Two days before the official opening of the Beijing-2022 Winter Games, with the opening ceremony scheduled for Friday, The starting signal for the event tests was given this Wednesday, with the curling competition.
After several weeks of concerns about the threat of covid, with the spread of the contagious omicron variant, and of controversies arising from political tensions that triggered calls for a diplomatic boycottsupported by countries such as the United States or Great Britain, after complaints against China for not respecting human rights, curling began, around 8:05 p.m. local time (7:05 a.m. Ecuador time), to sports competitions in the “Ice Cube” (Cube del Hielo), which in its day was the Water Cube, the Olympic swimming pool of the 2008 Games.
Four matches valid for the preliminary round of the mixed doubles tournament, including a China-Switzerland, staged this royal start of the Gamesbefore a scattered local public, as a consequence of respecting social distance measures.
Torch relay in Beijing
Shortly before, the Games torch relay began in Beijing.
More than 1,000 relievers will carry the flame for three days through the competition areas of Beijing and the nearby city of Zhangjiakou, which hosts cross-country skiing and snowboarding events, before the opening ceremony.
Amid coronavirus concerns, The authorities want to limit public assistance to the route of the flame and have asked citizens to follow the relays online.
Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng lit the torch on Wednesday morning before passing the flame to the first three runners of the relay.
The first three relievers were Luo Zhihuan, an 80-year-old former speed skater who won China’s first world title in a winter sport in 1963, astronaut Jing Haipeng and space engineer Ye Peijian, who is in charge of China’s lunar exploration program.
Basketball star Yao Ming also took part in the relay later in the day, before passing the flame to Greek Ambassador to China Georgios Iliopoulos.
The torch journey in October began amidst controversies, with several activists interrupting the lighting ceremony in Olympia (Greece) with banners denouncing human rights violations in Chinain which several countries have supported each other to carry out a diplomatic boycott.
Beijing has condemned this boycott and wants to take advantage of these Games to raise its international reputation. (D)
Source: Eluniverso
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