Day 1 of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics

By Jack Bantock, Ben Church, John Sinnott, Fernando Alfonso and Adrienne Vogt

Updated 0012 GMT (0812 HKT) February 6, 2022
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4:39 a.m. ET, February 5, 2022

Snowboarding legend Shaun White to retire after Beijing 2022

From CNN's Jack Bantock

American snowboarder Shaun White is calling time on his Olympic career after Beijing 2022.
American snowboarder Shaun White is calling time on his Olympic career after Beijing 2022. (Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

American snowboarder Shaun White has announced he will retire after the Beijing Games, calling time on an illustrious career.

The 35-year-old has won three halfpipe Olympic gold medals since his Games debut at Torino 2006, adding 13 titles at the Winter X Games to become one of the sport's most iconic figures.

"It will be my last competition, which is pretty special," White told the media in Zhangjiakou, China, on Saturday.

"Everything's got this extra excitement to it. The last time I'll be doing this [pre-race press conference], the last time sitting with you guys [his USA teammates], the last Opening Ceremony, all these things.

"So it's pretty, pretty heavy, but I'm enjoying it."

White took gold in his maiden Games in Italy before adding his second at Vancouver four years later.

A nasty training crash in 2017 — which left White requiring 62 stitches — looked to have endangered the American's hopes at the PyeongChang Games in 2018, but he made a swift recovery to win his third gold with the "performance of his life" just four months later.

In doing so, he avenged the pain of narrowly missing out on a medal at Sochi four years prior.

As he prepares to compete at his fifth and final Games, White reflected on his journey, an "incredible" Opening Ceremony and his legacy.

"I've been giving it my all. There have been ups and downs to get here, but through it all, I've gotten stronger and better the whole way and I'm excited to be here," White said.

"The Opening Ceremony and venue were incredible. In terms of legacy, I've done so much in the sport — I hope that my riding speaks to that. I'm always trying to ride and progress and pick up on trends in sport and stay ahead of the competition."

White is set to begin practice on Sunday, and the American shared his excitement at the prospect of competing at the "beautiful" Genting Snow Park.

Though competitive retirement beckons, White does not believe he will be leaving the sport "anytime soon."

"I think the beautiful part about snowboarding is there's still a life to be had than the sport outside of competition with so many names that you know you don't see in the limelight," White said.

"All these people within an industry that ride backcountry and pipes. I'm just too excited for the next chapter."

4:34 a.m. ET, February 5, 2022

'Dangerous' high winds cause training session to be canceled for men's downhill skiers

From CNN's Ben Church

Norway's Aleksander Aamodt Kilde takes part in the men's downhill third training session on February 5, before high winds canceled the rest of the runs.
Norway's Aleksander Aamodt Kilde takes part in the men's downhill third training session on February 5, before high winds canceled the rest of the runs. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images)

Referee Markus Waldner says "dangerous" and "unpredictable" gusts of wind caused the cancelation of the third training session for the men's downhill on Saturday.

Waldner says his team had initially hoped conditions were good enough but that the weather suddenly changed.

"Two hours before we started [...] it was good enough to go, similar to yesterday. Also during the forerun — we had five forerunners — it was good enough to go. Safe," Waldner says.

"But then, suddenly, suddenly these wind gusts were coming, especially on the 'sugar jump,' also up above the women's start.

"This is dangerous. It's unpredictable. We cannot handle this. These wind gusts are coming so fast."

Waldner says the outlook for Sunday's race is more promising and that competition should go ahead if winds stay at a more consistent level.

All skiers have had at least two training runs and three managed to sneak in a third before the decision was made to cancel Saturday's session.

4:06 a.m. ET, February 5, 2022

Closing Ceremony preparations have begun

From CNN's Jessie Yeung

Filmmaker Zhang Yimou is the director of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.
Filmmaker Zhang Yimou is the director of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. (Guo Zongyi/(ImagineChina/AP)

The Winter Olympics have only just gotten underway, but work has already begun on the Closing Ceremony in Beijing.

The Games were opened with a spectacular curtain-raiser at the Bird's Nest — Beijing's National Stadium — featuring the athletes parade through the "Gate of China" before the lighting of the Olympic cauldron.

Opening Ceremony director Zhang Yimou said: "Last night, we started the transition for the Closing Ceremony immediately.

"The Bird’s Nest is not a competition venue, which is good for me. We are here to serve the athletes, we hope they feel joy.” 

See the Opening Ceremony in pictures here

Audience cheers rippled through the National Stadium throughout, with Chinese social media buzzing with positive comments.

Zhang, however, was reluctant to score the ceremony.

"You always want me to score my work," Zhang said.

"As a creator, I am strict to my work and won’t give it a high score, but I will give 100 points to the performers and to my team.

"The biggest feature of the ceremony was innovation.”

Arguably the most innovative feature of the ceremony was the cauldron itself, which saw the lighting of a snowflake with a "micro-flame" instead of the customary large cauldron and large fire.

Formed of 91 small flakes, the snowflake represented the 91 competing nations and regions.

