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Olympic flame lands in Beijing for Winter Games

By AFP
October 21, 2021

BEIJING: The Olympic flame arrived in Beijing on Wednesday for the 2022 Winter Games following a ceremony in Greece.

Beijing — set in February to become the first host of a Summer and Winter Games — held a welcome event for the flame at the capital’s Olympic Tower, where it will go on display.

A short torch relay in early February consisting of 1,200 torchbearers will carry the flame around the three Olympic competition zones, organisers said.

With the Games just over 100 days away, the flame was carried off a plane in a red lantern and then welcomed by a children’s choir before being transferred to a cauldron by the city’s Communist Party secretary Cai Qi.

The flame will be displayed at the Olympic Tower near the “Bird’s Nest” Stadium, which hosted the opening ceremony for the 2008 Games and will be used for the opening and closing ceremonies in February.

Audiences for the torch relay will be limited to minimise Covid-19 risks, with people encouraged instead to follow online using augmented and virtual reality software, state-run Beijing Daily reported.

The flame was lit in Olympia on Monday and transferred the following day to the organisers of the Beijing Games.

The low-key event was held in front of a limited audience because of the coronavirus and, in a break with tradition, there was no torch relay on Greek soil.The Beijing Games will be the second Olympics to be held under the shadow of the coronavirus after the Tokyo Games earlier this year. Athletes competing in Beijing face strict rules to contain the risk of Covid-19 cases.

Participants will stay in a “closed loop” bubble to thwart infections, with athletes having to be either fully vaccinated or face 21 days’ quarantine.

Tickets will only be sold to people living in China.

China has largely sealed its borders since the virus emerged there towards the end of 2019, which has slowed the number of daily infections to a trickle.

But around 2,000 overseas athletes, coaches and team officials are currently involved in test events in Beijing, giving a strong taste of how authorities will handle next year’s Games.