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2030 olympics

2030 Winter Olympics In French Alps Adds Synchro Skating And Freeride Skiing Events

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The International Olympic Committee announced some updates this week regarding the 2030 Winter Olympics, which are taking place in the French Alps. 

The program for the 2030 Games now includes two new disciplines, synchronized figure skating and freeride skiing. They also gave a reprieve to snowboard parallel giant slalom by keeping it on the program, and are completely dropping Nordic combined. These changes also mean that there are more female than male athletes competing at the next Winter Games. 

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Reports show that the IOC set a record quota of 3,046 athletes with 1,525 female and 1,521 male for the next Winter Games. In the most recent edition at the Milan Cortina Olympics this past February, there was a majority of male athletes among the nearly 2,900 athletes competing. 

In the next edition in the French Alps, there will be more medal events for women than men with 56 compared to 55, and 15 mixed events in the 126 total. 

The Nordic combined is the only sport that was an original Winter Games sport back in 1924, and had always been all-male. The IOC did have the option of adding women’s and team events, however they ended up completely cutting it, citing that it struggled to find a “modern audience” for its mix of ski jumping and cross-country skiing. 

Nordic combined was also the only Winter Olympics sport that excluded a gender, so more men had an opportunity for gold. 

The IOC executive board acknowledged that even outside of the Olympic Games, the sport did not have a strong international representation outside of Europe. The board also studied the popularity of it in 14 different ways before coming to their decision, including monitoring broadcast coverage, digital media interactions, and ticket sales. 

The IOC said that Nordic combined ranked last in 11 out of the 14 indicators during the most recent Milan Cortina Winter Games. 

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Nordic combined race director at the International Ski and Snowboard Federation, Lasse Ottesen, stated that this decision from the IOC was “extremely disappointing.”

“I am at a loss for words and struggle to understand the reasoning behind it. Nordic combined has been at the heart of Nordic skiing and part of the Olympic Games since 1924,” he said. 

IOC president Kristy Coventry said this week, however, that there is still hope that the discipline can return at the 2034 Utah Winter Games while acknowledging the disappointment those surrounding the event are feeling: “We know and can fully understand that this may come as a disappointment.”

“It is a shock that will take time to process,” said Norway’s Ida Marie Hagen, a two-time overall women’s World Cup champion. 

“It feels really hard that we never even got the chance to show our sport in the Olympics before we were cut out. I love this sport and we will fight all we can so that the next generation will get the change in this sport as well. Hopefully in 2034.”

On the other end, synchronized skating is added to the list. The discipline is typically seen as only for women, however it will be left open to let men also compete in the French Alps. 

Freeride skiing also will be added, allowing viewers to see professional skiers and snowboarders perform away from traditional slopes and on more natural terrain.

NBC Sees Beijing Winter Olympics End With The Worst Ratings Ever

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For NBC, everything that could’ve went wrong for the Beijing Winter Olympics, did go wrong. From debates over China and their abuses to doping scandals involving teenagers, the end result was a pitiful total viewership that might have executives mourning what was once thought to be a great business deal.

Perhaps it might be better to start where it all began back in 2014, when NBC locked up the American media rights to the Olympics through 2032 for $7.75 billion dollars. Previously, the 2012 Summer Olympics in London saw a viewership record of 219.4 million while the company reeled in a $120 million third quarter profit.

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Eight years later, it’s a very different scene. The Olympics averaged 11.4 million viewers (160 total million viewers) across all of NBCU’s platforms — which include NBC Sports, USA Network, and Peacock — down 42% from the 19.8 million viewers averaged during the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. At the time, the 2018 Olympics had been the worst watched, dropping 1.4 million viewers from 2014’s Sochi.

The highest night of primetime viewership — 13.7 million — occured on Feb. 13, which was only due to viewers trickling in after NBC’s broadcast of Super Bowl LVI, usually the most-watched program (112.3 million viewers) of the year.

The network did boast that these Winter Games were the most streamed ever with 4.3 billion minutes consumed across NBCU digital and social media, a fact greatly helped by its streaming service Peacock. Still, the damage has been done. “This was probably the most difficult Olympics of all time,” NBC Sports Chairman Pete Bevacqua told the Wall Street Journal.

