Irish Examiner view: Can the winter games be made glorious in the shadow of human rights questions and Covid restrictions?

Competition at the Beijing Olympics commences today, two days ahead of the official opening, in the shadow of continuing questions on China's human rights record and stringent Covid-19 restrictions.  

Athletes from the Netherlands skate during a speedskating practice ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympics, in Beijing. Picture: AP Photo/Gerald Herbert

So the XXIV Winter Olympics are upon us, that three-week festival when we suddenly become interested in curling, and yearn to know more about triple salchows, Biellmann spins, halfpipes, and how to stay on a luge.

Competition starts today, confusingly two days before Friday’s opening ceremony, under the benign smile of the golden panda Bing Dwen Dwen, the Beijing 2022 mascot, and co-worker Shuey Rhon Rho, the anthropomorphic Chinese lantern which is the symbol of the Winter Paralympics.

The event’s slogan, complete with obligatory hashtag, seems to owe something to what Mao might have described as capitalist running dog spin-doctoring: “Every rise, every fall, every victory, we’re in it together#stronger together.”

If there was an innate sadness, despite some stellar performances at last year’s spectator-free Tokyo Olympics, that has been replaced by strong disquiet at this festival of 15 sports which is normally noted for spectacular competition.

Criticism

China is heavily criticised over persecution and human rights abuses of Uyghurs and Tibetans, the crushing of even low levels of dissent in Hong Kong, and authoritarian controls, including intrusive and persistent technological surveillance.

Contestants and the relatively few foreigners permitted in Beijing will live in a walled garden world with a Chinese staff who will not be allowed to return home without a long quarantine. Although China has been successful in containing Covid-19 its draconian lockdown strategies mean there is scant natural immunity and its domestic vaccines have thus far been ineffective against Omicron.

In China, it is impossible to separate sport from business and politics, a point made by the person who is possibly now that country’s most famous and outspoken exile, with a status similar to Alexander Solzhenitsyn in the heyday of  Soviet Russia.

Ai WeiWei, one of the world’s most famous artists, opens a new exhibition in Cambridge, England, during the Winter Olympics with the title The Liberty of Doubt. Included in the exhibits is a marble statue of a surveillance camera.

A worker performs a COVID-19 test at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2022, in Beijing. Picture: AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko

WeiWei has three things to say which will infuriate premier Xi Jinping and the Communist leaders. The first is that the Winter Olympics is just a showcase for business. The second is that his nation’s control of the pandemic has been ice cold and cruel. And the third, he says, is that Covid is not a natural disease.

“It’s obvious the disease is not from an animal... it’s something that’s leaked out, after years of research.”

This is the great unanswered question since 2019, and we are no further towards a solution. It is highly unlikely that we will be any the wiser after 20 days of snow and ice, although we will be entertained.

Ireland has six competitors, contesting alpine, cross-country and freestyle ski events, luge and snowboarding. As with all those who wear the green for our country we wish them well and safe home.