Arif Khan
By Sudeep Sonawane
Beijing set for Winter Games opening amid coronavirus threat
The unusually cold and wet winter in northern hemisphere should herald good news and excitement for the XXIV Olympic Winter Games starting tomorrow in Beijing.
In the snow and ice sport dominated by athletes from Arctic region countries, stands a young Iranian woman from Abali east Tehran. The only Iranian woman to qualify for Beijing 2022,
21-year-old Atefeh Ahmadi will compete in Alpine Skiing. She comes from a skiing family. Her father was member of the national skiing team and women’s team coach. He trained his older daughter, Hadis, for this event, but Atefeh’s talent surpassed her.
Atefeh becomes the third Iranian woman to qualify for the Olympic Winter Games after Marjan Kalhor (2010) and Forough Abbasi (2014, 2018).
On her qualification she said, “Every athlete strives for four years to reach the Olympics and does intensive training. I’m glad I am into this big tournament and event. My message is that in this great arena called the Olympics, which is the dream of every athlete, I hope the athletes will shine well in this Olympic arena.”
Another lone ranger among heavyweight stars is India’s Mohammad Arif Khan from Gulmarg, Kashmir.
Mohammad Arif Khan is set to make his debut at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Khan is the first Indian to qualify for two events at the Winter Olympics. However, he says, his expectations from his outing in Beijing is not for a podium finish.
“For the last one year, my training has been taken care of so well and I have been performing much better than I used to. If you want to win a medal, you require 10 years of hard training and every sort of budget and funding. I want to be in the top 30 in the World in the Winter Olympics. Even a slight mistake while going down the hill can make or break you in the competition,” said Khan, told journalists at a media conference set up by the Sports Authority of India.
Khan, 31, started skiing at the age of four. His father, who runs ski and winter sports equipment shop, encouraged him to excel. He has qualified for two events the slalom and giant slalom alpine skiing.
Along with cricketer Parvez Rasool, Khan is the second Kashmiri to represent India in a major world competition.
A total of 109 events covering 15 disciplines across seven sports are included in the Winter Olympics; the Paralympic Winter Games feature 78 events comprising six sports. Beijing 2022 will use a total of 39 venues, including 12 where the sporting action will take place. Each of the three competition zones features its own athlete village.
Like most major world sports events since the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, Beijing Olympic Winter Games too suffer from global politics. The US along with a few other allies, announced a diplomatic boycott of Beijing 2022. US government officials will not attend the Games, but US athletes will compete.
The events feature 224 US athletes, including snowboarding ace Shaun White and Alpine skiing medal prospect Mikaela Shiffrin will compete in Beijing. The US men’s Figure skating team includes Nathan Chen, 22, a gold medal favourite who finished fifth in PyeongChang, Jason Brown, 27 and Vincent Zhou, 21. The women’s team includes Alysa Liu, 16, Mariah Bell, 25, and Karen Chen, 22.
In snowboarding Chloe Kim who made history in Pyeong Chang at 17 as the youngest competitor to win gold on halfpipe is cinch for a podium finish.
In men’s snowboarding, Red Gerard, who won gold at just 17 in PyeongChang, making him the youngest American man to win winter gold since 1928, has bright prospects.
The US women’s short track speed skating team features Maame Biney, the youngest skater and the first Black woman to make the speed skating team in PyeongChang. This year she won the women’s overall title at the US Championships.
In men’s freestyle skiing Colby Stevenson should be a top contender in slopestyle on his Olympic debut.
Although the Games officially open tomorrow, some events have already started. Curling teams, hockey players and freestyle skiers already have their debuts this week.
Beijing will officially become the first city ever to host both summer and winter editions of the Olympic Games on Friday. In this edition 91 countries will compete. In the 2018 edition held in PyeongChang, in South Korea, 2,922 (1,680 men and 1,242 women) athletes from 93 countries competed in 102 events in seven sports (15 disciplines).
Norway won the 39 medals and tied for the most gold medals (14) with Germany (31) who finished second, Canada (29) third and the US (23) fourth and the Netherlands (20) in the 2018 edition. Hosts South Korea (17) finished joint sixth with Athletes from Russia. Japan came 11th with 13 medals and China 13th with nine medals.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, in his video address today at the opening ceremony of the 139th session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), said, “China will do its best to deliver to the world a streamlined, safe and splendid Olympic Winter Games.”
The Chinese President spoke on impact of the pandemic on the world. “The combined impact of changes unseen in a hundred years and a once-in-a-century pandemic, is entering a new period of turbulence and throwing multiple challenges to humanity,” he said.
Jinping welcomed IOC President Thomas Bach and IOC members gathered in Beijing, the first city to host both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games, during the Spring Festival, Xinhua News Agency reported.
In his address to the 139th session, Bach said, “The 2022 Olympic Winter Games will start a new era for winter sports worldwide with over 300 million Chinese taking up winter sports.
Bach said Chinese people will enjoy social and economic benefits from hosting the Games. “The increased physical activity through winter sport is contributing to the health and well-being of the Chinese people.”
China’s income from winter sports surpassed US $61 billion last season, he said. “In 2019, more than 100 million tourists visited the Olympic mountain regions.”
Seven years ago in 2015, the IOC selected Beijing as the host city. During that time more than 16 per cent Chongli district residents lived in poverty. By 2019 Chongli was free of poverty.
“Today over 20 percent of the (Chongli) residents are employed in jobs related to winter sports,” Bach said. The district’s centre of attraction is the Zhangjiakou competition zone.
Renewable energy will power Beijing 2022 venues. The city is re-using venues from the Olympic Games 2008 as part of China’s commitment to sustainable sports development, he said.
Jinping thanked the IOC for the development of sport in China and supporting for Beijing’s bid and preparation for the Olympic Winter Games. The Chinese President will declare the Games open at the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games tomorrow at the National Stadium.
The United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres too will be present at the Opening Ceremony. While in Beijing, he will also meet with the President of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, and Chinese authorities. The Secretary-General is expected to be back in New York on Sunday, 6 February, his office stated.
Also read: Countdown begins for the ‘Greenest’ Winter Olympics amidst Omicron scare in Beijing
