikes” play a key role in minimising human interaction—brewing coffee, making deliveries, spraying disinfectant. Xiaobai (Little White) can detect when someone is not wearing a mask and pester them to do so. 

But, but, but: It is unclear whether Beijing is trying to protect the athletes—or its own. As one medical expert puts it: “China is trying to protect China, not the athletes… the Chinese are aware the closed-loop is a dangerous place and they're trying to separate it from the rest of China.” In fact, city residents have been told not to intervene or help if there are any traffic accidents involving Games participants or vehicles.

Why are the Games such a big deal for China?

One: For starters, China wants to firmly establish that it can successfully host an Olympics event in the midst of a pandemic—which in turn will validate its ‘zero Covid’ strategy: “If they can pull this off without causing any major outbreaks, it would be another gold medal that China would be happy to claim.” 

Two: When China hosted the Summer Olympics back in 2008, it was eager to be accepted by the international community. But this time it wants to show the world that everyone has to play by its rules. This is why Beijing overruled the IOC—and imposed even stricter protocols than the Summer Games in Tokyo. As one China watcher says: “They don’t need this to legitimize their rule. And they don’t need to please the whole world to make the event a big success.”

Point to note: The International Olympic Committee’s willingness to play along with China—and dismiss any criticism of its human rights record—also shows how dependent it is on China and its huge market.

Three: A successful ‘zero Covid’ strategy is, in turn, a validation of President Xi’s rule. And he has staked his personal prestige on the event:

“Preparations for these Games reflect Mr Xi’s style of governance. He has been at the center of each decision—from the layout of the Olympic Village in Chongli, to the brands of skis and ski suits. In keeping with increasingly nationalistic policies, he voiced a preference for Chinese ski equipment over imports.”

Four: The stringent Covid policy is also a validation of China’s form of governance: “Beijing has used its success to assert the superiority of its top-down authoritarian system compared with Western democracies, which have struggled to contain outbreaks.” And the Winter Games offers the perfect showcase:

“China no longer needs to prove its standing on the world stage; instead, it wants to proclaim the sweeping vision of a more prosperous, more confident nation under Mr Xi, the country’s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong.”

The bottomline: There’s always politics in sports—but none of it can dull the sheer thrill of watching the world’s greatest athletes at their best. Happy viewing!

Reading list

• New York Times has the most detailed explainer on the Games.
• NPR has more on the seven new events debuting in Beijing, and a lovely profile of Arif Khan.
• Axios takes a critical look at the politics of the ‘closed loop’ system.
• New York Times has a very good piece on the Winter Olympics as a showcase for Xi’s personal power.
• TIME magazine details what happens if an athlete tests positive. 
• There are a lot of security concerns about the Covid tracking app created specially for the Games. Read the original Citizen Lab report or this Guardian story.
• LA Times has an excellent piece on the tension between commercial interests and human rights that lies at the heart of the ‘feel guilty’ Games.