When does the Winter Olympics start? Schedule, events and date of Beijing 2022 Olympic Games opening ceremony

Beijing will once again play host to an Olympics but this Olympics will feature Kristen Santos, Cornelius Kersten and Eve Muirhead as the snow takes over the tracks for the 2022 Winter Olympics.

This event has already caused levels of controversies with the International Olympic Committee being heavily criticised for allowing China to host the event.

Certain countries announced they would be ‘boycotting’ the Games in a stand against their views surrounding China’s human rights issues and particularly their treatment of the Muslim Uyghurs, who the US believe are victims of genocide within the country.

China has also recently sent out warnings to athletes that they will be ‘punished’ if they stage anti-Beijing protests during the Games

The last Winter Olympics, held in 2018, took place in PyeongChang and saw Norway come away with 39 medals in total, 14 of which were Gold, another 14 in Silver and 11 in Bronze.

Great Britain came 19th in the medal table with one gold medal and four bronze.

Lizzy Yarnold was Great Britain’s sole Gold medal winner as the took first prize in the Women’s skeleton event.

Yarnold has since retired from the sport but has become the most successful British Winter Olympian and is the most successful Olympic skeleton athlete of all time from any nation.

Great Britain have sent a squad to the Winter Olympics at every Games since they began in Chamonix, France in 1924 and this year are set to send another squad of around 50 athletes.

In total, Britain have won 32 medals in 23 Games - although seven more were won in 1908 and 2920 when figure skating was included in the Summer Olympics.

Here is all you need to know ahead of the Winter Olympics…

When are the Winter Olympics taking place?

The Games will begin on Friday 4 February 2022 with the opening ceremony. The event will run until 20 February 2022 and concludes with the closing ceremony.

Who are the countries ‘boycotting’ the Games?

So far, the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom are among the countries to have announced they will not be sending diplomats to the Games.

While athletes from these countries will still be able to compete, no government officials from these countries will be attending.

Will Covid affect the Winter Olympics?

The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics will be held in a closed-loop system that can only be accessed by the Games participants.

This includes venues, official hotels and the event’s own transport service. All participants who are fully vaccinated will be able to enter the closed loop areas without quarantining, while those who are unvaccinated will need to quarantine for 21 days upon arrival in Beijing.

Some countries, including the US and Canada, have mandated that all team members must be fully vaccinated.

There will be daily testing and health monitoring and participants will have no contact with the general public.

Which venues are being used for the Winter Olympics?

While the Chinese capital is the official host city, the event will be spread across other venues, including the mountainous district of Yanqing, located 75km northwest of Beijing.

The skiing and snowboarding destination of Zhangjiakou will also be used which is a further 100km beyond Yanqing.

All three of the venues are connected by a newly built intercity railway, but they also boast their own Olympic village.

The Beijing National Stadium, also referred to as The Bird’s Nest, will be hosting both the opening and closing ceremonies.

Which sports are involved in the Winter Olympics?

There are currently 15 sports involved in the Winter Olympics. These sports are:

• Alpine skiing
• Bobsleigh
• Biathlon
• Cross-Country skiing
• Curling
• Freestyle Skiing
• Figure skating
• Ice Hockey
• Luge
• Nordic Combined
• Snowboard
• Ski Jumping
• Skeleton
• Speed Skating
• Short Track Speed Skating

Go to the Olympics website to find out the schedules for all of the events.

A message from the editor:

Thank you for reading. NationalWorld is a new national news brand, produced by a team of journalists, editors, video producers and designers who live and work across the UK. Find out more about who’s who in the team, and our editorial values. We want to start a community among our readers, so please follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and keep the conversation going. You can also sign up to our newsletters and get a curated selection of our best reads to your inbox every day.