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Hosts: Beijing, China Dates: 4-20 February |
Protection: Watch stay on BBC TV, BBC iPlayer, BBC Purple Button and on-line; hear on BBC Radio 5 Stay and BBC Sounds; stay textual content and highlights on BBC Sport web site and cellular app |
The twenty fourth version of the Winter Olympics is formally below manner after the Olympic cauldron was lit in a restrained opening ceremony in Beijing.
Virtually 3,000 athletes from 91 nations will compete throughout the Video games.
The Worldwide Olympic Committee (IOC) has been criticised for awarding the Video games to China due to the nation’s alleged human rights abuses.
IOC president Tomas Bach mentioned one of many missions of the Video games was to “unite humankind in all our range”.
The Olympic torch was positioned into the centre of a large snowflake, which was then illuminated to turn into the cauldron.
The snowflake is made up of placards with the names of the 91 nations competing in Beijing.
Talking throughout the ceremony, Bach addressed “all political authorities throughout the globe” throughout his speech, asking them to “give peace an opportunity”.
“In our fragile world, the place division, battle and distrust are on the rise, we present the world: sure, it’s potential to be fierce rivals, whereas on the identical time dwelling peacefully and respectfully collectively,” he mentioned.
‘There shall be no discrimination in any respect’
Beijing is the primary metropolis to host each a summer time and winter version of an Olympic Video games, with the opening ceremony held within the iconic Fowl’s Nest stadium that was constructed for the 2008 Video games.
Simply as in Tokyo six months in the past, there have been no paying spectators, pals or household current within the stands, though there have been diplomats and workforce members applauding the athletes on.
Representatives of 56 ethnic teams from throughout China relayed the nationwide flag into the stadium to start the opening ceremony.
The Olympic rings themselves emerged from a frozen block of ice, with athletes coming into the world beneath them.
Roller Eve Muirhead and alpine skier Dave Ryding, each competing of their fourth Winter Olympics, carried the Nice Britain flag into the stadium.
Bach instructed the athletes: “You’ll present how the world would appear like, if all of us respect the identical guidelines and one another.
“Over the subsequent two weeks you’ll compete with one another for the very best prize. On the identical time, you’ll stay peacefully collectively below one roof within the Olympic Village.
“There, there shall be no discrimination for any cause in any respect. “
Why are the Video games controversial?
Numerous nations declared a diplomatic boycott of the Video games, together with the UK, with no ministers or officers attending the opening ceremony.
The Beijing authorities is accused of committing atrocities in opposition to the Uyghur Muslim inhabitants within the northwest province of Xinjiang, with the World Uyghur Congress describing the Video games as “a genocide Olympics”.
There have been stories that, in addition to interning Uyghurs in camps, China has been forcibly mass sterilising Uyghur girls to suppress the inhabitants.
China has persistently denied allegations of human rights abuses in Xinjiang, insisting camps weren’t detention camps, however “vocational academic and coaching centres”, whereas the IOC says it should “stay impartial on all world political points”.
There has additionally been widespread concern over the protection of Chinese language tennis participant Peng Shuai after she made accusations of sexual assault in opposition to a high authorities official. Bach will meet face-to-face with Peng throughout the Video games.
Russian president Vladimir Putin was in attendance on the opening ceremony, having met with China’s President Xi Jinping earlier within the day.
Photos from the opening ceremony
What medals are on provide on Saturday?
All occasions GMT
- 07:45-08:45 – Girls’s cross nation 15km skiathlon
- 08:30-10:00 – Girls’s 3,000m pace skating
- 09:00-10:30 – Blended relay biathlon
- 10:45-12:25 – Girls’s ski leaping – regular hill
- 11:00-13:35 – Quick monitor pace skating combined relay closing
- 11:30-13:15 – Males’s freestyle snowboarding
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