Believe it or not, the Olympics are back already.
Only six months removed from the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, these games will take place in Beijing, China.
There is a litany of storylines beyond the actual athletes and competitions this year, such as the diplomatic boycott of the games by the U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia and others, COVID-19 and the fact that this edition of the games will be the first using almost all artificial snow.
A Google search of “winter Olympics” last week brought up stories and columns from various international news outlets about athletes being told to use burner phones to counter digital surveillance, China hiring western social media influencers to spin focus away from human rights abuses in Xinjang and Hong Kong, and even China’s attempts to control the weather.
All that without getting into the host country’s fractious relationship with Canada.
While all of those topics are important and worth exploring, there are so many great storylines that need air too.
Closest to home is northwest B.C.’s only athlete at the games, 24-year-old Emily Dickson. Born and raised in Burns Lake, she has spent the last 15 years and change rising up the ranks of Canadian winter sports. Now, all her hard work has paid off with a chance to compete on the world’s biggest stage in biathlon (one of the coolest winter sports).
Jamaica has qualified its first four-man bobsleigh team in 24 years. But that’s not all, the small Caribbean nation also has competitors in two-man bob and women’s monobob, a new event.
NHL players won’t be at this Olympics, which is a disappointment. However, looking on the bright side, it gives viewers a chance to watch former fan-favourites who are now playing in Europe, plus young players that wouldn’t otherwise make the team.
At the time of writing, longtime NHL veteran Eric Staal will suit up for Canada alongside Owen Power, the first pick in last year’s draft. That should at the very least make for some interesting viewing.
Similarly, I am curious to see if China can hang in games against much better teams. The Chinese team is made up mostly of Canadians, including B.C.’s own Brandon Yip. How will the 32nd ranked team fare against the likes of Canada, the U.S.A. and Russia? Only time will tell.
On the women’s side, Canada will be looking to avenge their loss to the Americans in the 2018 Olympics. Since the women’s hockey was added in 1998, those teams have faced each other in the gold medal game of every Olympics except one.
I tried curling for the first time a couple of years ago and enjoyed it. Now that I actually understand what’s going on, I am looking forward to watching it this year (and Norway’s pants).
And, as always, there are sure to be special moments in all of the other events, such as speed skating, alpine skiing, ski jumping, snowboarding, luge, skeleton and more.
During these Olympics, there are sure to be more stories about politics. It is the Olympics after all and those are important conversations. But let’s also take the time to enjoy the games themselves.
— With files from Eddie Huband