On the 4th day of the Year of the Tiger in the Chinese lunar calendar, the Beijing Winter Olympics will be grandly opened.
From the French town of Chamonix in 1924 to the Chinese capital Beijing in 2022, the Winter Olympics have gone through nearly a hundred years of history. Nearly a hundred years ago, at the first Winter Olympics, more than 200 athletes from about 16 countries competed – competitions that were not even called Olympic games at first until two years later, when the IOC recognized it as the first Winter Olympics.
At the 24th Winter Olympics in 2022, nearly 3,000 athletes from more than 90 countries and regions will participate. International Olympic Committee President Bach recently said that the Beijing Winter Olympics will open a new era of global ice and snow sports.
What changes have taken place in the Winter Olympics in the past hundred years? What are the main differences between the Winter Olympics and the Summer Olympics? The Beijing News reporter recently had an exclusive dialogue with Jean-Loup Chappelet, a professor at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland and a senior expert in the international Olympic movement.
Chapley has been studying Olympic-related issues for more than 40 years. In the 1980s, Chapley served as Director of the Information Technology Department of the International Olympic Committee for five years. From 1980 to 1982, he also served as a science commissioner at the French Embassy in China. Last November, a Chinese edition of Sharpley's book The Olympic Games: Rekindling the Flame was published.
Infographic: Jean-Lou Chaplais. /Image courtesy of the University of Lausanne website
From mountain towns to big cities
Beijing News: The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics is about to open. As a result, Beijing will become the first city in the history of the modern Olympic Games to host both the Summer Olympic Games and the Winter Olympic Games. What is your assessment of this?
Jean-Lu Chaplais: Following the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Beijing is about to host the 2022 Winter Olympics. China has become one of the few countries in the world, in addition to Germany, Canada, South Korea, the United States, France, Italy and Japan, that has hosted both the Summer Olympics and the Winter Olympics. In particular, China's two Olympic Games have been hosted by Beijing, which is unique.
As a world-class metropolis, Beijing now hosts the Winter Olympics, which is also in line with the development trend of the Winter Olympics.
Beijing News: From the first Winter Olympics in 1924 to the 24th Winter Olympics in 2022, what changes have taken place in the hosting of the Winter Olympics?
Jean-Lou Chaplais: Over the past century, the cities hosting the Winter Olympics have changed a bit.
In the early days of the Winter Olympics, from 1924 to 1960 (except for 1952, when it was hosted by the Norwegian capital Oslo), the host cities were mainly small winter resorts, such as the first Winter Olympics in 1924, which was organized by the French alpine resort of Chamonix, and the second Winter Olympics in 1928, which was organized by the Swiss town of St. Moritz, located in the Alps.
In the second half of the 20th century, from 1964 to 1994, the Winter Olympics were held mainly in medium-sized cities close to the mountains (except for the 1980 Winter Olympics, which was held in lake Placid, an American town that hosted the Winter Olympics in 1932). For example, the 1964 and 1976 Winter Olympics were organized by Innsbruck, Austria, which is located in the Alpine Valley and is the capital of the Austrian state of Tyrol.
From around the 21st century, the Winter Olympics moved to big cities. In general, indoor (on ice) events are held in large cities, while outdoor (snowy) events are held in some distant resorts. For example, the 2002 Winter Olympics were held in Salt Lake City, USA, and some snow sports were held in nearby Park City and other places.
The 2022 Winter Olympics will be co-hosted by Beijing and Zhangjiakou. Among them, the Beijing division hosts ice sports, and the Yanqing division and Zhangjiakou division host snow sports.
The next Winter Olympics, the 2026 Winter Olympics, will go to Milan, Italy's second-largest city, and cortina d'́dampezzo, which once hosted the 1956 Winter Olympics.
On January 22, the National Speed Skating Hall, the iconic venue of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, completed the first ice making work of the speed skating track. /IC photo
The Winter Olympics are greatly affected by natural conditions
Beijing News: The modern Olympic Games began in 1896, and in the early 20th century, figure skating and other events were added. Why did you start hosting the Winter Olympics in 1924? What are the main differences between the Winter Olympics and the Summer Olympics?
Jean-Lou Chaplais: The Winter Olympics include only ice and snow sports. In the 1920s, IOC members believed that these ice and snow events should be olympic events and needed to be held separately, eventually starting to host the Winter Olympics every four years. (From 1924 to 1992, the Winter Olympics and the Summer Olympics were held in the same year.) Since 1994, the Winter Olympics and the Summer Olympics have been held for two years)
Compared to the Summer Olympics, the Winter Olympics are smaller in size. For example, the number of countries participating in the Winter Olympics is generally less than half of the Summer Olympics, the Winter Olympics are only about one-third of the Summer Olympics, and the televised rights of the Winter Olympics are almost half of the Summer Olympics.
Beijing News: Compared with the Summer Olympic Games, the public has a relatively small understanding of the Winter Olympic Games. Why?
Jean-Lou Chaplais: Ice and snow sports are influenced by natural conditions and are mainly carried out in the northern hemisphere. Only a few countries in the Southern Hemisphere practice such sports, such as Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Chile, etc.
Today, winter athletes from Africa, Southeast Asia and the Caribbean are on the rise. However, most of them are trained in Europe or North America.
Beijing News: What is the most difficult thing about hosting the Winter Olympics?
Jean-Lou Chaplais: For the Winter Olympics, the most important thing is to find the right place, which is not too far from the mountains, and the venue must be large enough to meet the requirements of hosting the Olympic Games.
Almost half of the events in the Winter Olympics are related to skiing, so the future of the Winter Olympics depends heavily on the development of skiing.
On December 8, 2020, Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province, overlooking the National Ski Jumping Center "Snow Ruyi" from the air. /IC photo
Winter sports are becoming increasingly popular
Beijing News: The Winter Olympics have a history of nearly 100 years. How has winter sports changed over the past century? There are a lot of people who think that winter sports are the sport of the rich, what do you think?
Jean-Lou Chaplais: The Winter Olympics have made winter sports more known and popular, and the number of Winter Olympic programs has gradually increased.
At the beginning of the Winter Olympics, these snow sports may be considered to be mainly for wealthy tourists, such as Chamonix in France, St. Moritz in Switzerland, lake Placid in the United States, and the first few cities that hosted the Winter Olympics were all resorts. Until now, sports such as sledding remain very niche.
Winter snow sports have higher environmental requirements, and because of the effects of climate change, even in some countries with higher latitudes, snow is getting less and less. Ice sports are indoor sports that can be played on indoor ice rinks.
Beijing News: Generally speaking, the Olympic Games can bring economic and diplomatic benefits to the host country. What will be the main impact of the Winter Olympics on host countries?
Jean-Lou Chaplais: The main benefits for the host countries of the Winter Olympics are probably the development of the winter sports equipment industry, such as snowboards, snow boots, and snow suits for skiing. At the same time, promote the development of winter sports and promote tourism consumption.
Reporter | Shelian
Edit | Zhang Jianlin