With the Summer Olympics behind us, the Winter Olympics are just around the corner. This upcoming Olympics is set to be held in Beijing China being set for the opening ceremony to start on Feb. 4 and for the closing ceremony to finish the games off on Feb. 20. The quick exchange between summer and winter was from the Summer Olympics in Tokyo being postponed due to COVIDin 2020, this however did not change the date for the Winter Olympics.
The budget for this Olympics is $3.9 billion, and the National Stadium of Beijing itself costs $428 million to construct. Due to Covid, the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo Japan, was postponed to 2021. This did not affect the 2022 Winter Olympics as it was never changed to reflect the Summer Olympics, even though the Summer and Winter Olympics normally alternate every 2 years. This will be the first time since 1994 that the summer and winter Olympics will occur less than a year apart.
There are many different types of sports that are hosted in the Winter Olympics. The opening ceremony is at 6:30 a. M. ET or 3:30 PT on Feb. 4 and should last about an hour and 40 minutes. In the opening ceremony, this is the first time the year’s games will be broadcasted, and most athletes competing will attend this. There are many more interesting activities to watch during the Olympics.
McIntosh sophomore Sarah Arriola said, “I prefer the Winter Olympics because I like watching the figure skating section.”

Tenth grader Julia Varga said, “My favorite [Winter Olympic sport] is ice skating because I always found it so beautiful how these athletes combine the coldness of the ice with the warmness of the music and dance and create this amazing gliding dance.”
COVID-19 is still a running dilemma in the planning of any social event, and it has taken a great toll on the 2020 Summer Olympics, however, the Winter Olympics is still set to occur in 2022. As of Jan. 17 tickets are no longer being sold to the general public for the games. Tickets are only being distributed to chosen groups, thus those who do receive tickets must follow harsh COVID safety measures. China has put these in place due to their rising cases after the omicron variant has started spreading across the world.
When asked his viewpoints on if it was a smart idea to attend the Olympics given the current situation on COVID Ethan Thompson a McIntosh freshman said, “Yes, because it seems like they are taking lots of precaution to keep everyone safe.”
The Beijing Winter Olympics will be occurring soon, and many United States athletes will be competing for medals. Just a few examples of U.S. Olympians competing are Jamie Anderson for women’s snowboarding, Kevin Bickner for men’s ski jumping, Summer Britcher for women’s luge, and Nathan Chen for men’s figure skating. As of now even with the COVID-19 regulations athletes all across the world will be traveling to Beijing for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to represent their countries.
When asked if she will be watching the Winter Olympics, Ninth-grader Airi Misugi said “Yes, I plan on watching it because I enjoy seeing people using the winter to their advantage in various entertaining ways.”