The opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics has entered the countdown, and the Winter Olympic athletes took the oath in Tiananmen Square on the 25th!

[Global Times reporter Bai Yunyi Global Times special correspondent Xu Yunfeng] The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics has entered a 10-day countdown. In the early morning of the 25th, more than 100 athletes and coach representatives from the Chinese sports delegation of the Beijing Winter Olympics came to Tiananmen Square to watch the flag-raising ceremony and take the oath to march. The ceremony was led by Wu Dajing, the champion of the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, and after the oath was completed, the athletes would enter the closed-loop management and launch a final sprint to the Beijing Winter Olympics in a full-fledged preparation mode.

The Russian delegation consisted of 461 members

As the Beijing Winter Olympics draw closer, the chinese Winter Olympic delegation has also undergone a new adjustment in size. In the qualification confirmation and redistribution system recently finalized by the International Snow Federation, He Binghan, a Chinese freestyle skiing men's U-shaped track player, was successfully substituted. So far, the Chinese freestyle ski U-shaped track team has won the fourth quota of the project, achieving the goal of 4 men and 4 women to compete in full quota. Among them, the male players are Mao Bingqiang, He Binghan, Sun Jingbo and Wang Haizhuo, and the female players are Zhang Kexin, Li Fanghui, Wu Meng and Gu Ailing.

Another major event, speed skating, also added a Winter Olympic seat. The International Skating Federation announced the final quota for speed skating and short track speed skating on the 25th, Lian Ziwen was successfully substituted, plus the previous Ning Zhongyan and Wang Haotian, the Chinese speed skating team won 3 men's 1500 meters to participate in the quota, achieving a full quota for this small event.

Russian Ambassador to China Denisov said on the 25th that the Russian delegation will become the largest foreign delegation in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. The official website of the Russian Olympic Committee said on the 25th that there were 461 Russian Olympic delegations, including 212 athletes. Denisov said that the Beijing Winter Olympics is a long-awaited event, "I fully believe that China can host this Winter Olympics at a very high level and overcome all the difficulties caused by the epidemic."

Multiple delegations create "largest scale"

The Hong Kong Sports Association and Olympic Committee of China announced on the 24th that it will send 3 athletes to the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, with the largest number of participants in the past. The three athletes are skater Zhu Dingwen, skier Jin Hexiao and Weng Houquan – Zhu Dingwen will appear in the men's 500m short track speed skating, and Weng Houquan, Jin and Xiao will compete in the men's and women's alpine skiing events.

Other delegations are also announcing the lineup of participants in the Winter Olympics, some of which have set the highest in history. The Australian Olympic Committee announced a lineup of 23 women and 21 men on the 25th, and the number of female players hit a new high in the previous Winter Olympics.

The Winter Olympic lineup of the European ice and snow powerhouse, the Czech Republic, also broke history, and the British media "Arena Insider" said that after determining 113 athletes to participate in the Beijing Winter Olympics, the Czech Republic will lead the largest team to participate in the Winter Olympics so far, an increase of 19 from the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, only 2 fewer than the number of Czech athletes participating in the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, and beyond the number of participants in the 2016 Rio Olympics. Sablikova is the team's current team winner of the most Medals at the Winter Olympics, winning 3 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze in the speed skating arena. The Czech delegation's goal is to hand over a more eye-catching report card in Beijing than the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics (2 gold, 4 silver and 2 bronze).

The Polish Olympic Committee also announced the 57-man Winter Olympic list on the 24th, including 30 women and 27 men. For the first time in the history of Polish sport, women have surpassed men in the Winter Olympics. The president of the Polish Olympic Committee, Andrei Krasniki, said in an official statement: "This event will attract the attention of the whole world. Each Winter Olympics has a universal significance, when the delegates will gather at the Olympic venues, they are the elite of the elite, and the Olympic team is the glory. ”

The Lithuanian Olympic Committee said on the 24th that it will send the largest delegation to participate in the Beijing Winter Olympics so far, including 13 athletes. The Swiss Olympic Committee recently announced that 78 athletes have joined the country's Beijing Winter Olympics delegation.

Among them, experienced ski jumper Simon Amman will usher in the seventh winter Olympic tour. The four-time Winter Olympic gold medalist has previously participated in six consecutive Winter Olympics from Nagano in 1998 to Pyeongchang in 2018. In addition, Swiss cross-country skier Dario Colonna is preparing to participate in the Winter Olympics for the fourth and final time.

Liu Shaoang is positive for new crown

The U.S. Olympic Committee updated the list of participants in the Beijing Winter Olympics on the 25th, and after the 21-year-old female ski jumper Anna Hoffman won the substitute place, the number of U.S. delegations rose to 223 (115 male and 108 female). The Associated Press said the 223 participants were the second largest winter Olympics delegation in history sent by the United States. Among them, more than 50 American athletes will make their Winter Olympic debuts in Beijing.

At present, the COVID-19 pandemic is still affecting the preparation of delegations. The Hungarian Skating Association announced on the 24th that Liu Shaoang, a Hungarian short track speed skater and a member of the men's 5000-meter relay champion of short track speed skating at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, tested positive for the new crown. It is reported that Liu Shaoang currently has no symptoms, he can continue to train under continuous observation, make final preparations for the Beijing Winter Olympics, and the condition for him to go to Beijing to compete is a negative test result for 5 consecutive days.