Carson Enos '22
The 2022 Winter Olympics officially started February 4th in Beijing, China! This is the second Olympic Games to be held in the middle of the pandemic after last year's exhilarating Summer Olympics in Tokyo. These Olympics will make Beijing the first city to host both the Summer and Winter Games.
As with last year's Summer Olympics, COVID-19 countermeasures have been put in place ahead of the Games, which will again feature a COVID-safe system where athletes will be kept in a “bubble” away from other competitors.
Beijing was originally awarded the bid by the International Olympic Committee at the 128th IOC Session in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 2015. The cost budget for this year's Olympics is set to be $3.9 billion. Beijing is 13 hours ahead of Eastern Time, meaning many events will be delayed for prime-time audiences in the United States.
This year’s winter Olympics will include a record-109 events across seven umbrella sports which include skating and skiing, curling, ice hockey, biathlon, bobsledding, and luge. Thousands of Olympic athletes will be competing to win gold.
The United States has many stand out athletes competing across many different sports. A few notables to watch are Shaun White, Chloe Kim, and Paula Moltzan.
White, a three-time gold medalist in snowboarding, is looking to make history with a fourth. Kim, also competing in snowboarding, is looking to win her second gold medal after being the youngest athlete to ever win gold in the halfpipe category. Lastly, the 27-year-old Paula Moltzan will be the oldest athlete to compete in alpine skiing in almost 70 years.
These athletes, along with the rest of Team USA, all have one thing in common: the desire to win gold.