Zhang said that the small flame was intended to "showcase the concept of low carbon, and of Chinese aesthetics".

"Lighting up the world with one small flame. It is a romantic and surprising way of presenting the cauldron," Zhang added.

4:34 a.m. ET, February 5, 2022

Athletes note impact of climate change at Beijing 2022

From CNN's Ben Church

Snowmaking machines in action at the Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou. 
Snowmaking machines in action at the Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou.  (Wang Zhao/AFP/Getty Images)

Competition is already underway at the National Cross-Country Skiing Centre but some athletes have been noting the impact of climate change on their sport.

Like many tracks around the world, Beijing 2022 will be reliant on man-made snow and US athlete Gus Schumacher is worried about what will happen with the world getting warmer.

"I think climate change will have the biggest impact on our sport in the years to come,” the skier said.

“There’s a lot of stuff that changes in skiing, but that’s the one that’s going to make it not possible.

"It’s already changing it; there’s less race security, fewer warm-up tracks, fewer places to ski and so fewer people that are interested in doing it.”

While artificial snow is expensive for organizers, athletes have also noticed that the tracks at this year's Games are slower than normal -- in part due to the lack of real snow.

“The course is super, super slow,” said British skier James Clugnet. “It’s so cold, and it’s a bit like a desert next to the track, so when it’s windy, the sand comes into the track.

"You have to reach a certain speed and then you’re all right, but when you’re going slowly, it feels like you’re standing still.

"I’m glad I’m not doing the distance races because I think it’ll be hard. If you get tired, suddenly you’ll go so much slower.

"The strongest athletes will win, but even more so on this course.”

3:53 a.m. ET, February 5, 2022

First medals won at Beijing 2022 Games, first gold to Norway

From CNN Sport staff

Norway's Therese Johaug celebrates after winning the women's skiathlon 2x7.5km event on February 5 at the Zhangjiakou National Cross-Country Skiing Centre. 
Norway's Therese Johaug celebrates after winning the women's skiathlon 2x7.5km event on February 5 at the Zhangjiakou National Cross-Country Skiing Centre.  (Matthias Hangst/Getty Images)

The first medals have been earned at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games, and they come in cross-country skiing in women’s skiathlon.

The gold medal in the 15-kilometer race went to Therese Johaug of Norway, her first individual Olympic gold medal in her career, with a time of 44 minutes and 13.7 seconds. Johaug, 33, is competing in her third Olympics, but she missed PyeongChang 2018 because of a positive drug test in 2016. This is her fourth Olympic medal all time and second gold.

Natalia Nepryaeva of the ROC won silver in a time of 44:43.9, holding off Austria's Teresa Stadlober, who won bronze in a time of 44:44.2.

American Jessie Diggins, considered a contender for a medal heading into the event, finished sixth.

One of the final torchbearers who lit the cauldron, Dinigeer Yilamujiang of Xinjiang province, was among the starters in this race.

3:43 a.m. ET, February 5, 2022

The first gold medal event of the Olympics has begun

From CNN's Jessie Yeung

Athletes compete at the start of the women's skiathlon 2x7.5km event on February 5 at the Zhangjiakou National Cross-Country Skiing Centre.
Athletes compete at the start of the women's skiathlon 2x7.5km event on February 5 at the Zhangjiakou National Cross-Country Skiing Centre. (Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images)

The first medal event of the Olympics has begun, with the cross-country women's 15km skiathlon kicking off at 3:45 p.m. local time (2:45 a.m. ET)

Though other competitions took place earlier today, and even earlier in the week before the Opening Ceremony, those were qualifiers that decided which athletes advance to the finals.

At the skiathlon, competitors will have to ski 7.5 kilometers (about 4.6 miles) in the "classical style," and the other 7.5 kilometers freestyle.

  • In the classical style, the athlete's skis move back and forth in a parallel motion inside parallel grooves of snow, according to the official Olympics site.
  • The freestyle technique is faster, allowing the skier to move their skis side to side in a movement more like ice skating or roller blading.
3:21 a.m. ET, February 5, 2022

At the Beijing Olympic snow park, snowboarders glide by a Great Wall (no, not that one)

From CNN's Jessie Yeung

Japan's Miyabi Onitsuka competes in the snowboard women's slopestyle qualification run at Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou on February 5.
Japan's Miyabi Onitsuka competes in the snowboard women's slopestyle qualification run at Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou on February 5. (Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images)

Athletes competing at the Genting Snow Park in China's Zhangjiakou, one of the three "zones" where Olympic sporting events are being held, might see some familiar Chinese motifs as they flip and jump through the air.

Some of the walls in the snow park -- which contains rails and massive jumps for athletes to perform tricks -- are built like the Great Wall of China, with its distinctive stone ridges on the top.

Another structure in the park looks like a traditional Chinese house with a sloped roof and wide eaves, like those commonly seen in Beijing's iconic ancient hutongs -- narrow alleyways that run alongside walled courtyards.

The snow park was designed by German company Schneestern, which wanted to bring some local flavor to the Games, according to state-run media China Daily.