Just a month before the two-year mark, COVID-19 has continued to impact Olympic Games. Bevacqua highlighted the difficulties the virus has caused which in turn affected fans’ interest, which include few spectators, athletes wearing masks, no families of athletes in attendance, and “very harsh protocols” in place by China.

The broadcasting company also was limited in how many announcers they could have on-site. “We had 1,600 people in Stamford [Conn.] and 600 people in Beijing. Normally that would be flipped for us,” Bevacqua said.

Of course, the blaming of COVID can only work so much. Months leading up to the games were filled with protests and anger over China’s authoritarian actions and mistreatment of groups like Uyghur and Uzbek muslims. The drama didn’t end there. 15-year-old Russian skater Kamila Valieva entered the Olympics as the favorite to win gold, but tested positive for a banned heart medication. Despite the positive test, her suspension by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency was erased, and she continued to participate.

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In the free skating competition, Valieva fell numerous times during her routine, leading to a fourth place finish. However, viewers were treated to sights such as Valieva breaking down in tears while fellow skater Alexandra Trusova screamed “I hate this sport” for all to hear after a silver medal finish.

Also not helping were event start times. The time zone of Beijing — 13 hours ahead of New York — made it difficult for American viewers to watch events live, often forcing them to stay in the early morning hours of 1 to 5 a.m. ET if they wanted real-time.

Bevacqua stated that the ratings are in line with what they told advertisers. NBC, worth $35 billion, has not announced yet whether the Olympics turned into a profit or loss. An anonymous source told the Associated Press that the turnout is a “particularly vulnerable moment” for the company and wouldn’t be surprised if NBC is looking to improve its deal with the International Olympic Committee.

However, the source noted it’s highly unlikely they would try to get out of the multibillion deal altogether. After all, even with the down years of Beijing and 2021’s Tokyo — which averaged 15.1 million viewers, down 12.4 million from 2016’s Rio — it’s still a unique property that no other media company possesses. The challenge now for NBC is how to successfully market and strategize for the games down the line in order to avoid another catastrophe.

Study Finds Climate Change And Fake Weather Could Make Winter Olympics Dangerous

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As the world’s climate continues to shift, the historic winter competition could be at risk. According to a new study, climate change is making conditions much more dangerous for Winter Olympic athletes and participants.

The study — released Tuesday — was written by researchers from the Sport Ecology Group at Loughborough University in London and Protect Our Winters UK, an environmental group.

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Beijing, the host of this year’s games that are set to kick off in nine days, will be using over 100 snow generators and 300 snow guns. It will be the first Winter Olympics to on virtually 100% artificial snow, which the study showed is a significant issue.

“This is not only energy and water-intensive, frequently using chemicals to slow melt, but also delivers a surface that many competitors say is unpredictable and potentially dangerous.”

“Navigating erratic snow seasons and rapid melt of low level resorts are now the norm for many competitors,” the report somberly stated.

Scottish freestyle skier Laura Donaldson explained in the press release that if freestyle super pipes are formed in poor winter conditions from snow-making machines, the walls of the ice are composed of solid, vertical ice, as is the pipe floor. “This is dangerous for athletes, some have died,” she said.

Another study by the University of Waterloo found that climate change is threatening potential future Olympic Game hosts because their locations would be too warm. If the world’s emission rates continue their current course, only one of the previous 21 host cities by the 2080s — Sapporo, Japan — would have the right conditions to host again.

In a low emission future that’s consistent with a successful Paris Agreement, meanwhile, 13 of the 21 cities could host by the 2050s, and 12 by the 2080s. When it comes to “climate sustainability,” Chaminx is deemed “high-risk” along with venues in France, Norway and Austria, while Vancouver, Sochi, and Squaw Valley in the U.S. are “unreliable.”

The risks to athletes are extremely apparent. The study notes that injury rates are higher in winter versus summer Games, while the last three winter Games — PyeongChang, Sochi, and Vancouver — possessed the highest incidence rates recorded among alpine skiing, snowboarding, and freestyle athletes.