"It's great to have something connected to China and new to the world, which entertains people a little bit more. It's not just about meeting technical requirements, it's also a kind of art," Schneestern CEO Dirk Scheumann told China Daily in 2018, when the snow park was still under development.
2:51 a.m. ET, February 5, 2022

China accuses Canada of violating Olympic Charter over diplomatic boycott

From CNN's Beijing Bureau

China has fired back at Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over his diplomatic boycott of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.  

In a statement Friday, the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Canada said it had lodged “solemn representations” with Trudeau’s government over its alleged politicization of sport and “violation of the Olympic Charter, in particular the principle of the political neutrality of sport.” 

Some context: Ahead of the Olympic opening ceremony on Friday, Trudeau issued a statement promising his “full support” to Canadian athletes, while explaining his reasons for the diplomatic boycott. 

“On the international stage, Canada has been a consistently strong voice for protecting and advancing human rights, and we remain extremely concerned by reports of human rights violations in China, including the persecution of Uyghurs,” the statement said. 
“As a result, Canada is not sending any diplomatic representation to the 2022 Olympic Winter Games. However, our Team Canada athletes have our full support as they compete on the world stage." 

The allegations: Several nations including Canada, Australia and Britain have joined a US-led diplomatic boycott of the Winter Games, pointing to China’s alleged human rights violations of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its north-western region of Xinjiang.

The US State Department estimates that up to two million people have been detained in internment camps in Xinjiang since 2017. China says the camps are vocational training centers, aimed at combating terrorism and separatism, and has repeatedly denied accusations of human rights abuses in the region.

China has denied it: The country has, in recent years, deployed an all-out propaganda effort to shift the narrative in Xinjiang that includes sending state media reporters to the region to supposedly "prove" there is no oppression there and targeting Beijing's critics overseas.

11:24 a.m. ET, February 5, 2022

What it's like to travel 100 miles by train inside Beijing’s Olympic bubble

From CNN's Nectar Gan in Beijing

Getting around Beijing’s Olympic closed-loop bubble is not straightforward but traveling 100 miles (160 kilometers) from central Beijing to Zhangjiakou is an experience of its own.

The journey starts with Covid testing right outside my hotel – a daily ritual of life inside the bubble.

My first destination is the main media center, which serves as a hub for the three-dozen bus lines running in central Beijing -- one of three "zones" inside the Olympic closed loop where the sporting events take place.

The media center is the only place I can catch a bus to the train station located in the northwestern suburb of the city.

As the bus drives down the streets of Beijing, it becomes its own mobile mini-bubble, passing local residents going about their daily lives. The front of the bus is completely sealed off behind a thick transparent screen, intended to protect the driver against the spread of the virus.

Statues of the Beijing Olympic mascots at Taizicheng station in Zhangjiakou, China.
Statues of the Beijing Olympic mascots at Taizicheng station in Zhangjiakou, China. (Nectar Gan/CNN)
A thick partition separates the bus driver from the passengers inside the Olympic closed loop.
A thick partition separates the bus driver from the passengers inside the Olympic closed loop. (Nectar Gan/CNN)

After arriving at the media center, I wait half an hour for the bus to the Qinghe railway station. Then the drive takes another 20 minutes.

The railway station is split into two parts: one inside the Olympics bubble and one outside. We enter via a special gate for Olympics personnel to our own waiting room, with the main departure hall for local travelers sealed off behind glass walls.

There is no paper train ticket, only a QR code obtained in advance on a phone app. The check-in process is all contactless -- you just scan the code and walk through the gate.

The Qinghe railway station in Beijing.
The Qinghe railway station in Beijing. (Nectar Gan/CNN)

On the platform, even the train itself is divided: carriages 1 to 5 are for those within the bubble, and carriages 6 to 8 are for travelers outside it. A string of barricades prevent us from boarding the wrong carriages.

Inside the train, everything appears brand new. The smell of disinfectant fills the air, pungent even through N-95 masks. Crew members all wear goggles or face shields, in addition to masks.

Boarding the high-speed rail from Beijing to Zhangjiakou inside the Olympic closed loop.
Boarding the high-speed rail from Beijing to Zhangjiakou inside the Olympic closed loop. (Nectar Gan/CNN)

The train ride itself is very comfortable. As we head northwest, the city landscape gives way to open fields and rural villages, cradled by brown mountains in the distance. We also pass wind turbines and solar panels -- Beijing has claimed the Winter Games are powered 100% by wind and solar energy, mostly transported from Zhangjiakou.

The high-speed train that takes passengers between central Beijing and Zhangjiakou, two of the three "zones" in the Olympic closed loop.
The high-speed train that takes passengers between central Beijing and Zhangjiakou, two of the three "zones" in the Olympic closed loop. (Nectar Gan/CNN)

After 50 minutes, we arrive at Taizicheng station in Zhangjiakou. Stepping out of the train, the air is notably colder -- the temperature is about 10 degrees celsius lower than in central Beijing. Parts of the ground are covered in white: it had snowed the previous day, a cleaning worker at the station told me.

But higher up on the mountain, the white ski slopes are made with artificial snow -- and they’re ready for the Games to start.