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There are other impacts beyond the athletes’ health at play, as the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) notes. The water used for snow making has been reportedly taken away from local residents and farmers, while the artificial snow can cause erosion, landslides, and harm vegetation, adding onto the longer-term impact of building ski slopes in natural landscapes.

Biologists also raised concerns after planned ski runs were going to run through Songshan Nature Reserve, a protect forest ecosystem in Beijing. Damage could continue to be done if the venues are used long after the games finish.

The country has made some moves to produce sustainability. The games will have natural CO2 refrigeration systems in most of Beijing’s ice venues in an effort to decrease carbon footprints.

Organizers have also tried to ensure that water demand will have minimal effect on supply, and that the water needed for the Yanqing zone — where alpine skiing and sliding will occur — will account for just 1.6% of the water used in the area.

Olympics

Rights Activists Urge Boycotting of Beijing Winter Olympic Games As Protests Continue

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Human rights activists are calling for broadcasters, sponsors, participants, and governments worldwide to boycott the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympic Games due to China’s treatment of over two million Uyghur, Uzbek, and Kazakh Muslims, its crackdown on protests, and the “geopolitical bullying” towards Tibet and Taiwan.

Protests are already unfolding before the world’s eyes, with activists having waved a Tibet flag and banner stating “No Genocide Games” from inside the temple of Hera during the flame lighting ceremony in Olympia, Greece on Monday. The two activists, who are part of the group ‘Students for a Free Tibet,’ were arrested and have since been released.

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Groups such as ‘Students for a Free Tibet’ are a part of the ‘No Beijing 2022’ campaign that’s fighting to stop the allowance of Beijing’s games, which consists of Chinese, Hong Kong, Uyghur, Tibet, South Mongolian, and Taiwanese activists.

During his speech at the ceremony, International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach commented that the Olympics must remain “politically neutral ground.” Bach also stated that while the games cannot fix ongoing worldwide problems, they can “set an example for a world where everyone respects the same rules and one another.”

Bach’s sentiments have already been previously echoed by other members of the IOC. According to the South China Morning Post, IOC Vice President John Coates told reporters that the IOC’s remit only concerns the “Olympic movement.”

“We have no ability to go into a country and tell them what to do. All we can do is to award the Olympics to a country, under conditions set out in a host contract … and then ensure they are followed.”

Coates was also asked why the IOC would assist in helping Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover, but not interfere in this situation. Coates said that the 100 members the IOC helped to leave the country were part of the “Olympic community.”

In a statement, International Tibet Network’s executive director Mandie McKeown called out the hypocrisy of the IOC and stated how wrong it is for the Committee to be handing the torch to a country whose “ideals are so far removed” from that of the Olympics.

In April, USA Today reported that the U.S. formally accused China of committing genocides and crimes against humanity against the Uyghur people. A State Department report found China engaged in “mass detention” of the Uyghurs in prison and camps, along with evidence of sterilized rape, torture, and forced labor.

In response, China claimed the genocide was fabrication of western researchers and biased media outlets while also condemning the U.S. for meddling in international affairs. China has also stated their actions toward Uyghurs is considered to be “re-educating” due to extremists in the group, and that the camps are “vocational centers.”

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Despite the U.S. having issued previous sanctions against Chinese officials while threatening to ban Chinese imports that were made from Uyghur forced labor, there have been no indications that the country, or any others, plan to exit or boycott the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Numerous geopolitical issues have worked their way into the Olympic games throughout history. In 1980, dozens of countries, led by the U.S., boycotted the Moscow Olympics due to Soviet Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan. Boycotts by various countries also occurred in 1976, 1972, and 1968.

This also isn’t the first time China specifically has been called out by activists during the world games. CNN noted that human rights protests also occurred during the lighting ceremony back in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The Winter Olympics will be held from Feb. 4 to Feb. 20 in China’s capitol. It will be the first time a city has hosted both the summer and winter games. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, only Chinese residents will be allowed to spectate the events.